If you ever think about putting yourself on your state's no-gambling list, be sure to consider the decision carefully before acting. A man, identified so far only as S.D., who added himself to the New Jersey no-gambling list on impulse after a big loss, has been unable to get his name removed.
S.D. was unaware that casinos outside of the state would see the list, and did not realise that his decision effectively amounted to voluntarily giving himself a lifetime gambling ban.
He asked the Casino Control Commission if he could get his name removed from the list, and when they refused, he appealed the decision in court, only to be told by a judge that the commission had “ample basis in fact, law, and policy, to deny his request. "As the commission recognized, S.D. has no fundamental right to gamble, constitutionally or statutorily," the court commented.
There are currently 663 people on the self exclusion list – some have requested a lifetime ban, while others opted for shorter terms. S.D.'s lawyer claims that his client was unaware that other casinos outside the state would use the list. He requested addition in anger after losing a large amount of money one evening in an Atlantic City casino, and regretted his decision almost immediately.
The chairwoman of the Casino Control Commission, Linda Kassekert, was pleased by the decision "Clearly, the value of the self-exclusion program would have been compromised if someone who voluntarily signed up for lifetime exclusion was able to remove himself just because he wasn't told other casinos elsewhere might exclude him as well."
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