New gaming regulation could prohibit 'problem' gamblers from playing in Mississippi casinos for two years

JACKSON, Miss. - Compulsive gamblers in Mississippi will have to wait longer before they can roll the dice again.

Under a new regulation proposed by the state Gaming Commission, once a person asks a casino to exclude them from gaming on their property they can't change their mind for a minimum of two years.

"We need to do something to help people," said Chuck Patton, executive director of the commission. "I do know that people slip up."

Patton said the new regulation will be voted on in September. If it passes the commission, it will go into effect in October.

He said the old regulation governing self-exclusion doesn't set a time limit for gamblers, meaning a person who asks a casino to exclude them from gambling can come in the next day and get a waiver and begin gambling.

Under the new regulation, after the two-year period, problem gamblers have to file a written request with the casino to be removed from their self-exclusion list and wait 30 days for a decision.

Patton said the new proposal also prohibits a casino from granting credit to gamblers who sign the self-exclusion list and they can't cash any checks. The regulation also forbids any direct mail advertising by the casino.

The proposal has the backing of the Mississippi Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling.

Betty Greer, the organization's executive director, said the regulation will "help compulsive gamblers" help themselves.

"Before each property set their own time limit. It may have been a year or some properties may have had two years or some may have six months," she said. "I think this will be easier for the commission to administer."

The self-exclusion lists kept by the state's 31 casinos aren't shared with each other and Patton said the proposal doesn't change that. But it is more sweeping than in other states where casino gambling is legal.

Todd Westergard, a research specialist with the State Gaming Control Board in Nevada, said gamblers there can put themselves on a self-exclusion list at a casino.

Like Mississippi's proposal, Nevada gamblers can't receive direct mail offerings from a casino after being on the list and they are denied credit or the ability to cash checks at the casino.

"At this point, the commission has given (casinos) the discretion in terms of amounts of time they have to stay on the list," he said.

In New Jersey, regulators there are considering similar policies to Mississippi's.

"The division is also exploring that issue from a regulatory perspective to see if there is some way we can help problem gamblers," said Katherine Lyon, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

In Missouri, though, regulators there have enacted a regulation that bars gamblers for life who put themselves on a self-exclusion list.

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