Mom gambled on not getting caught playing slots

Now, look, no one ever said parenting was easy.

But there are some obviously bad decisions - like, say, leaving two children in a car while you gamble inside a casino for hours - that moms and dads should be able to avoid, right?

Right?

Wrong. Bensalem Township police said yesterday that a Philadelphia woman was arrested on Aug. 1, after she left her daughters, ages 8 and 15, in a car for almost six hours while she played the slots at Parx Casino.

Police said Sharon Balek, 35, of Hunter Street near 56th in West Philly, marched into Parx about 6:30 p.m. and didn't leave until well after midnight.

She was incommunicado while she gambled because her cell- phone battery was dead, police said.

Her daughters also didn't have a working phone. The girls had to borrow a passer-by's phone to call their father, police said.

Balek isn't the only parent to be accused of casino-related numbskullery this summer: Four other parents have left a child in a car while they gambled at Parx this summer, police said.