The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced that on June 5, 2023, it received its 20,000th voluntary request to be excluded from entering and participating in gambling at all Commonwealth casinos and retail sports betting sites under the agency’s casino self-exclusion program.
Created in 2006, the program allows individuals to request that they be banned from entering and gambling at a Pennsylvania casino or retail sports betting site for a period of one year, five years, or for life.
The self-excluded person is informed upon consenting to placement on the list that he may be charged with criminal trespassing if he enters a Pennsylvania casino and forfeiture of any gambling winnings related to visiting such casino.
said Elizabeth Lanza, director of the Bureau of Gambling and Problem Gambling. “The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board encourages anyone who thinks they may have a gambling problem to seek treatment and to consider taking advantage of voluntary self-exclusion programs.”
Additional data from the Pennsylvania program showed, based on individuals’ responses during the self-exclusion interview, that 4,335 (21%) of the 20,000 individuals in Pennsylvania had chosen to ban for life.
A total of 12,811 males and 7,189 females were enrolled in the self-exclusion program—the ages of the individuals on this list ranged from 21 to 102 years old.
One thousand twenty-six self-excluded people chose to re-enroll in the program after having their names previously removed from the list, including 307 who chose a lifetime ban upon re-enrolment.
Lanza added that many of the individuals who are enrolled in the casino’s self-exclusion program are not only involved in slot machines and table games but also in other types of gaming activities that it organizes. PGCBsuch as online casino games, sports betting, video game terminals at truck stops, and fantasy sports.
To help individuals who wish to prevent themselves from other types of legal gambling, the PGCB It has additional self-exclusion programs.
A total of 3,778 people banned themselves from online casino gambling, including poker. Nearly 800 people have excluded themselves from fantasy sports. For VGTs, the list includes 1,467 names.
