Illinois moves to block self-excluded players from video gambling terminals

Illinois is pushing new rules that would bring the state’s video gambling terminals into its self-exclusion framework. For PSPs, acquirers, and operators in the state, the practical issue is simple: a large cash-heavy machine network is being pushed toward identity-based funding and account controls.

1. The Illinois Gaming Board said on Thursday it wants to extend self-exclusion to the state’s network of nearly 50,000 video gambling terminals, which it describes as the largest in the world. Right now, self-exclusion covers casino gambling, sports betting, and the lottery, but not these slot-like machines.
2. Gaming Board administrator Marcus Fruchter said adding video gaming terminals to the self-exclusion list is “another crucial step” to ensuring players are protected in Illinois. He added that the Board is “decidedly on the right path” and will keep moving forward in a “focused, collaborative, intentional, and efficient manner.”
3. The proposed rules would stop the machines from accepting cash directly and require players to buy vouchers through a dedicated device instead. Those vouchers could be funded with cash or digital payment, but the point is that the player’s identity would be verified at the time of purchase, confirming legal gambling age, 21, and checking whether the person is on the exclusion list.
4. Players would also be able to use a video gaming account, but only voluntarily once identity has been confirmed. Operators would have to make sure such accounts include responsible gambling tools, including self-exclusion, and that people already on the self-exclusion list cannot open an account in the first place.
5. The Board called the measure a “public health priority,” but the operational detail matters more than the slogan: Illinois is trying to close a gap where excluded players could still access gaming terminals even after being blocked from other regulated gambling channels. Previous efforts ran into technical problems, but the Board says the technology is now available to upgrade the state’s tens of thousands of machines.