Casino Self-Exclusion, State by State
Self-exclusion is a formal request filed with a state agency, recorded on a list that agency maintains, and enforced against every operator the state licenses.
The short answer
- What it is: an application filed with a state regulator, not a toggle inside one casino app and not the same as asking an operator to close your account.
- What it reaches: every company licensed in that state, including brands that have not launched. Nothing outside the state line.
- How long: commonly one year, five years or lifetime, though West Virginia publishes no fixed menu and Michigan offers one or five years only.
- Coming off: some states expire the ban automatically, some hold you on the list until you file a removal request, and every lifetime enrollment is close to permanent.
- Offshore: no state list reaches an offshore operator, and an offshore account setting is worth only what that company chooses to honor.
What Self-Exclusion Actually Is
Strip away the branding and a state program is a database, maintained by a regulator and distributed to every licensee under a confidentiality obligation.
Every state that licenses legal blackjack online also runs a self-exclusion program, and those programs are the strongest consumer protection a regulated market offers. They are also the most misunderstood. Self-exclusion is not a cooling-off toggle inside one casino app, and it is not the same as asking an operator to close your account. It is a formal request filed with a state agency, recorded on a list that agency maintains, and enforced against every operator the state licenses.
You submit an application carrying your name, date of birth, address, physical description and usually at least the last four digits of your Social Security number. The regulator verifies your identity, photographs you or takes a photo you supply, and adds the record. The list goes to every licensee under a confidentiality obligation, and operators must screen against it at account opening and against accounts that already exist.
The distinction worth holding onto is who enforces the bar. Ask a casino to close your account and the casino is the only party with an obligation, lasting as long as its own goodwill. Enroll in a state program and the obligation shifts to the regulator and attaches to every company licensed there, including brands that have not launched. Under 58 Pa. Code Chapter 815a, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board keeps the interactive gaming list, distributes it, and requires operators to refuse wagers and deny gaming privileges. The player notifies nobody.
A state list
Binding. The regulator holds the record and every licensee in that state must screen against it, refuse wagers and deny gaming privileges. It reaches brands that have not launched yet.
An operator’s own switch
Stops at one brand. Ask a casino to close your account and that casino is the only party with an obligation, lasting as long as its own goodwill.
An offshore setting
Voluntary and reaches nothing. There is no cross-operator database and no regulator screening deposits, and a sister brand on the same platform will usually take a registration the same afternoon.
What Enrollment Does to Your Accounts
Existing accounts close or suspend
Michigan puts this in rule text: under Mich. Admin. Code R. 432.676, when an operator learns a prohibited person holds an account, any wager made must be cancelled and the account suspended or closed, with written notice to the board’s executive director.
Marketing has to stop
Pennsylvania’s casino chapter, 58 Pa. Code Chapter 503a, requires licensees to ensure self-excluded persons do not receive junket solicitations, targeted mailings, telemarketing promotions or other promotional material. Michigan lets licensed third parties touch its data for one purpose only, suppressing promotional contact.
Your balance is settled
Regulated operators return the cashable balance in an account they close for self-exclusion, following their approved internal controls. Bonus balances and unmet wagering requirements generally do not survive.
Withdraw a clean balance before you file, not after
Bonus money and unmet wagering requirements generally do not survive the closure. If an operator stalls, our page on account closures and what operators owe you covers the escalation path.
What Happens if You Gamble Anyway
Nothing here is airtight. Screening can lag, and a determined person will usually find a way for a while. States handle the aftermath differently, and several forfeit the money.
| State | What happens to money won while excluded |
|---|---|
| New Jersey | A self-excluded person who gambles anyway loses any winnings, including chips or tokens in their possession, electronic credits, and any funds in an internet gaming account that resulted from that activity. |
| Pennsylvania | Forfeited winnings are remitted to the Board for compulsive and problem gambling programs. Gambling in a licensed facility while excluded can also bring a criminal trespass citation. |
| Michigan | Winnings taken against the Detroit list are confiscated for the state’s Compulsive Gaming Prevention Fund. |
| Rhode Island | The destination is written into statute: winnings are forfeited to the Division of Lotteries after taxes and other applicable withholdings. |
| Delaware | Gambling while listed is a class A misdemeanor, and any winnings collected are subject to forfeiture. |
Read that as a design choice rather than a punishment: forfeiture removes the reward from a relapse. A player who breaks an exclusion, wins, then finds the money gone tends to call it a scam. It is the term they agreed to.
The Limitation to Understand Before You Enroll
Self-exclusion is state by state and, outside the regulated states, operator by operator. One form does not lock every door you have open.
There is no national list. Enrolling with the New Jersey DGE does nothing to your Pennsylvania accounts, and a Michigan exclusion is invisible to a Connecticut licensee. Every program below stops at the state line, and none reaches an offshore site.
Say that plainly to yourself before deciding the job is done, because the worst outcome this page could produce is a reader who files one form, believes the door is locked, and learns otherwise in the week they can least afford it. If you play in more than one state, or hold offshore accounts alongside licensed ones, you need more than one action. Use the state-by-state guide to where online blackjack is legal to inventory which regulators have jurisdiction over your accounts.
Two smaller gaps, both easy to miss
Tribal casinos run their own programs, and most states split enrollment by product. An exclusion that covers what you play is not the same as one that covers everything.
The rest of the responsible gambling section
Self-exclusion is the heaviest tool in the set. These four cover the lighter ones and the reasons people reach for them.
The Seven Programs Side by Side
Terms, enrollment route, what one filing covers and how you come off, for all seven states that license online blackjack.
| State | Program | Terms | Enrollment | Scope | Removal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | DGE Voluntary Self-Exclusion List | One year, five years, lifetime | DGE conference for all terms; online or player account for one and five years | Casinos, racetrack sports betting and online, in one form | Request required; lifetime final |
| Pennsylvania | Four PGCB lists: casino, iGaming, VGT, fantasy | One year, five years, lifetime | Online, or in person by appointment | Each list covers its own product only | iGaming, VGT and fantasy expire; casino needs a request; lifetime needs a petition after 10 years |
| Michigan | Responsible Gaming Database; separate Detroit casino list | Database one or five years; Detroit list indefinite, removal after five | In person, or notarized by email or mail | Online casino and online sports betting, selectable separately | Database expires automatically |
| West Virginia | WV Lottery Self-Exclusion Program | Reported open-ended, one-year minimum; no published menu | Notarized paper form with photo ID to the Deputy Director of Casinos | Four racetrack casinos, The Greenbrier, iGaming and sports apps | Separate application, approval at Lottery discretion |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Gaming Self-Exclusion List | One year, five years, lifetime | Online only | Online casino, sports wagering, fantasy, Keno, online lottery; tribal floors separate | Self-serve once the term ends; lifetime final |
| Delaware | Delaware Lottery Self-Exclusion Program | One year minimum, five years, lifetime | In person only, Dover office | Three video lottery agents, their iGaming sites, the Lottery app | Appear in person after the term; lifetime final |
| Rhode Island | Statutory program, plus an online account tool | Statewide reported one year, five years or permanent; account tool one or five | Statewide reported in person at casino security; account tool self-serve | Statewide covers the casinos; tool covers the online account | Statewide needs casino and Lottery approval; tool restores automatically |
If the list is not the right tool yet
Self-exclusion is a transaction stop, not a treatment. These pages cover the help, the household and the age rules around it.
New Jersey
The broadest single filing of the seven, run by the Division of Gaming Enforcement rather than by the casinos.
New Jersey has kept a self-exclusion list since 2001 and extended it to internet gaming when the online market opened in 2013. The Division of Gaming Enforcement administers it rather than the casinos, and its defining feature is breadth: one form covers Atlantic City casinos, racetrack sports wagering facilities, and internet gaming and sports wagering together.
Four enrollment routes exist and they are not interchangeable.
In-person or video conference with the DGE
Covers all three categories at once, and it is the only route that offers all three terms.
A second conference route
Limited to internet gaming and sports wagering, and it also offers all three terms.
Self-serve registration online
At njportal.com/dge/selfexclusion, internet-only, one year or five years.
From inside an existing player account
Starts internet self-exclusion, one year or five years.
Terms are one year, five years or lifetime, and the menu depends on the route. Both conference routes offer all three; the self-serve routes offer one year or five years only, so a lifetime exclusion has to be arranged with the Division directly, never through a web form. Filing requires picture identification and you are photographed. Appointments run through the DGE self-exclusion line at 1-833-788-4DGE, which is 1-833-788-4343, or selfexclusioninquiry@njdge.gov. Applications are taken at the Arcade Building in Atlantic City and 140 E. Front St. in Trenton, and by the Racing Commission at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park.
New Jersey’s periods are minimums
When a one-year or five-year term ends you stay listed until you file a removal request the Division processes, and lifetime enrollment cannot be undone. One detail players rarely expect: a casino may keep its own restrictions on your account even after the state removes you.
Documentation sits on the Attorney General’s self-exclusion page and its frequently asked questions. Market background is on our New Jersey online blackjack page.
Pennsylvania
The most complete architecture of the seven and the easiest program to get wrong, because it is not one program.
The Gaming Control Board runs four lists split by product. Enrolling in one does not enroll you in the others. A player barred from iGaming who walks into a licensed casino has violated nothing.
Casino
Governed by Chapter 503a. This list does not expire and stays in force until the Board accepts a removal request.
Interactive gaming
Governed by Chapter 815a, which sets the same three-term menu, identification requirements and operator duties as the casino list. It expires when the term ends.
Video gaming terminals
Covers licensed VGT establishments only, and expires at the end of the term.
Fantasy contests
A separate filing again, and it also expires at the end of the term.
All four run through Responsible Play PA, with enrollment either electronic through the Board’s website or in person by appointment at Harrisburg headquarters, a regional office or a licensed facility. Electronic filers submit a passport-style photograph; in-person filers are photographed by staff. Appointments and questions go to the Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling at 717-346-8300 or problemgambling@pa.gov. The overview is at responsibleplay.pa.gov, with procedure in the Board’s self-exclusion FAQ.
Terms are one year, meaning 12 months, five years, or lifetime, written into the regulations rather than left to policy. Winnings taken by a self-excluded person are remitted to the Board for compulsive and problem gambling programs, excluded players cannot recover losses or accept complimentary goods, and gambling in a licensed facility while excluded can bring a criminal trespass citation.
Removal is where the four programs stop behaving alike
The iGaming, video gaming terminal and fantasy exclusions expire when the term ends; extending one means contacting the Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling first. The casino exclusion does not expire and stays in force until the Board accepts a removal request. Lifetime enrollment is close to permanent by design: online removal requests from lifetime enrollees are denied automatically, and only after 10 years may one petition the Board, supported by certified documentation of a completed problem gambling assessment and treatment compliance. Petitions go through the Board Clerk at 717-265-7451, and a denied petitioner waits five years to refile.
See our Pennsylvania online blackjack page.
Michigan
Two lists that do not talk to each other: a statewide online database, and a separate Detroit casino list.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board has run a Responsible Gaming Database since 2021 covering internet gaming and internet sports betting, and separately keeps a Disassociated Persons List for the Detroit casinos. Enrolling in one has no effect on the other.
Responsible Gaming Database
- One year or five years.
- Scope is selectable: online casino gaming, online sports betting, or both, with different terms for each.
- Filed in person at the board’s office, or printed, notarized and sent to MGCB-RGD@michigan.gov.
- When the term expires the name comes off automatically.
Detroit Disassociated Persons List
- An indefinite bar, with a removal application only after five years.
- Breaking it is criminal rather than administrative.
- Winnings are confiscated for the state’s Compulsive Gaming Prevention Fund.
- Neither list governs Michigan’s tribal casinos.
Application date and effective date are different dates
Processing is slow by the standards of the other six states, with written confirmation taking as long as 45 days. Nothing stops you in the meantime.
The board’s campaign site publishes the materials at dontregretthebet.org. The statutory footing is MCL 432.312, which authorizes the database, states that an authorized participant may voluntarily prohibit himself or herself from establishing an internet wagering account, requires operators to offer self-exclusion alongside deposit, wagering and time limits, and exempts the list from Freedom of Information Act disclosure. Rule R 432.674 lets a player request placement through the wagering account. See our Michigan online blackjack page.
West Virginia
The cleanest coverage of the seven, with no product menu to get wrong, and the least self-serve process.
West Virginia consolidates everything into a single statewide form administered by the West Virginia Lottery. One signed request covers the four racetrack casinos, the casino at The Greenbrier, and the iGaming and sports betting apps tied to the Lottery. Enrollment is paper-based rather than self-serve.
Use the current request form
The version revised in October 2024, filed with photo identification.
Sign it in front of Lottery security
It must be signed in front of West Virginia Lottery security personnel, or notarized if it is not.
Send it to the Deputy Director of Casinos
That office administers the program. Removal uses a separate application.
Call the Lottery before you file
The reported rule is that at least one year must pass before a removal request is considered, with approval at the Lottery’s discretion. West Virginia does not publish the fixed term menu the other states advertise; the structure is an open-ended exclusion with a minimum period before you can ask to come off. The Lottery’s self-exclusion page did not return readable content in August 2026, so treat those specifics as reported.
The legal backing is verifiable even where the consumer page is not. W. Va. Code 29-22E-15 requires a log of all excluded players kept by the commission and by each licensee, and bars anyone on either list from placing an interactive wager. The Interactive Wagering Rule at 179 CSR 10 obliges operators to verify that a patron is 21, is not self-excluded and is not otherwise prohibited before accepting play.
The iPLAY account setting is not the statewide form
The Lottery’s iPLAY account has its own account-level exclusion, and using it does not exclude you from casino gaming, sports betting or iGaming. Those need the statewide form. See our West Virginia online blackjack page.
Connecticut
The only one of the seven enrolled entirely online, with the widest coverage from a single filing.
Connecticut runs one statewide list through the Department of Consumer Protection. No term requires an office visit. Registration runs through gaming-exclusion.service.ct.gov, questions go to dcp.selfexclusion@ct.gov, and the overview is at portal.ct.gov/gaming/self-exclusion.
Terms are one year, five years or lifetime. Coverage is unusually wide for a single filing:
- Online casino gaming
- Retail and online sports wagering
- Fantasy contests
- Keno
- Online lottery ticket sales
The terms bar an enrolled person from collecting any winnings, recovering any losses or accepting complimentary gifts, services or any other thing of value from a licensee, place the duty to refrain from gambling on the individual, and disclaim department and licensee liability for acts or omissions in enforcing the request. Removal is self-serve through the same portal once the period has ended, and a lifetime selection cannot be reversed.
The gap Connecticut players need to know is physical
The state list does not cover the gaming floors at the two tribal casinos, which keep separate forms. If the floor is the problem rather than the app, the online filing will not do the job. Our Connecticut online blackjack page explains the compact-based structure behind that split.
Delaware
The opposite of Connecticut on process, and the sharpest consequence of the seven for breaking the bar.
The Delaware Lottery requires you to show up. There is no online or mail-in route for any term. One filing covers gaming at the three licensed video lottery agents, their iGaming websites, and the Lottery’s own iGaming and sports mobile app. Terms are a minimum of one year, five years, or lifetime, with lifetime irreversible. Enrolled players also lose comps, credit and check-cashing privileges, and free play offers, which closes the promotional side door as well as the front one.
Where to enroll
The Lottery office, 1575 McKee Road, Suite 102, Dover, DE 19904-1903, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. excluding state holidays. Appointments are strongly recommended at 302-744-1669, with walk-ins accommodated when possible.
Gambling while listed is a class A misdemeanor
A person who gambles while listed cannot collect winnings or recover losses, and any winnings collected are subject to forfeiture. Removal requires appearing at the Lottery office after the period expires, so the affirmative step at the end matches the one at the start.
The program is documented on the Lottery’s iGaming self-exclusion page, which also publishes the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems helpline at 1-888-850-8888. Our Delaware online blackjack page covers the lottery-run model.
Rhode Island
The least transparent program of the seven, and the one that needs the most careful description before you sign anything.
Two different tools exist and only one is easy to verify. The statewide program is written into statute. R.I. Gen. Laws 42-61.2-14 requires the Lincoln and Tiverton casinos to maintain compulsive and problem gambling programs including player self-exclusion, administered in cooperation with the state.
The statewide statutory program
- A barred person cannot collect winnings or recover losses.
- Winnings from a self-excluded person, after taxes and other applicable withholdings, are forfeited to the Division of Lotteries.
- The Division forwards up to $150,000 per year to the Rhode Island Council on Problem Gambling for research, education and prevention of teenage gambling addiction, with anything above that cap going to the general fund.
- Reported terms of one year, five years or permanent, filed in person at casino security with photo identification, no mail-in option, and removal requiring both casino management and Lottery approval.
The online account tool
- An account-level Self-Exclusion and Timeout tool on the Lottery’s online platform.
- Timeouts run from 24 hours to nine months; self-exclusion runs one year or five years.
- Activated inside the account or by calling Player Support at 1-800-288-2485.
- Neither can be reversed once started, and access restores automatically at the end.
- A real control on the online account, not a substitute for the statewide list.
The statewide mechanics are reported, not confirmed
What the statute does not supply is enrollment mechanics, and the Rhode Island Lottery does not publish a working page for the statewide program. Have the current rules read to you before signing anything. Forfeited money with a named destination is rare in American gambling law.
The Lottery’s responsible gambling section publishes the state hotline at 1-877-9-GAMBLE, which is 1-877-942-6253, and the Rhode Island Council on Problem Gambling at 401-354-2877. More at Rhode Island online blackjack.
The regulators that hold these lists
Each program sits with a named agency. These pages cover who they are, what they publish and how licensing is enforced.
What Happens When the Term Ends
The seven states divide into two groups, and knowing which one you are in changes what you must do in a year or in five.
Expires on its own
- Michigan’s database drops names when the period runs out.
- Pennsylvania’s iGaming, VGT and fantasy programs expire at the end of the ban.
- Rhode Island’s account tool restores login by itself.
- Connecticut sits partway: the term must end before removal is possible, but you still file it.
Continues until you act
- New Jersey’s periods are minimums.
- Pennsylvania’s casino list is the same.
- Delaware requires a return trip to Dover.
- West Virginia requires an application the Lottery need not grant.
Neither design is better. Automatic expiry removes a barrier that can trap someone whose life has moved on; an affirmative request adds friction where friction helps most. What matters is knowing which applies, because a person in an automatic state who assumes the bar persists is exposed the day it lapses. In the states that expire, an extension must be requested before the term ends. Pairing the exclusion with deposit and loss limits on any account you later reopen adds a layer that does not evaporate on a fixed date.
Offshore Self-Exclusion and What It Is Worth
The list is enforced through licensing, and a site licensed in Curacao or Anjouan holds nothing an American regulator can suspend.
A New Jersey filing does not close an offshore account, does not stop offshore marketing, and puts your name in front of nobody obliged to act on it.
What offshore sites offer instead is a self-exclusion setting in the account, and its value depends entirely on the operator’s willingness to honor it. There is no cross-operator database, no regulator screening deposits, and generally no consequence for a company that quietly reopens an account or keeps emailing. Someone who self-excludes at one offshore brand can usually register at a sister brand on the same platform that afternoon. A few operators run these tools conscientiously; you cannot tell which from the outside, and that is the whole problem. Our guide to whether online blackjack is legal in the US takes up the broader question.
One genuine exception deserves credit
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission operates a self-exclusion program that is permanent and irrevocable once effective, applies across every interactive gaming site the Commission licenses rather than one brand, and forfeits money deposited or won after it takes effect to a charity the Commission selects. The terms sit on its interactive gaming player protection page, with the caveat that immediate implementation is not guaranteed. That is a real cross-operator mechanism with a real financial consequence, and nothing else offshore comes closer to a state program.
Our page on offshore gambling licenses and what they actually require covers the rest of the field.
Why the licence is the whole difference
An exclusion is only as good as the authority standing behind it. These pages cover what that authority does and what its absence looks like.
What to Pair It With
Self-exclusion closes the licensed front door. It leaves three gaps, and each one has a different tool.
Access to sites no regulator controls
Device-level blocking software sits between you and the sites rather than between you and a licensee, so it does not care whether an operator is licensed in Trenton or nowhere. Install it on every device you own and give the uninstall password to someone else.
Payment
Most major US banks and card issuers now offer a gambling block that declines merchant category code 7995 at the card level, and several impose a cooling-off period before it can be lifted. Ask for a gambling block rather than a general merchant block, and ask how long removal takes, because the delay is the feature. Crypto deposits route around card blocks entirely, so the exchange account needs attention too.
The reason you enrolled
A list stops transactions; it treats nothing. Every state above funds treatment, most of it free to residents.
Our page on gambling blocking software covers the options and their weak points, and the referral routes and state numbers are on our problem gambling help resources page. Limits and reality checks that work inside a licensed account sit on our responsible gambling hub.
The national helpline number changed on Jan. 29, 2026
The National Council on Problem Gambling moved its helpline to 1-800-MY-RESET, which is 1-800-697-3738. The older 1-800-GAMBLER line still connects and remains mandated in several states’ advertising rules, but it is no longer the national number. In a crisis, 988 reaches the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Locking down the account itself
An exclusion filing works best alongside the account and payment controls that stop a relapse from turning into a deposit.
Making the Decision
Term length, scope and timing are all real choices, and two of the three are where people leave a door open by accident.
How long should the term be?
Term length is a real choice, not a formality. One year is long enough to break a habit and short enough that people actually file it. Five years is likeliest to outlast the circumstances that produced the problem. Lifetime is close to unwindable and should be picked because you want it permanent, not because it looks like the most serious box on the form. Pennsylvania’s 10-year petition with mandatory treatment documentation is the only published route back.
Which scope should I pick?
In Pennsylvania and Michigan, an exclusion covering the product you play is not the same as one covering everything, and that menu is where people leave a door open by accident. Take the widest scope offered.
What should I do before I file?
Withdraw your balance first, keep the confirmation, and expect a lag between application and effect. Michigan’s can run 45 days, and nothing stops you in the meantime.
These are enforcement mechanisms, not surveillance
The lists are confidential and generally exempt from public records disclosure, an exemption Michigan wrote into statute. Employers do not see them, credit files do not carry them, and the record does not follow you into another state. The cost of enrolling is that you cannot gamble legally in that state for the term you chose. That is the entire cost, and it is the point.
Choosing a licensed operator is what makes it available at all, which is why our guide to whether online blackjack is safe for US players keeps returning to one distinction: a rule on paper is not a rule someone checks.
Checked against state regulator and legislature sources on Aug. 25, 2026. Terms change; confirm the Rhode Island and West Virginia details flagged as reported before you file.
