ONLY 19 people have been barred from the casinos under the Family Exclusion Order since it was launched eight months ago by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

It is not known how many people suffer from problem gambling. But Morgan Stanley estimated recently that about 690,000 Singaporeans have taken part in social gambling or table games in the past 12 months.

Mildred Tan, who chairs NCPG's public communications sub-committee, said that, at the launch of the Family Exclusion Order, NCPG thought that there could perhaps be 10 respondents. 'It is hard to predict,' she said.

Now, with the launch of Casino Self-Exclusion by NCPG yesterday, the number of people coming forward who suffer from problem gambling could rise, especially as NCPG intends to persuade affected families to take this route.

Unlike the Family Exclusion Order, which enables a family to apply for exclusion of a problem gambler, self-exclusion allows individuals to bar themselves from the casinos if they think they are vulnerable to compulsive gambling.

Ms Tan, speaking at the launch of self-exclusion, said: 'In a family exclusion, there is always a lot of tension. So we are trying to mitigate the tension in the family.'

Self-exclusion has already been made available for Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club tele-betting accounts. So far, only one person has obtained self-exclusion.

NCPG chairman Lim Hock San added: 'Self-exclusion from the casinos is part of a comprehensive package of social safeguards to protect problem gamblers ... as part of their recovery process.'

Mr Lim acknowledged that some compulsive gamblers will not see their gambling as a problem.

Some of these people could be excluded through another type of exclusion, Third-Party Exclusion, which prevents those who are in financial difficulty, such as undischarged bankrupts and recipients of public assistance and special grants, from entering the casinos. It is estimated that there are 25,000 to 29,000 undischarged bankrupts in Singapore.

Third-Party Exclusion is expected to be launched soon.

In other relatively new gaming jurisdictions, such as the US state of Pennsylvania, which has a population of about 12.4 million and nine casinos, about 1,000 people have signed up for self-exclusion since the programme began in 2006. Of these, 52 per cent are women.

Casino Self-Exclusion is currently only available on line at www.knowtheline.sg using SingPass.