A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a person who chose the state’s lifetime voluntary self-exclusion option cannot later undo that choice, even if the decision has consequences at casinos outside New Jersey. The ruling upheld earlier decisions by the Casino Control Commission and the Division of Gaming Enforcement in the case of a petitioner identified as S.D.
According to PlayUSA, S.D. selected lifetime self-exclusion on 26 July 2004 and sought removal less than a month later. He argued that he had meant only to bar himself from New Jersey casinos and did not realise the ban could reach casinos beyond the state.
Regulators denied his request to be removed from the lifetime list and also turned down his alternative request to be moved to the one-year list. In the majority opinion, Judge Francine Axelrad wrote that S.D. had “voluntarily relinquished whatever right he had to participate in gaming activities in New Jersey” when he placed himself on the lifetime list as a self-professed problem gambler.
The court also said any impact on gambling at some casinos outside New Jersey was “not a material element of the New Jersey agreement” but an “indirect collateral consequence.” It rejected the argument that the restriction infringed a protected right, saying gambling “is not a constitutionally protected activity.”
The case sits within a long-running New Jersey system for barring gamblers who seek exclusion. A 2013 article said the state has had an involuntary exclusion list since 1977, and that the Legislature created voluntary self-exclusion for problem gamblers in 2001.
That article also said the self-exclusion rules allow one-year, five-year and lifetime options, but contain no provision letting a person who chose lifetime exclusion remove their name. The application form states that if a person chooses the lifetime option, the name cannot be removed from the list.
New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement says the program now covers land-based casino gambling, sports wagering and internet gaming, with the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey working with the agency on the effort. Its FAQ says the program was established in 2001 for Atlantic City casinos and expanded to internet gaming in 2013.
The same FAQ says some casino companies have their own responsible gaming programmes that may exclude a person from properties in other jurisdictions. Former Casino Control Commission chair Linda Kassekert said the ruling protected the purpose of the self-exclusion system, while attorney Gerard Quinn warned that the outcome could discourage future sign-ups.
