Illinois gambling regulators have moved to broaden the state’s self-exclusion system with a package of rule changes meant to make it easier to join, easier to leave, and broader in scope. The Illinois Gaming Board voted unanimously to advance the proposals during Responsible Gaming Education Month, as the state weighs how to update a program that began more than two decades ago.
The package would add three shorter exclusion terms, six months, one year and three years, alongside the existing five-year option. It would also create new ways to enroll, including by mail, through a treatment provider and online, instead of relying only on in-person sign-up.
Under the proposed rules, people who choose a shorter term could be automatically re-enrolled unless they opt out. Those seeking to come off a five-year or indefinite exclusion would still need an affidavit or a letter from a certified gambling addiction counsellor saying they are no longer a problem gambler.
The current program is much narrower. The Illinois Gaming Board says the Self-Exclusion Program was created in 2002 for casinos and was later expanded under the Sports Wagering Act, signed on 28 June 2019, to cover sports betting. Today, people must enrol in person at sanctioned sites around the state, and the process takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
Fruchter told board members that the present system lacks options offered in other states, including mail applications, a treatment-provider pathway and an online structure. He also said research points to shame, embarrassment, stigma and procedural friction at the point of entry as reasons people consider self-exclusion but do not complete it.
The figures behind the debate are stark. About 16,000 people are enrolled in Illinois’ self-exclusion plan, according to reporting cited by the board, while a state-commissioned study estimated that 383,000 Illinois adults have a gambling problem and another 761,000 are at risk of developing one. Another report cited in the coverage found that the state spent less than 6 cents on addiction treatment for every $100 of gaming tax revenue in 2025.
The proposals would also bar gambling companies from directly marketing to enrolled players for at least 12 months, and would bring video gaming terminals and fantasy sports into the self-exclusion program. Reporting on the same package also noted that Illinois’ current list does not apply to the state’s more than 50,000 slot machines, a gap officials have said they want to close.
For now, the rule changes go to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for public comment and review, a process Capitol News Illinois said could take six months to a year.
