This story is a collaboration between Illinois Answers Project and Capitol News Illinois.
Illinois gambling regulators are looking to make it easier for compulsive gamblers to ban themselves from legal gambling under rules proposed Thursday afternoon.
The changes proposed by the Illinois Gaming Board, which could take years to fully implement, would expand the enrollment options for the self-exclusion list. Nearly 16,000 people have signed up for the list, which allows people to bar themselves from sports betting, casinos and other forms of legalized betting.
The list does not apply to the state’s massive network of more than 50,000 slot machines — a gap that IGB officials
According to a study commissioned by the state, an estimated 383,000 Illinois adults have a gambling problem, and another 761,000 are at risk of developing one.
An Illinois Answers Project and Capitol News Illinois investigation found that for every $100 the state collected from gambling tax revenues last year, it spent less than 6 cents on addiction treatment. The report exposed holes in the state’s patchwork of treatment resources, including obstacles with the state’s self-exclusion program.
Addressing roadblocks to self-exclusion
For now, gamblers can only sign up for the self-exclusion list to ban themselves for terms of five years or more. Experts say that roadblock prevents many people from seeking help.
Applicants to the list can visit one of 32 in-person sites in Illinois, half of which are casinos, which for compulsive gamblers may invite additional temptation and discourage signup. Outside Chicago, the options are scarce with only five options that aren’t casinos sanctioned by the Gaming Board.
“Illinois offers no notarized mail alternative, no treatment provider pathway and no online portal presently in operation as offered in comparable jurisdictions,” said Illinois Gaming Board administrator Marcus Fruchter while introducing the rules.
“Research shows that shame, embarrassment, stigma and procedural friction at the point of entry are among the barriers most consistently reported by persons who considered but did not complete self-exclusion enrollment.”
A separate proposed rule looks to add new six-month, one-year and three-year exclusion options, with automatic re-enrollment but the option to opt out of the program at any time.
People on the five-year or indefinite exclusion tiers would still need to take the step of obtaining an affidavit or letter from a certified gambling addiction counselor. The letter would require the counselor to confirm the individual is no longer a problem gambler, a high bar to pass.
Alyssa Wilson, a Fresno State University associate professor who studies gambling, said she thought “Illinois could really do a lot” if they stopped the minimum five-year term for exclusion. She said shorter “cool-off” periods could reduce barriers for people seeking gambling addiction help.
A third proposed rule would prohibit gambling companies from directing targeted marketing at people coming off the self-exclusion list for a period of 12 months or more.
The IGB voted unanimously to move forward with all three proposed rule changes, which will now go to the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for public comment and review, a process which could take six months to a year.
Gambling’s rapid growth
Available gambling options have exploded since the state’s self-exclusion list took effect in 2002. Gamblers in Illinois lost more than $2.5 billion at casinos and the lottery that year, less than a third of the $7.8 billion they lost last year at casinos or on slot machines, the lottery and sportsbetting.
Read more: Addicted to gambling in Illinois: ‘Someone has decided they can make money off you’ | What Compulsive Gamblers Know
“Legalized gambling has grown significantly in Illinois and across the country,” Fruchter said. “This expansion, particularly in the aftermath of the 2019 Gaming Expansion Law, necessitates corresponding updates to the self-exclusion program.”
The changes would not apply to the state lottery’s self-exclusion list, which operates independently.
Nor would they apply to the Illinois Gaming Board’s involuntary exclusion list, which the Chicago Sun-Times reported contained only 34 publicly listed names. The Illinois Gaming Board has the power to ban people, including those convicted of illegal gambling, from entering casinos, but not sports wagering or video gambling.
Video gambling, which now inhabits all corners of the state from gas stations to carryout restaurants, was not around when the state’s self-exclusion list was created, and the machines have never been integrated. Their absence has left users of Illinois’ largest legal gambling market without an option to self-exclude.
The IGB passed a resolution Thursday affirming its commitment to changing that.
The resolution declared the board’s intent to use identity card readers installed at video gaming locations, which would prohibit those on the self-exclusion list from playing.
Fruchter said the self-exclusion list will be implemented through the 9,000 slot machine locations statewide and move the state to a cashless system.
The state currently has a $162 million, 10-year contract with LNW Gaming, which builds slot machines and table games, to upgrade the state’s terminals for self-exclusion among other features. The company has a Dec. 31, 2027, contractual deadline to complete the transition to the upgraded system, with fines for delays.
The Gaming Board also passed a rule to bring fantasy contests under its regulatory umbrella, as required by to the Sports Wagering Act. Fantasy sports, though a legally distinct category from sports gambling under Illinois law, are now legally required to be included in the voluntary self-exclusion program and require players to be at least 21 years old.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.