Pennsylvania Self-Exclusions Rise 18% to 9,677 as iGaming Revenue Grows 18%

Pennsylvania's regulator took almost 9,700 new self-exclusion enrolments in the year to June, more than in any year it has reported, and the monthly figure beat the year before in every month. The same week's reports show the state's casinos ended the year with 598 fewer staff as play kept moving online.

• The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) recorded 9,677 self-exclusion enrolments in fiscal year 2025/26, up 18% from 8,197 the year before, according to its annual report published on 30 September
• Enrolments rose year on year in all 12 months, peaking at 964 in May; the board also processed about 4,500 removal requests, and about 30,000 people remain enrolled across its casino, video gaming terminal, online and fantasy contest programmes
• The rise matches online casino growth: iGaming revenue rose 18.42% to $2.93 billion while retail casino revenue fell 0.58% to $3.35 billion
• The board's annual diversity report, published on 1 October, shows Pennsylvania's casinos employed 15,242 people on 30 June, down 3.8% from 15,840 a year earlier, even with a new casino open
• An overhaul of the board's problem gambling rules, covering responsible gaming advertising and the reporting of player-set limits, was still moving through the state's approval process at the end of the fiscal year

Enrolments Have Risen Every Year Since 2023

Pennsylvania's self-exclusion lists took in more people than ever in the year to 30 June. The PGCB's Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling (OCPG) processed about 14,200 self-exclusion requests in fiscal year 2025/26, including about 9,700 new enrolments and 4,500 removal requests, according to the board's 20th annual report. Its monthly table puts enrolments at 9,677, against 8,197 in 2024/25, a rise of 18%. Every month was higher than the same month a year earlier, with the steepest gains in the spring: 931 in April against 727, and 964 in May against 748.

The trend is longer than one year. The board's previous annual report put enrolment requests at about 5,500 in calendar 2023 and about 7,400 in 2024, with the online list growing fastest: iGaming requests, which also cover online sports wagering, rose from about 2,200 to almost 3,500 between those two years. The OCPG also processed its 50,000th enrolment since the programme began, and about 30,000 people remain actively enrolled across the four lists, for casinos, video gaming terminals (VGTs) at truck stops, interactive gaming and fantasy contests, according to the report. The board does not break down the 2025/26 enrolments by list in the report. The casino list dates from 2006; the other three were added after the 2017 Gaming Expansion Act.

The Money Moved Online, and So Did the Problem

The growth in exclusions tracks the shape of the market. Total gaming revenue reached a record $7.01 billion in 2025/26, generating $3.10 billion in tax and fees, according to the annual report. iGaming revenue rose 18.42% to $2.93 billion and sports wagering 35.95% to $663 million, while retail casino revenue slipped 0.58% to $3.35 billion.

Survey data points the same way. A report by Penn State's Criminal Justice Research Center for the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, published in January, estimated that between 2.5% and 6.4% of Pennsylvanians may be problem gamblers, and found that 30% of adults had gambled online in the past year, against 20% in 2024, according to Penn State. It found people who gambled on multiple platforms were more likely to report a gambling problem than those who gambled only in person or only online, Yogonet reported.

The regulator's response is mostly in rules not yet in force. The OCPG completed what the report calls "a comprehensive overhaul" of the board's compulsive and problem gambling regulations, modernising operators' problem gambling plans, the reporting of self-imposed iGaming limits and responsible gaming advertising standards; the rules were "advancing through the Commonwealth's regulatory approval process" at the end of the fiscal year.

Casinos Shed Staff Even With a New Property

The PGCB's annual diversity report, released on 1 October, shows the state's 18 casinos employed 15,242 people on 30 June 2026, against 15,840 a year earlier, a fall of 598 or 3.8%. That total includes Happy Valley Casino in Centre County, which opened on 27 April and employed 289 people. Leave it out and the 17 casinos open in both years employed close to 900 fewer people, a fall of more than 5%, by iGaming Times' calculation from the board's per-property figures.

The largest falls were at Nemacolin, where total employment fell from 1,688 to 1,276, almost all of it on the resort side; Wind Creek Bethlehem, from 1,769 to 1,589; and Parx Casino, from 2,000 to 1,872. Rivers Casino Philadelphia went from 1,147 to 1,066 and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh from 1,575 to 1,496. A handful grew, including Mohegan Pennsylvania, Live! Casino Philadelphia and Parx Shippensburg. The reports do not give reasons for individual changes.

The Two 18% Figures Belong in the Same Sentence

The parallel is too close to ignore. Online casino revenue and self-exclusion enrolments both grew by about 18% in the same year, and the board said online enrolments outpaced the other lists in 2024. Self-exclusion is a lagging and partial measure: it counts people who have recognised a problem and acted, not everyone harmed, and the Penn State estimate implies the true number at risk is many times larger. Rising enrolment shows the tool is known and used, which the board can fairly claim as a success; it also shows that the market growth Pennsylvania celebrates as a tax record is producing more people asking to be shut out of it, at a time when operators are already defending a Philadelphia lawsuit that blames their products for two men's addictions. A regulator whose revenue reports and harm reports are rising at the same pace will find it harder to argue that growth and protection are in balance.

Removals Deserve as Much Attention as Enrolments

About 4,500 removal requests in a year, against about 9,700 enrolments, is a figure the annual report states but does not discuss. Pennsylvania's programmes offer fixed terms as well as lifetime exclusion, so removal at the end of a term is part of the design. But the ratio means the active list grows far more slowly than the headline enrolment number suggests, and the report gives no data on how many removed players return to the lists. With the new problem gambling rules still pending, that is the evidence gap most worth closing.

Fewer Casino Jobs Is the Other Half of the Channel Shift

The workforce figures fit the same story. Retail revenue was flat, online grew by nearly a fifth, and the land-based industry ended the year with fewer staff despite a new casino. Online growth creates jobs at operators and suppliers that may not be in the state, while the casino floors the PGCB calls "a significant job generator" are shedding staff. Combined with the fight over 70,000 unregulated skill games, it leaves Harrisburg weighing record tax receipts against a casino workforce that is shrinking and a self-exclusion list that keeps growing.

Pennsylvania's gambling market has never been bigger, and its self-exclusion lists have never taken in more people. Until the board's new rules take effect, the second number is the clearest measure of what the first one costs.