The province has committed to beefing up a program that lets problem gamblers ban themselves from the River Rock Casino and other casinos, after two studies commissioned by the B.C. Lottery Corporation found most self-banished gamblers who tried to sneak back into gambling facilities could.
One-third of the 169 participants in a study of BCLC's Voluntary Self Exclusion (VSE) program tried to gamble while excluded, and as many as 70 per cent of those attempts were successful.
Getting into a casino when banned is not very difficult, said the study's lead author, Irwin M. Cohen of the B.C. Centre for Social Responsibility at the University of the Fraser Valley.
A second study of the VSE program that surveyed staff at casinos in Richmond, Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster and Vancouver, recommended that "more teeth" were needed to deter problem gamblers from sneaking into casinos, something some gamblers try many times a day.
"From statistics provided by BCLC, out of a sample of 1,383 breaches, five per cent breached more than 25 times. These repeat breaches require a great deal of resources, are difficult for staff and undermine the program," said the report by the Responsible Gaming Council.
Some problem gamblers are caught five or six times a day trying to enter a casino; the majority in the study reported never being caught.
In both studies, participants said that consequences for violating the program -- which can include fines of up to $5,000 -- are rarely invoked. The study recommends that consequences be changed from charging fines, which is seen as punitive, to connecting problem gamblers to treatment, which could help the gambler.
Cohen's study, which surveyed VSE participants, found that detection methods such as facial-recognition software are unreliable, and that banned gamblers are often only caught when they try to cash in their winnings.
Both studies made recommendations including possibly requiring everyone entering a casino to show identification, or using a sliding scale for the consequences imposed on banned gamblers who are caught in a casino.
The province says it will make changes to the program based on the recommendations.