Illinois regulators have approved a proposed rule that would extend the state’s voluntary Self-Exclusion Program to video gambling, using identity checks at redemption terminals to stop enrolled players buying vouchers.
The Illinois Gaming Board voted unanimously to send the package to the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for review and public comment. It cannot take effect until that process is complete, which typically takes six months to a year.
The proposal would end direct cash acceptance at video-gaming machines. Players would instead buy vouchers from a redemption device, using cash or, where offered, a digital payment through a video-gaming account. Both routes would require verification that the player is at least 21 and is not on the self-exclusion list.
Player accounts and cashless wagering would be optional. Terminal operators could offer accounts, cashless play and reward schemes, but account holders would have to be able to set responsible-gambling limits. Accounts would also be subject to identity, privacy, security and anti-money-laundering controls.
Operators offering accounts would be barred from allowing self-excluded people to open them or from sending promotional material to people on the list. They could still run player-reward programmes for patrons who are not self-excluded.
The measure aims to close a longstanding gap in a network of roughly 50,000 terminals, described as the world’s largest of its kind. The machines operate at nearly 9,000 licensed establishments, including gas stations, bars, hair salons and hotel lobbies.
The board has called integration of video gaming into self-exclusion a public-health and gaming-integrity priority, intended to bring its protections into line with those for Illinois casinos and sports wagering. Video gambling was not included when the programme began in 2002 because the activity did not then exist; the programme was later expanded to sports wagering under the 2019 Sports Wagering Act.
The decision follows the board’s September revision of broader self-exclusion rules, which introduced shorter enrolment terms, wider ways to join and a voluntary 12-month marketing-exclusion list for people leaving the programme, as covered in our earlier report.
The practical barrier has been connecting the terminals to the state list while protecting player data. The board has contracted LNW Gaming to upgrade the machines, and the administrator said the technology was expected to be ready for deployment in 2027. CBS Chicago reported that the 10-year contract is worth $162 million and carries a Dec. 31, 2027 completion deadline.
The proposed shift also introduces cashless options into a sector that generated more than $1 billion in state and local tax revenue in the previous fiscal year, while players lost more than $3.3 billion, according to Capitol News Illinois. The same report noted that cashless wagering can reduce friction for bettors and potentially increase spending. In a six-month case study, Acres Manufacturing found cashless players bought 92% more gambling credits per session and were more likely to reload than cash-paying players.
Illinois’s self-exclusion list has nearly 16,000 participants. A state-commissioned study estimated that 383,000 Illinois adults have a gambling problem and another 761,000 are at risk of developing one.
