What is Self-Exclusion, How it Works & When to Use It?

Online casinos represent a popular way of entertainment and are widely used by people worldwide. In recent years, self-exclusion has become a great way to take a break from gambling, especially for customers who think they’re spending too much money on the said activity.

In this article, we’ll discuss how self-exclusion works and when it should be used.

What is Self-Exclusion?

In some countries, self-exclusion is also referred to as a “game break”, and its main objective is to help people stop gambling for a certain amount of time. There are many reasons why players decide to take a break from the activity loved by millions around the globe.

It can be because they’re spending too much time and money on it, and gambling has negatively impacted their lives.

We should point out that self-exclusion functions differently from one country to another, albeit the mechanism behind it stays essentially the same. An individual will ask a gambling company, an operator, or a casino to exclude them from gambling.

In practice, this means the said person won’t be allowed to gamble at a particular gambling venue for a specific amount of time. This time period can be six months or longer. Once a person has entered a self-exclusion scheme, it’s not easy to get out of it, and the nature of gambling is the main reason behind it.

Self-exclusion differs from one jurisdiction to another. For example, in the UK, all operators are required by law to have a self-exclusion scheme. In Sweden, all licensed casinos must have a self-exclusion scheme, ranging from one month to over six months.

In some counties, operators are legally required to offer self-exclusion schemes, which is why some gamblers look for casinos without any.

Online Casinos and Self-Exclusion

Self-exclusion from online casinos comes with its own rules. Generally, this process is more difficult to enforce, as not every country requires operators to have a self-exclusion scheme. And even those that do can have a problem when it comes to executing it.

Players who opt for self-exclusion from online casinos can use multi-operator schemes that allow them to self-exclude from all licensed online operators at once. There’s also blocking software that can be used to prevent you from accessing online casinos on your device.

Keep in mind that these solutions come with certain limitations. For example, players can self-exclude from online casinos in their country, which doesn’t prevent them from gambling in other jurisdictions.

How Does Self-Exclusion Work?

All businesses offering gambling on particular premises (casinos, bingo halls, arcades, etc.) must be part of a multi-operator self-exclusion scheme.

That way, a single request to self-exclude should do the job and prevent players from gambling at all venues that offer the same type of activity and removes the need to exclude from every operator separately.

Once a self-exclusion agreement is reached, the operator is required to close your account and return any remaining funds. Your name and personal information must be removed from any database an operator uses.

In the end, it’s up to players to adhere to their self-exclusion agreement. If they attempt to gamble after self-exclusion, the operator will take action and prevent them from doing so.

Players can misuse the anonymous gambling environment and try to gamble without being identified. That’s why gambling operators use procedures to prevent this from occurring in the first place.

Gambling businesses use the information provided by players who gambled while self-excluded to improve their schemes and overall procedures.