In Illinois, gamblers can place themselves on self-exclusion lists at the state’s 10 casinos. Recently the Illinois Gaming Board submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules proposed rules on self-exclusion in establishments with video gaming, said Gene O’Shea, director of the state’s self-exclusion program. Once the committee determines rules for video-gaming self-exclusion, the public will have a chance to respond, O’Shea said.
It took two years for the committee to approve casinos’ self-exclusion program, in 2002. Since then, about 12,651 people have registered; 4,317 people on the list have been arrested, and gaming officials have seized $1,958,293.43 from them, O’Shea said. Just recently, officials arrested a woman who had returned to the Casino Queen in East St. Louis where she had self-excluded; she had abandoned $16,000 she won there in summer 2016. The largest amount seized at one time was $23,000, O’Shea noted. “They’re addicted,” he said.
In some communities, individuals are not waiting for official state action regarding self-exclusion. For example, Mary Frazer, who is on self-exclusion lists at Illinois casinos, started a Gamblers Anonymous group at United Methodist Church in Murphysboro and also has been working with local businesses with video gambling to offer self-exclusion to people struggling with gambling an addiction.
Frazer said self-exclusion works and explains if an individual tries to enter a business where he or she has self-excluded, that person could feel humiliated when the management, police officer, bouncer or other authority figure says he or she must leave. “Most won’t go back because they don’t want the embarrassment,” Frazer said.
Glenn Christenson, former chairman of the National Center for Responsible Gaming, wrote in a 2010 report that self-exclusion programs, which started at Missouri casinos, were a growing trend. “Enrolling in a self-exclusion program is a form of help-seeking behavior, akin to attending a Gamblers Anonymous meeting or entering talk therapy. Because most people struggling with addiction, including those with disordered gambling, do not seek external help, it is vital for scientists, health care providers and policymakers to understand what motivates the people who do seek assistance,” Christenson wrote.
Christine Reilly, senior research director with the National Center for Responsible Gaming in Massachusetts, added self-exclusion could be used as part of a “cocktail therapy” for gambling addiction, which also could include medical treatment, counseling and talk therapy. “Based on what we know from the research, it is safe and can be effective for some people, not all. You should not load the program with great expectation,” Reilly said.
