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Self-Excluded Gambler Wins Big and Wants to Keep His Winnings

``The New Jersey man voluntarily placed himself on that state's exclusion list for problem gamblers in March 2002.

``A few months later, he ...gambled at least 10 times under an alias at Bally's Park Place Casino Resort in Atlantic City, according to New Jersey Casino Control Commission documents.

``During that period, Santangelo was a big winner, $64,160 big, the New Jersey commission contends.

``It took awhile, but Santangelo finally was recognized by a Bally's employee as a self-excluded player prohibited from gambling in the state's casinos.

``Under New Jersey's self-exclusion rule -- and Missouri's, too -- excluded gamblers caught inside a casino must forfeit their winnings.

``When the New Jersey commission caught up with Santangelo and demanded all that money back, he understandably refused.

``…The New Jersey agency more recently has decided to sue Santangelo, forcing the messy case into the courts, where anything can happen.

``…The worse thing that could happen is that a judge might invalidate New Jersey's forfeiture rule, jeopardizing a key element of the self-exclusion program there and perhaps in Missouri, too…"

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