BCLC's Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program : British Columbia Lottery Corporation's Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program

A fairly consistent comment expressed by the participants in Ladouceur et al.’s (2000) study was concern with the ability of the casino to detect violators, especially given that those who tried to violate the agreement found it easy to re-enter the casino. [...] Two additional concerns in Ladouceur et al.’s (2000) study focused on the end of the exclusion process, as participants were concerned that a lack of formal follow-up or clinical support would reduce the program’s influence on them, and that having to re-enter the casino in order to re-enroll in the program would be problematic for those with gambling problems. [...] Interestingly, the majority of the positive changes happened between the baseline and six months interviews indicating that enrolling in the self-exclusion program led to immediate reductions in pathological gambling symptoms, as well as decreased urges to gamble, increased perceptions of control, and decreased intensity of negative consequences of gambling on a variety of psychosocial factors, in [...] In terms of process, the study explored the nature of the enrolment process in the VSE and their frequency of use of this process. [...] The Centre is committed to the prevention of program gambling in British Columbia and has a significant collection of resources available for the public in relation to problem gambling prevention and treatment.