Can I Bring a Dog to a Casino or Poker Room?

Was Jessica Right to Bring Her Dog to a Poker Game?

According to statements on X, Jessica took her dog into the casino for three reasons:

1. She is a service dog — an animal who assists her owner in performing tasks related to physical, mental, or emotional issues.
2. She has separation anxiety — meaning this dog doesn’t feel well without her owner around.
3. She is lazy — so she doesn’t need much activity to be happy and can’t bother others during the game. Of course, the dog can move around a little, but Jessica always asks everyone around to tell her if the dog is invading their space and moves her to make others comfortable. And so far, there have been no issues with other players due to this.

While the second and third points are subjective, the first is closer to an objective reason for Jessica to have her dog around. And this reason is protected by U.S. law.

How U.S. Law Defines and Protects Service Animals

You can’t name any pet a service animal just because you’ve decided they assist you somehow. In reality, service animals are not considered pets at all because they work with their owners — not just live with them.

Moreover, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), an animal can be named a service animal only if they’ve gone through special training to help their owner with a specific disability to perform specific tasks.

The law states that people may ask only two questions to determine whether an animal is a service animal or not:

1. Is the animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?

These questions may not be asked if the need for the service animal is obvious. Moreover, the animal’s owner cannot be asked about their disability, nor to demonstrate that the animal is certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal. Finally, they also can’t be asked to make the animal demonstrate the tasks it performs.

Examples of tasks a service animal may perform include:

• Alerting a person with hearing loss to a sound.
• Assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation.
• Assisting an individual during a seizure.
• Reminding a person to take medication.
• Providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities.
• Helping individuals with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.

If the first answer is yes and the second is directly related to a person’s disability — you have a service animal in front of you that is protected by law.

Due to this, casinos do not have much choice but to allow people with disabilities to have their service animals with them. However, they can ask an owner to remove their service animal “if the animal is not housebroken or if the animal is out of control and the individual does not take effective action to control it.”

Out-of-control behavior includes, but is not limited to, unwarranted and unprovoked violent behavior, such as uncontrolled barking, growling at other customers, jumping on other people, or running away from the owner.

All of this does not apply to emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs, because they are not considered service animals. These types of pets provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but do not go through special training to assist their owners in performing specific tasks. This is true even for therapy dogs, who receive extensive training to work with different people, but aren’t prepared to assist a person or people with a specific disability.

However, since service animals aren’t subject to certification or licensing and laws do not require owners to document their pets as service animals, a lot of players have a hard time believing that someone has a service animal if they aren’t visibly disabled, such as blind or physically impaired.

That’s why some owners in the U.S. prefer to go through certification with private organizations that can provide them with a special ID card confirming both their disability and that they have a specially trained animal. Unfortunately, this ID isn’t a legal document — only a convenient paper to reduce the probability of being insulted as a scammer by ignorant people.

So, Am I Allowed to Bring My Dog to the Casino in the US?

Yes and no — it depends on what kind of dog you want to bring in:

• If your dog is a service/assistance animal: You have every right to bring them with you according to ADA law. But remember that casino employees also have the right to ask you to remove your animal from the venue if it isn’t well-behaved.
• If your dog is an emotional support animal or just a pet: You should read the rules on the casino website or contact its customer support team to confirm that dogs are allowed. If the casino isn’t animal-friendly or allows only service animals — it’s better not to bring a dog with you.

Also remember that having the right or the opportunity to bring your dog into a casino doesn’t mean you’re entitled to be impolite toward other people.

Common courtesy is always welcome at the poker table. So if you bring your dog to the game:

• Begin by informing people about having an animal with you and explain to them how to let you know if the dog makes them uncomfortable in any way.
• Inform players in advance about what not to do toward your dog.
• Always keep your pet close to you — harnessed, leashed, or tethered.
• Do not allow your dog to eat or drink under the table or on the floor before asking other players if they’re okay with it.

I’m Uncomfortable With an Animal at My Table: What to Do?

First of all, you should ask the animal’s owner the two questions from ADA guidelines:

• Is the animal required because of a disability?
• What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?

The next steps depend on the type of animal:

• If this is a service animal in control — you can’t do much except politely ask the owner to move them away from you, with a reasonable explanation. Remember that people use service animals because they have conditions that require help, so try to find some empathy for their situation.
• If this is a service animal out of control — you should call the floor and politely ask them to deal with the situation, referring to the ADA right of business owners to request the removal of service animals that are behaving badly.
• If this is not a service animal — you should call the floor and politely ask them to handle the situation.

Remember that service animals can’t be removed from the venue solely based on someone’s opinion that the animal might threaten safety, or because of assumptions or previous bad experiences with other animals.