When is a big casino win a loss? When you previously decided you shouldn’t be allowed to gamble.
Last weekend, a man had the afternoon of his dreams at Parx Casino in Bensalem, just northeast of Philadelphia, winning a $57,000 jackpot. The casino, though, refused to pay out because they discovered the patron was on Pennsylvania’s self-exclusion list.
In the Keystone State, people can self-exclude from one or all of fantasy sports, internet gambling, video gaming terminals (VGTs), and casinos. Bans from iGaming, VGTs, and casinos can be one year, five years, or lifetime, while fantasy sports self-exclusion periods range from one to 99 years. All are selectable by the person choosing to self-exclude.
those who violate the terms of the self-exclusion will have their winnings confiscated
State police say the jackpot winner was on the casino lifetime self-exclusion list. The law states that those who violate the terms of the self-exclusion will have their winnings confiscated, which was what happened in this case.
To make matters worse for the 46-year-old man, he was also issued a citation for criminal trespass.
A similar situation at MGM Grand Detroit made headlines last year, though the circumstances were slightly different. A 65-year-old woman named Denise Ezell sued the casino after she was denied a $127,000 progressive blackjack jackpot win from October 2023.
The casino said she had been banned eight years earlier for allegedly panhandling, though she claims she had simply had an argument at the casino with her cousin over money. She continued to visit the casino in the following years and claimed it was not until she won the jackpot that the casino said she was trespassing.