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More Than 1,000 Enrolled In Massachusetts Casino Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program

BOSTON (CBS) – Casinos across Massachusetts have banned more than 1,000 people, but only because the people asked them to. Most are compulsive gamblers who enrolled in the Voluntary Self-Exclusion program.

Currently, there are 1,020 active individuals enrolled in the program. The majority are men with the median age of 46.

The VSE program allows participants to voluntarily exclude themselves from the gaming floor of all Massachusetts casinos for a pre-determined length of time.

"This milestone is significant but represents a small percentage of those struggling to control their gambling," said Mark Vander Linden of the Mass. Gaming Commission. "The VSE program is designed to honor and support a person's decision to stop gambling."

The program started in 2015 when legal gambling in Massachusetts began.

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