Posted on: December 19, 2024, 09:56h.
Last updated on: December 19, 2024, 10:08h.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) is reversing course on a proposed change to its casino self-exclusion program.
In November, the PGCB, which oversees one of the richest and largest commercial gaming industries in the United States, suggested a major change to how self-excluded individuals go about regaining access to one of the state’s 17 brick-and-mortar casinos.
Under the present scheme, a person can ban themselves from casinos for a period of one year, five years, or life. If the individual selects the one- or five-year option, once their selected duration expires, they remain excluded from casinos until they apply with the PGCB to have their entry privileges restored.
The PGCB’s other self-exclusion programs for iGaming, video gaming terminals (VGTs), and fantasy sports automatically restore access for self-excluded individuals once their self-imposed ban terminates.
Reinstatement Policy to Remain
The PGCB reasoned that the need for self-excluded casino players to apply for reinstatement causes burdensome paperwork for the gaming agency. The board also claimed some excluded individuals have unknowingly trespassed casinos on the erroneous belief that their access had been restored following the conclusion of their self-exclusion period.
This comes from either not reading the self-exclusion paperwork that they sign clearly enough or simply forgetting after several years that they must request removal. However, with these individuals remaining on the self-exclusion list, they are subject to trespass charges if caught in a licensed facility, and the confiscation of funds if they win while gaming,” the PGCB wrote in defense of the proposed rule change.
The PGCB additionally said the change would harmonize the state’s four self-exclusion programs. However, after receiving dozens of public comments on the proposed amendment, with nearly all of the letters and emails in opposition, the state gaming regulatory opted to keep the casino self-exclusion program as is.
This is how the process is to work and the Board appreciates everyone who took the time to provide input,” said Doug Harbach, the PGCB’s communications director.
Responsible gaming advocates celebrated the decision.
“It really slows down an impulsive thought and really helps people think it through,” Jody Bechtold, a gambling addiction expert and CEO of The Better Institute, said of the casino self-exclusion program’s need to apply for reinstatement. “When it’s automatic expiration, people are triggered. They’re tempted by the very act of finding out that they can gamble again if they want.”
Program Statistics
Being home to retail and online casinos, in-person and mobile sports betting, truck stops with VGTs, and fantasy sports, paired with the fifth-largest population, Pennsylvania has one of the more robust self-exclusion programs in the nation.
The PGCB says its four self-exclusion programs have 33,950 enrollees. The casino self-exclusion initiative has the most with 23,238. Of the list, males account for 15,045 enrollments.
More than 7,200 people have removed their iGaming privileges and almost 2K people have prohibited their legal right to play VGTs.
Since the casino self-exclusion program began in 2006, the PGCB says there have been nearly 9,200 incidences of self-excluded persons attempting to enter a casino.
