http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041005/NEWS10/410050381/1001/NEWS
Iowans will be able to bar themselves statewide by
completing
one form
at one casino.
By WILLIAM PETROSKI
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 5, 2004
Iowa gamblers admitted to treatment
High school education or beyond 91 percent
White 93 percent
Married 48 percent
Male 45 percent
Female 55 percent
Ages 30-59 years 78 percent
Employed full-time 59 percent
Tobacco user 60 percent
Alcohol user 42 percent
Gambling debt over $5,000 59 percent
Bankruptcy or other defaults 28 percent
Arrested in last 12 months 13 percent
Primarily play casino table games 9 percent
Primarily slots/video gambling 75 percent
Primarily lottery games 3 percent
Iowans addicted to gambling will have an easier time banning themselves from casinos under rules being adopted by state regulators.
Iowa's casino industry, since at least the mid-1990s, has allowed thousands of people with gambling problems to file paperwork at individual riverboats and racetracks to have themselves permanently excluded as customers.
Now, under a bill passed during the last legislative session, people will have the option of banning themselves throughout Iowa by completing a single form at one casino, said Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, a casino trade group.
By enrolling in the program and having a photo taken, a person agrees that he or she can be arrested for trespassing and will forfeit to the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program any winnings, slot machine credits or casino chips, Ehrecke said.
Frank Biagioli, director of the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program, said the statewide self-exclusion program is a good idea.
"You know, in the past, we have had people say, 'Geez, now I have to drive to every casino and have my picture taken.' This will be helpful for those people who are really committed to a program of recovery," Biagioli said.
One recovering gambler said the new system still could be tough for problem gamblers because it requires them to go into casinos.
Paula Riseley-Duchin of West Des Moines believes the chore of filling out the trespass paperwork should be moved from casinos to a more neutral location, such as a church or government office.
"I think many people go with intentions of being banned and they gamble," said Riseley-Duchin, who is retired after working as a counselor on the state's telephone help line for problem gamblers. "I remember several years ago I took a guy in to be banned, and then I turned around and he was at the craps table."
Riseley-Duchin said the trespass program should be viewed as just one tool in an overall program of recovery for gambling addicts. She enrolled in a casino self-exclusion program about a decade ago at a Davenport riverboat so she could explain the process to problem gamblers in central Iowa.
"It was an emotional process; it was a frightening process," said Riseley-Duchin.
The voluntary statewide exclusion law took effect July 1, and rules to implement the legislation were approved in September by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said Terry Hirsch, the state's riverboat gambling director. Ehrecke said he expects all of Iowa's 13 state-regulated casinos to be participating in the statewide system by late October or early November. American Indian casinos are not included in the statewide program.
Tom Coates of Norwalk, president of the Truth About Gambling Foundation, an anti-casino group, said state regulators should impose at least a $10,000 fine upon casinos for nonenforcement of the trespass program.
"I have had too many reports of someone joining Gamblers Anonymous and banning themselves and then falling off the wagon. The family members call the casinos and say, 'You know, my father or husband is out there and he is gambling,' and the casinos do nothing," Coates said.
Ehrecke said Iowa's casinos are enforcing the self-exclusion program, but some people go to great lengths to avoid being detected, such as wearing disguises or carrying false identification cards.
Iowans will be able to bar themselves statewide by
completing
one form
at one casino.
By WILLIAM PETROSKI
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 5, 2004
Iowa gamblers admitted to treatment
High school education or beyond 91 percent
White 93 percent
Married 48 percent
Male 45 percent
Female 55 percent
Ages 30-59 years 78 percent
Employed full-time 59 percent
Tobacco user 60 percent
Alcohol user 42 percent
Gambling debt over $5,000 59 percent
Bankruptcy or other defaults 28 percent
Arrested in last 12 months 13 percent
Primarily play casino table games 9 percent
Primarily slots/video gambling 75 percent
Primarily lottery games 3 percent
Iowans addicted to gambling will have an easier time banning themselves from casinos under rules being adopted by state regulators.
Iowa's casino industry, since at least the mid-1990s, has allowed thousands of people with gambling problems to file paperwork at individual riverboats and racetracks to have themselves permanently excluded as customers.
Now, under a bill passed during the last legislative session, people will have the option of banning themselves throughout Iowa by completing a single form at one casino, said Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, a casino trade group.
By enrolling in the program and having a photo taken, a person agrees that he or she can be arrested for trespassing and will forfeit to the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program any winnings, slot machine credits or casino chips, Ehrecke said.
Frank Biagioli, director of the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program, said the statewide self-exclusion program is a good idea.
"You know, in the past, we have had people say, 'Geez, now I have to drive to every casino and have my picture taken.' This will be helpful for those people who are really committed to a program of recovery," Biagioli said.
One recovering gambler said the new system still could be tough for problem gamblers because it requires them to go into casinos.
Paula Riseley-Duchin of West Des Moines believes the chore of filling out the trespass paperwork should be moved from casinos to a more neutral location, such as a church or government office.
"I think many people go with intentions of being banned and they gamble," said Riseley-Duchin, who is retired after working as a counselor on the state's telephone help line for problem gamblers. "I remember several years ago I took a guy in to be banned, and then I turned around and he was at the craps table."
Riseley-Duchin said the trespass program should be viewed as just one tool in an overall program of recovery for gambling addicts. She enrolled in a casino self-exclusion program about a decade ago at a Davenport riverboat so she could explain the process to problem gamblers in central Iowa.
"It was an emotional process; it was a frightening process," said Riseley-Duchin.
The voluntary statewide exclusion law took effect July 1, and rules to implement the legislation were approved in September by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said Terry Hirsch, the state's riverboat gambling director. Ehrecke said he expects all of Iowa's 13 state-regulated casinos to be participating in the statewide system by late October or early November. American Indian casinos are not included in the statewide program.
Tom Coates of Norwalk, president of the Truth About Gambling Foundation, an anti-casino group, said state regulators should impose at least a $10,000 fine upon casinos for nonenforcement of the trespass program.
"I have had too many reports of someone joining Gamblers Anonymous and banning themselves and then falling off the wagon. The family members call the casinos and say, 'You know, my father or husband is out there and he is gambling,' and the casinos do nothing," Coates said.
Ehrecke said Iowa's casinos are enforcing the self-exclusion program, but some people go to great lengths to avoid being detected, such as wearing disguises or carrying false identification cards.
