Florida Casinos Offer Opt-out for Problem Gamblers

FLORIDA – As reported by the Miami Herald: "…When Broward's new casinos began opening last fall, Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation required each operation
Gulfstream Park Casino adds more slots!  to offer a self-exclusion program. Any gambler who wants to be excluded must come to the casino in person, admit they have a problem and sign the documents.

"…At Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino, home to 1,218 slot machines, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has an office with the names and photos of self-excluders posted on the wall.

"…But casinos admit they cannot watch every single person who comes through the door. Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C., says some gamblers believe the casinos don't really try.

"…The idea of self-exclusion first took hold in the mid-1990s as a way to help prevent relapses in compulsive gamblers once they were stabilized and in treatment. In Florida, though, where there is no state-financed or -subsidized treatment, problem gamblers may be identifying themselves for the first time when they self-exclude, Whyte noted.

"…The Seminoles developed the first program for self-exclusion in Florida several years ago, said Pat Fowler, executive director of the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling…"