Risky Business : Some go with the folks. Others, believing it’s easy money, go by themselves. Either way, Vegas has its hands full with underage gamblers.

The 17-year-old boy beamed into the glare of his cup full of quarters and prayed they would save his face.

Normally, the Tustin teen-ager mocks prayer. But after losing the $200 he “borrowed” from a cousin, he’d do “almost anything” to get it back.

“I’m busted. He’s going to knock me out if he finds out,” he said that Tuesday afternoon, the day he ditched school and drove to Vegas to “maybe get me a little extra money.”

So he popped in and out of casinos at the southern end of the Strip. And four hours later, he calmly related what happened: He stalked video poker and slot machines until security guards wandered away. He fed machines quarters. He lost it all.

It’s easy to see why casino employees apparently never suspected him of being younger than the legal minimum of 21. He’s 6 feet, 1 inch; big boned, and fighting fat cells that bloat his belly. He wears a white button-down shirt, navy slacks and glasses with thick, dark frames. His olive skin is bleached with the weariness of a working man three times his age. And he is book smart--eagerly and effortlessly explaining scientific theories disproving rumors that the pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel-casino is sinking.

“I got to get more money and try (gambling) again,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Otherwise, “I got nothing--nothing to look forward to except maybe a broken nose.”

*

Walk through any major hotel-casino in Las Vegas and you’ll see gamblers who have yet to reach their 21st birthday. At any given moment, gaming officials estimate there are handfuls to hundreds of them betting anywhere from 5 cents to thousands of dollars in casinos, convenience stores and eateries.

Although the neon lights, ersatz glamour and clank-clank-clanking of regurgitating machines have always enticed Nevada teen-agers, Las Vegas enforcement agents and casino workers say that in the past two years they’ve noticed more out-of-state kids, particularly from Southern California and Arizona, hopping in and out of casinos, seeking fortune and fun. Some visit with their families; many come with peers.

There are no numbers to prove this anecdotal evidence because the state does not require casino security and gaming regulators to document incidents of underage gambling. Juvenile crime records don’t show an increase, but that’s because few kids are ever arrested.

“But (an increase) only makes sense,” said Jeffrey Rodefer, deputy attorney general. In the past three years, state records show a boom in the gaming and tourism industries, especially in Las Vegas. And as the area continues to promote itself as a family destination, “there’s obviously a greater likelihood that there are more (youths) gambling and loitering in the casinos.”

Officials agree that the Strip, with its theme mega-resorts and amusement parks, tends to attract more youths than downtown, where dank casinos stand as relics of the traditional adults-only Las Vegas. But even that is expected to evolve into a family-friendly area with the $70-million Fremont Street Experience, an outdoor mall covered in a canopy of lights expected to be completed in December.

“(Downtown casinos) are preparing for more kids,” said Kim Laskey, director of marketing for the Lady Luck hotel-casino.

Herein lies the good news, said Rodefer, Laskey and other experts: The increase in underage gamblers and a flurry of complaints about them from adult tourists are compelling gaming regulators to crack down on the kids’ illegal activity.

Before 1995, no major casino in Nevada had been fined for permitting underage gamblers. But in January, Bally’s paid $10,000 for allowing a 19-year-old to lose $6,300 at its blackjack tables last summer while two underage friends watched. And in February, authorities fined the Gold Dust West in Reno $5,000 for filming a 16-year-old girl playing video poker as part of a television commercial.

The Gaming Control Board, the state’s enforcement agency, has also cited youths gambling at the Santa Fe in Las Vegas and Harvey’s in Lake Tahoe, which has had three documented incidents since August, 1994. One included a security officer inspecting a youth’s California driver’s license--which stated that he would be 21 in 1995--and allowing him to continue gambling, said Bill Bible, chairman of the board.

Bible told of a time, years ago, when many gaming establishments allowed youths to place bets on horse races provided kids were tall enough to reach the window.

“Times have changed,” he said, “and I think that’s good. (The board) will not tolerate youths and the places that let them gamble.”

A fear of fines has sent many casinos scurrying to implement mandatory training programs for its employees--dealers, cocktail servers, floor personnel--on how to weed out underage gamblers. Officials have warned security guards to keep a sharper lookout. And some have even begun to track the number of youths caught gambling or loitering.

It’s the least regulators can do as more Native American tribes, cities and states--including California--consider casino-style gambling, said Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). And with California ranked as having the most compulsive gamblers in the nation, “It’s important, it’s necessary to control (gaming) and reduce the amount of abuse going on,” he said, “especially among the young people.”

*

On July 14, the parents of Jerry Pozucek Jr., 19, awoke to what they “desperately wished” was a nightmare. Pozucek barged into their Las Vegas bedroom at about 6 a.m. and, in a panic, told them he needed $5,500 to pay back his friend.

Earlier that morning, Pozucek told his parents, he and two friends--Derek Crisafulli, 20, and Jeremy Troike, 19--sneaked into Bally’s. Pozucek, feeling lucky because he had repeatedly won at blackjack on his home video-game system, placed $25 to $1,000 bets at a casino table while Bally’s served him alcohol.

One of Pozucek’s friends had supplied him with some money and wanted it back, but Pozucek didn’t have it because he had lost a total of $6,300, Pozucek told his parents in one breathless breath.

Pozucek’s parents contacted Las Vegas lawyer Robert J. Kossack, who called Bally’s to inform officials that they had a legal obligation to refund the youth’s money because a casino is not allowed to accept it. Bally’s refused, claiming that the three youths looked to be in their mid-20s and had told casino employees that they were military men from nearby Nellis Air Force Base.

Bally’s, which caters to affluent adults, was a victim of casinos that promote family entertainment, said Robert A. Ostrovsky, the hotel-casino’s vice president of human resources. “It’s impossible to stop every underage gambler because there are so many (in Las Vegas),” he said. “Bally’s would never willfully violate the law.”

But that doesn’t matter, according to a Nevada statue that states: “It is no excuse for the licensee (casino), employee, dealer or other person to plead that he believed the person to be 21 years old or over.”

Tony Badillo sympathizes with Bally’s. After 37 years of dealing at the Sands, he said he still has trouble spotting underage gamblers.

“Some look twice their age, and most of them come in with fake IDs,” said Badillo, president of the Nevada Casino Dealers Assn. “I’m not an expert in fake IDs. . . . This is a responsibility that should be left to (casino) security.”

Ostrovsky won’t go as far as agreeing with Badillo that the problem is only up to security guards. After all, underage gambling is illegal.

“No one likes to be the first example,” Ostrovsky acknowledged shortly after gaming authorities fined Bally’s. “But some good things have come out of this.”

Bally’s, for instance, hired an outside company to train employees in detecting youths and fake IDs. Bally’s also requires all workers to ask for identification if a customer looks 25 or younger.

Additionally, officials from Circus Circus, Treasure Island and Excalibur--to name a few--said employees emphasize explaining Nevada’s underage-gambling law in detail to parents, particularly those from other countries.

“A parent might know that a 10-year-old isn’t allowed to gamble,” said Alan Feldman, spokesman for Mirage Resorts Inc., which operates the Mirage, Treasure Island, Golden Nugget and Golden Nugget--Laughlin. “But that parent might not know that it is against the law for Junior to sit quietly near a (gambling parent).”

The MGM Grand mega-resort has more than 60 signs warning visitors about underage gambling, spokesman Tom Bruny said. It also encourages adult customers to allow employees to entertain kids in its supervised youth activity center, arcades and theme park. (Still, on a midafternoon in February, a 10-year-old boy from Hartford, Conn., plunked coins into a video poker machine while his mother watched for security.)

Gaming friends and foes praise Harrah’s as one of the first casino companies to have extensive programs warning employees and the public about compulsive and underage gambling. *

Embarrassment encouraged one Southern California teen-ager to rob four banks, said his psychologist, Robert E. Hunter, whose clients often travel to Las Vegas from California and all over the country for help with compulsive gambling.

Hunter said the teen-ager was “a golden boy of sorts: intelligent, moral, kind”--words often used to describe compulsive gamblers. Because they need to hide their habit, it usually becomes out of control in ways contrary to their personalities. They might steal. Lie. Fight.

“Their thinking is, ‘If I can get some more money, my problem will be solved. No one will have to know,’ ” he explained.

Gamblers fear that they will disappoint loved ones. They feel trapped in a habit that usually doesn’t end until a person bottoms out, which is unlikely for youths who lack money and independence, Hunter said. And they feel ashamed and guilty for compromising their normally high standards.

“They’re the ones who go home and blow their brains out because they feel so immoral,” Hunter said.

The first national study on teen gambling, conducted by Redlands psychologist Durand Jacobs in 1989, found that at least 7 million youths gamble for money, and 33% of students surveyed said they had wagered bets before their 11th birthday.

Furthermore, it found that an estimated 13% break laws to fund their habit or to pay off a debt. Gambling also encourages truancy, alcoholism, depression and other ills. These facts especially distress Jacobs, because gamblers 18 and younger are twice as likely as adults to become pathological.

“I don’t see many efforts to prevent (underage gambling),” said Jacobs, executive director of the California Council on Problem Gambling and vice president of the national council based in New York. “Gambling is big money. Casinos (and other forms of gambling, such as the lottery) make out pretty good.

“It’s a win-win situation for them to allow underage gamblers,” he said, explaining that casinos usually keep the money that kids lose or win.

Jacobs advocates education. So does Roger Svendfen, director of the Gambling Problems Resource Center in St. Paul, Minn. That’s why Svendfen co-authored “Improving Your Odds,” a guide for high school and college students that’s being used in Minnesota.

“We need to start teaching students the risks of gambling like we do with drugs, alcohol and cigarette smoking,” he said. “This is not something that can wait.”

Most likely it will wait in Southern California, according to educators from several school districts. No officials knew of gambling problems, but they said school counselors could help a student who had one.

“I don’t believe there is a need for (special attention),” said Patrick Spencer, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District. “I’ve been here for 15 years and haven’t heard of students having (gambling) problems.”

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What’s at Stake? * There are four to six times as many gamblers today than 20 years ago.

* An estimated 1 in 10 high school students nationwide suffers from a gambling problem.

* About 90% of New Jersey youths questioned in a survey admitted to gambling in the past year. More than one-third said they gambled once a week.

* Atlantic City casinos forbid youths to enter the gaming area. The design of most Las Vegas casinos, however, requires youths to walk among the betting tables and machines to get to their hotel rooms, restaurants and amusement areas created for them.

* In Nevada, the Gaming Control Board has 85 agents to monitor an estimated 2,400 gaming establishments; there are 86 for Atlantic City’s 12 casinos.

* No gaming establishment has ever lost its license for allowing youths to gamble--unlike restaurants and stores that sell alcohol to minors.

* In 1974, gaming was a $17-billion industry. In 1993, the total reached $394 billion.

* In 1994, 125 million U.S. households visited casinos. That was second to theme-park visits, which totaled 146 million.

For Help * In Southern California, call (310) 478-2121 for information on Gamblers Anonymous. * Call (800) GAMBLER from anywhere in the country.

Sources: The Council of Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, Nevada Council on Compulsive Gambling, Nevada Gaming Control Board, Harrah’s, a 1989 study on teen gambling