This State’s 18% Spike In Gambling Self-Exclusions Tip Of Iceberg
More people are banning themselves from state-sponsored forms of gambling in Pennsylvania, with the state reporting an 18% year-over-year increase in its newly released annual report.
Pennsylvania said 9,677 people self-excluded in the year, up from 8,197 the year before. The state said it processed roughly 14,200 self-exclusion requests, which include the 9,677 new enrollments and roughly 4,500 removals.
The state said roughly 30,000 individuals are actively enrolled across the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s four self-exclusion programs (brick-and-mortar casinos, VGTs, online gambling, and fantasy contests).
Pennsylvania also has an involuntary exclusion list of more than 1,500 people. Many people on that list have left children alone in a vehicle while they gambled in a casino.
While these figures may seem modest compared to the state’s population, the raw numbers don’t capture what is really happening in Pennsylvania. A storm appears to be intensifying.
Growing Crisis
A 2025 Penn State University study found that as many as 6.4% of all Pennsylvania adults may have a gambling addiction. That figure included people who never gamble. Penn State also found that 25.4–29.9% of adults could be classified as at-risk gamblers.
Harm isn’t confined to the person who gambles. Research has found that one gambling addiction harms five others.
While the increase in self-exclusions has a bright side, as more people are taking a significant step to protect themselves from gambling, it also raises questions about whether gambling harm may be dramatically increasing.
Many experts think so. Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams recently echoed other public health experts when he said in August that online betting is the “new opioid crisis.”
Self-Exclusion a Snapshot
Pennsylvania’s self-exclusion rolls are growing rapidly, but research suggests those enrolling represent only a small fraction of people experiencing serious gambling problems.
A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 studies found that just 1 in 7 people with problem gambling had used self-exclusion. The rate fell to about 1 in 40 among people with less severe problematic gambling behavior and roughly 1 in 200 among people considered to be at risk but at a lower threshold.
In 2026, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission also pulled back the curtain on self-exclusion. It reported that the state had 1.83 million active sports betting accounts (not unique people). Nearly 300,000 patrons did an account “cool-off” lasting for at least three days, while fewer than 500 enrolled in self-exclusion for at least a year.
This past summer, a Joint State Government Commission of the Pennsylvania General Assembly released a 126-page report highlighting potential policy changes to reform the regulation of its $7 billion gambling market.
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