Thousands of people who have voluntarily banned themselves from Missouri casinos will get a second chance at playing the slots.
The Missouri Gaming Commission voted Wednesday to relax rules for the state's casino exclusion list, which imposes a lifetime casino ban on problem gamblers who voluntarily sign up for it.
Starting next spring, the new rules will allow people to remove themselves from the list after they have been on it for at least five years.
The Gaming Commission says there are 16,148 people on the exclusion list. Of those, 11,427 will be eligible to remove themselves beginning March 31.
Gaming Commission spokeswoman LeAnn McCarthy says Missouri was one of just three states that required a mandatory lifetime ban for their casino exclusion lists. The others are Iowa and Michigan.
