Editor’s Note: The American Gaming Association has designated September as Responsible Gaming Month, expanding the time to deliver message about RG from one week. Since its inception Global Gaming Business has supported all efforts to education the industry and players about responsible gaming and in September, the GGB NEWS SPECIAL REPORT will feature occasional news stories, opinions and research conducted on the subject.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) recently denied the requests of two men who asked to be removed from the state’s voluntary online gambling self-exclusion list. They both gave the same reason: When they signed up for self-exclusion online, they discovered they also were denied access to the state’s 16 land-based casinos.
Earlier this year, the 7-member board also unanimously denied the same requests from five other individuals. Many more gamblers may have been denied entry to brick-and-mortar casinos, but haven’t filed a formal request with the board to be removed from the online gambling self-exclusion list.
Currently, according to PGCB figures, about 2,000 people have signed up for the online gambling and sports betting exclusionary list, and more than 10,000 are on the casino list. Another 785 individuals have signed up to self-exclude from truck stop VGT access and 448 people have self-excluded from fantasy sports.
Those on the online gambling and casino self-exclusion lists recognize they can be charged with trespassing and forfeit any winnings if they’re found in a casino. They can sign up to be on the list for one or five years or forever.
One of the two men who recently appeared before the gaming board said he signed up for a 1-year online gaming exclusion but asked to be removed one month later. He said his family would not be able to take a planned trip to a Caesars property in Las Vegas since his Diamond member account, established through Harrah’s Philadelphia property, had been deactivated and the operator said the petitioner would not be welcome.
The staff attorney said the man “stated that conditions placed on him as a result of signing up on the interactive self-exclusion list are hidden in the self-exclusion forms and that the forms are misleading, and therefore he was not fully aware of the ramifications of placing himself on the self-exclusion list.”
Other people who have self-excluded from online gambling but have asked to be allowed in casinos have had similar complaints. One woman who signed up for the list for one year and was denied removal said “she wanted to exclude only from online gambling because it’s so easy to gamble on the phone. She had lost a significant amount of money in a short time, and she wanted to stop herself from gambling before it became a problem,” a staff attorney said. However, she wanted to be allowed to enter casinos to attend social functions with family members and had been denied.
The board’s staff noted when a person enrolls for the self-exclusion list, they are provided information stating casinos have the option to make their own decisions regarding individuals who sign up. They pointed out the board’s website, responsibleplay.pa.gov, states the self-exclusion list does not ban player participation in all Pennsylvania gambling venues. However, gaming providers may have stricter self-exclusion policies, including banning self-excluded patrons from all forms of gambling at their venues (casino gaming, horse racing, iGaming in other jurisdictions).
Besides Harrah’s Philadelphia, other casinos that ban self-excluded online gaming enrollees are Wind Creek Bethlehem, the Rivers Casinos and the Live! Casinos. One individual who self-excluded for five years told the gaming board that not only was he evicted from Live! Philadelphia, but he received notices from several other multiple casinos saying he would not be admitted on their premises.
PGCB spokesman Doug Harbach said, “Casino operators are able to cross-ban and there is no circumvention to those policies. Individuals can always do third-party software.”
That includes GamBan and other platforms that sell software denying individuals access to online gaming sites, thus avoiding signing up with the state. Also, online gambling sites offer options for customers to place limits on the time or money spent on them.
