A woman who had requested her own lifetime ban from Pennsylvania casinos was ejected from one after winning a slot machine jackpot.
Troopers from the Pennsylvania State Police were called to the Hollywood Casino, at a racetrack near Harrisburg, around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, because of a patron who was on the exclusion list.
After winning an undisclosed jackpot, the 69-year-old woman from Asbury, N.J., had been found to be under a self-imposed lifetime ban that she initiated in 2019, the state police said. She was escorted from the property and notified that a trespassing citation would be filed.
The police did not say whether she got to keep the winnings, but the Council of Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania said self-excluded gamblers are prohibited from collecting winnings.
In Pennsylvania, people can voluntarily ban themselves from the state’s 17 casinos for one year, five years or a lifetime. After someone puts themself on the exclusion list, casinos must deny them gaming privileges, the council said.
Commenting on a similar case last year — when a self-excluded gambler won a $57,000 payout — a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said such jackpots are turned over to the board, which must use it for programs to fight gambling addiction. Typically, $400,000 to $500,000 a year is collected under such circumstances, he said.
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