Gambling Ban Lists Keeps Growing

During the last couple of months 296 people have added themselves to a new self ban list from the casino created by the Tax and Customs Board.

“By today already 296 people have filed in an application to be restricted from gambling,” reported the representative of the Tax and Customs Board Annely Erm to BNS.

Last year on the 31 December there were about thousand people on the currently invalid ban list of casino addicted, created by the Estonian Association of Gambling Operators (EGOA).

Since the New Year, managing of the list was given to the Tax and Customs Board, and the old one lost its validity. The Ministry of Finance said that the new list was created following the fact that all of the gambling operators are not members of EGOA.

The list by EGOA did not guarantee either the data being updated and reached easily, the confidentiality request for sensitive personal data was not fulfilled, possibility for effective controlling of persons was missing, as well as the data for guaranteeing supervisory on implementing the list at the gambling operators.

According to Erm the gambling operators now must check the list before letting anyone enter a casino, to see if the person has been banned or not. “Tax and Customs Board has the right to be guided by the supervisory measures stated in the Gambling Act that is, to do on-the-spot check in a casino and ask for video surveillance tapes from the gambling operators,” stated Erm.

There are two ways of filing in an application to be added to the list, it is either in the office of the Tax and Customs Board or in a casino; the person applying for the ban list will be added there based to his written application for 6 months to three years.

Studies have shown that the risk group for gambling addiction is about 1 percent of the adult (15-74 years) population