State wants every gambler carded

For years, critics have called the Illinois Gaming Board's self-exclusion program for problem gamblers a joke.

The program invited gambling addicts to sign up to be excluded from Illinois casinos, in hopes of controlling their problem. But with more than 5,000 gamblers on the list and nine casinos, there was no way a doorman could remember every face. Many addicted gamblers returned.

The way people were usually caught was when they won: jackpots of more than $1,200 trigger tax reporting requirements, which calls for identification. When that happens, the winner's name is checked against the self-exclusion list. Any self-excluded winners had their winnings seized and donated to charity.

But as anti-gambling critic Tom Grey points out, there's no reciprocating seizure for those self-excluded gamblers who came on board and lost their shirts. The casinos retained that money.

In August, the gaming board took the first step to ending the long-running joke.

It required casinos to scan the driver's licenses of everyone who looked 30 or younger. The licenses have a bar code on the back that the scanner reads and then compares to a list of self-excluded gamblers.

Since mid-August, 92 self-excluded people have been caught trying to get on board, said Gene O'Shea, spokesman for the Illinois Gaming Board. But those 92 came from among people who were carded because they look 30 or younger. Anyone who looked older was given a pass.

Now, the gaming board wants to go the final mile and card everyone who gets on board.

The gaming board argues that the proposed system, while not foolproof, would snag the overwhelming majority of self-excluded gamblers at the door.

And undoubtedly, there are many self-excluded gamblers out there who are still getting on board.

In the same time period that 92 gamblers were caught by the 30-and-younger carding system, another 307 made it on board, O'Shea said. They were discovered either when they won significant jackpots or tried to cash checks or get cash advances on credit cards. Some were caught by industrious casino employees who receive $250 "bounties" on self-excluded gamblers.

"This'll stop most of them at the front door," O'Shea said of carding everyone.

But the casino industry is fighting it.

They say the measure would create lines at the door and decrease business. Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, estimated the measure would decrease revenues 8 percent.

Players might not want to be put in a database to which law-enforcement authorities have access under state gambling laws, Swoik said.

"I think the privacy issue is a big concern," added Swoik.

Tom Grey and Anita Bedell, the leading anti-gambling crusaders in the state, say the card-everyone measure is long overdue.

"We are very much in support of this. We have asked for this from the very beginning," said Bedell, a member of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems.

Grey scoffed at the reasons Swoik gave for opposing the measure -- particularly calling into question the 8 percent figure Swoik gave.

Swoik said that figure was an estimate based on industry figures showing revenues decrease 16 percent when smoking is banned and increase 8 percent when Illinois casino boats were allowed to stay docked rather than take "cruises."

Grey said the comparison was not even close to being legitimate. "They don't (even) compare apples and oranges," laughed Grey.

As far as the privacy issue goes, O'Shea said if there's a privacy concern, it's not from law enforcement's end. The databases casinos keep on entrants are their own. If they deleted the information within a certain time period, law enforcement would never have access to that, he said.

The gambling board is scheduled to hear public testimony on the card-everyone issue at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 3 at 160 N. LaSalle St. in Chicago.

No date has been set for the board to vote on the proposal.