Residents of Pennsylvania wishing to prevent themselves from gambling online now have a tool at their disposal to help them do just that after the state’s Gaming Control Board announced the iGaming Self-Exclusion Program this past Tuesday.

Separate from the existing casino Self-Exclusion Program, the recently introduced self-help tool will allow voluntary exclusion from the new iGaming activities for ‘sports wagering and casino-like games’ that will soon be available in the northeastern U.S. state.

According to the official press release…

The new effort is modeled after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s (PGCB) Self-Exclusion Program, which has successfully aided thousands of individuals in their desire to voluntarily prohibit themselves from taking part in gaming in The Keystone State‘s casinos. Similarly, the iGaming Self-Exclusion Program will enable people to voluntarily select 1-year, 5-year, or lifetime bans for online gambling activities.

Program requirements:

All online gaming sites within the Commonwealth are required to deny gaming privileges and refuse wagers to all individuals on the new self-exclusion list, and must additionally refuse any complimentary goods and services, player club membership, and other like privileges. They must also ensure that those individuals on the iGaming Self-Exclusion list do not receive targeted mailings, solicitations, telemarketing promotions, player club materials or any other iGaming activity related promotional materials.

Individuals interested in obtaining information and a sign-up tool for the program can be accessed via a special link under the QuickLinks tab of the homepage on the PGCB’s website or you may speak directly with a representative by calling (717)346-8300.

Test period:

Made possible by Governor Tom Wolf’s signature on a gambling expansion bill in October 2017, on Tuesday afternoon, the first legal, regulated online sports wagers within the borders of Pennsylvania became possible when SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia began a three-day state-supervised test period of its online betting app.

On the same day that the PGCB revealed the availability of the iGaming Self-Exclusion Program it confirmed that the Rush Street Gaming-owned casino had enabled the creation of accounts at its online site for an initial test taking sports bets from 4pm to 12am, with repeat testing to take place during an expanded time frame on Wednesday and Thursday.

Unexpected delays:

Both of the Chicago-based gaming company’s, SugarHouse and its sister property, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, opened sportsbooks at their property’s in December. They were the first casinos in the state to do so, with the initial hope of launching online betting in early May. However, according to Play Pennsylvania, the issue that held things up was obtaining approval for the new sports betting apps and in the Apple App store.

Launch date:

Per the regulatory body, online casinos will all launch on July 15, with the possible exception of Sands Bethlehem and the $600 million Stadium Casino hotel, and entertainment complex, which is slated to open in South Philadelphia’s Stadium District in 2020. The former will most likely not have transferred the license in time and the latter is busy with the casino build and a Category 4 casino to be built in Derry, just east of Pittsburgh.