LEVEL 1 - 113 OF 119 STORIES Copyright 1983 The New York Times Company The New York Times January 27, 1983, Thursday, Late City Final Edition SECTION: Section A; Page 18, Column 4; Editorial Desk LENGTH: 307 words HEADLINE: WHERE NEW JERSEY YOUTHS GAMBLE AND DRINK BODY: To the Editor: New Jersey's new drinking age of 21 will not cut off 18-, 19- and 20-year-old imbibers in Atlantic City casinos. Because the legal gambling age remains 18, those under 21 will have easy access to both the gambling tables and alcoholic beverages, considering the hectic atmosphere on casino floors. Assemblyman Dennis Riley, sponsor of a bill to raise the casino gambling age to 21, noted that pit bosses and cocktail waitresses rarely questioned 18-year-olds when the drinking age was 19 and fears that the same will hold The New York Times, January 27, 1983 true for the new age. The solution, then, is a uniform legal age for both drinking and gambling, a measure which State Attorney General Irwin Kimmelman supports. According to the Casino Control Commission, nearly 240,000 pupils under 18 were caught trying to gamble in Atlantic City casinos in the past 19 months. And a survey of 1,120 Atlantic City High School students by the Viking, the student newspaper, found that 64 percent have gambled in the casinos and that one in four accepts free drinks while gambling. A legal age of 21 should change this - few high school students look 21. Our State Legislature should also address the need for educational programs to help young people develop responsible attitudes about gambling, as is already the case with drinking. The effects of gambling can be just as devastating as those of consuming alcohol. Exposing teen-agers to an adult game means taking risks not worth the consequences. If the Legislature believed that one way to cope with teen-age alcoholism and drunk driving is to raise the drinking age, then certainly it should be consistent in dealing with the problems of gambling addiction. MARTIN J. RIMM, Longport, N.J., Jan. 13, 1983. The New York Times, January 27, 1983 The writer, former associate editor of the Viking, was the author of its teen-age gambling study. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH