VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A woman is suing the BC Lottery Corporation and two casino operators, saying she was allowed to gamble even though she signed up for the voluntary exclusion program.

Joyce Ross claims she lost $331,000 over a three-year period, and casino staff knew she was not supposed to be gambling.

A study released last year determined that most people who sign up for the voluntary exclusion program do not violate the agreement, but it’s hard to stop those who are truly determined to gamble.

“There are a lot of challenges involved in the casino trying to stop you,” says Dr. Irwen Cohen of the University of the Fraser Valley and lead author BCLC’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program: Perceptions and Experiences of a Sample of Program Participants. “It’s important to keep in mind that what the Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program is designed to do, is that it’s not a guarantee of stopping you.”

“It’s a bit of a misnomer to leave with the assumption that it’s a promise on the part of the casino to 100 per cent guarantee that you will be excluded. If you’re trying to get in, you can be successful.”

Dr. Cohen’s study included eight recommendations, including improving detection capabilities at casinos. The main concern expressed by problem gamblers in the study was the perception that it is easy to violate the exclusion agreement.

“I do know that BCLC is in the process of experimenting with new forms of facial-recognition technology using automated license detection information,” says the doctor. “So when cars are parked in casino parking lots they can potentially identify if someone who’s excluded, if that’s their car.”

He says it’s very hard for security to memorize the thousands of faces of the people who have signed up for the program, adding that “people will frequently try to wear disguises and sneak around.”

Dr. Cohen says BCLC has commissioned a follow up study to examine the results of the corporations efforts to improve the voluntary exclusion program.