Update: Problems At The Argosy Casino This Past Weekend?

A huge Tommy Chong fan emailed us saying she and about a dozen are people were refused entrance to the Tommy and Shelby comedy show this past weekend because of problems with their identification.

The shows took place this past Friday and Saturday at the Argosy Casino in Alton, IL. When this fan arrived for the show on Friday night, her fiance was refused entrance because the corner of his driver's license was starting to peel. Security called it "mutilated" and refused him entrance.

Approximately, a dozen other people experienced the same problem.

"Nowhere on the info that the casino sent out did it say that you needed a perfect license to get into the show", the fan said. "Nor were we told that when I called and ordered the tickets three weeks before the show".

At first, the casino manager refused to refund the money fans paid for the tickets. However, after some arguing, he relented.

Tommy and Shelby had nothing to do with this problem. It was the casino security.

We've let a message for the casino to get their side of the story. We'll post their response when it's received.

Update: We received this response from the casino.

"Yes it is correct that individuals were turned away on Saturday evening. This was the result of damaged photoID. The state of Illinois requires that everyone has valid photo ID to enter the property. ID that is damaged in anyway is not considered valid. Often times false IDs have flaws with them such as this and we have too high of risk by admitting guests with these flaws. We are subject to fines from the state starting at the six figure mark foranyone that is not of age. We are not saying that these individuals were underage, however we cannot accept the risk and have firm internal controls that we must follow in order to stay in compliance with the state gaming regulators.

When individuals purchase tickets, they are informed that everyone must be at least 21 years of age. This communicates that ID is required for admittance. It is the responsibility of individuals that they carry ID that is in proper form. The casino informing guests that we do not accept damaged ID is beyond what needs to be communicated, but rather the burden falls on the guest.

We have refunded everyone in which this occurred. "