Effectiveness of Self-Exclusion in British Columbia

The report (71-page pdf here) noted in the previous post utilized focus groups consisting of providers of self-exclusion, as well as telephone interviews of self-excluded clients. About one-third of the participants completely abstained from gambling during their exclusion (which lasted, at their discretion, either six months, or one, two, or three years). The methodology does not provide, it seems, a clean comparison between the extent of gambling problems pre- and post-exclusion, but the data that are provided suggest that those who continued to gamble, by and large, gambled less frequently, and still found that the self-exclusion program was helpful. (After the exclusion period was over, very few clients remained abstinent from gambling; again, however, the extent of their gambling seemed to be lower than before the exclusion.) The clients were asked if they were satisfied with the self-exclusion program, and more than 80% reported satisfaction; an even higher percentage indicated that they would recommend the program to others.