Illinois Gaming Board approves self-exclusion proposal for 50,000 terminals

The Illinois Gaming Board approved a proposal last week to bring the state's video gaming terminals into its self-exclusion programme, according to the board. The measure would cover roughly 50,000 machines, but it requires sign-off from the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules before it can take effect.

Players who want to stop would be able to do so by verifying their identity at redemption terminals, the board said. That step would place video gaming alongside casinos, sportsbooks and fantasy sports, which already operate under the same rules. The proposal also envisions a cashless option: operators would be permitted to provide player accounts on a voluntary basis, and those accounts would come with age and identity verification as well as KYC and anti-money laundering safeguards.

Marcus Fruchter, the administrator, called the market the "largest of its kind" and said folding video gaming into the self-exclusion program was a matter of gaming integrity and public health for the IGB. He added that no comparable effort had ever been carried out on the scale of this market, which he said is the biggest video gaming network of its type anywhere in the world.

The idea of widening the self-exclusion register was raised for the first time in June. Speaking at a meeting, Fruchter explained that the board wants to close existing gaps by making changes and enhancements grounded in research and data, with the aim of helping the program keep evolving, meet participants' needs and give people in treatment and recovery from problem gambling the support they need without undue barriers.