Conscious Gaming and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board are jointly announcing the deployment of “PlayPause”, an innovative self-exclusion tool for internet-based gambling created to modernize and strengthen the effectiveness of the U.S. gaming industry’s responsible gaming programs.

This is the first deployment of PlayPause in the United States with the solution being made available at no cost to operators and regulators via Conscious Gaming, a new non-profit organization established by GeoComply.

The system is designed for regulators and licensed gaming operators in one state to securely identify self-excluded patrons who chose to participate in the program with other participating United States licensed gaming operators and regulators.

Today’s announcement underscores Conscious Gaming’s and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s commitments to uniting the industry to achieve shared responsible gaming goals and protect consumers.

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“Pennsylvania is pleased to be the first jurisdiction to join the PlayPause program,” says Elizabeth Lanza, Director of the Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. “By integrating with this solution, the industry and regulators can increase wellbeing efforts and advance the effectiveness of self-exclusion.”

Lanza says individuals who sign up for the Self-Exclusion program in Pennsylvania will be provided the option of participating in PlayPause to assist them in extending the self-exclusion to other jurisdictions as they deploy the tool.

“We are thrilled to see our vision for a national self-exclusion tool come to life with Pennsylvania’s PlayPause launch,” says Anna Sainsbury, Conscious Gaming Trustee and GeoComply Chairman and Co-Founder. “We are looking forward to further collaboration with industry stakeholders to expand coverage and impact for this solution.”

Powered by GeoComply, which provides the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board licensees with a geolocation service that effectively blocks participation in internet-based gaming when the player is not within the Commonwealth’s borders, the PlayPause solution will:

• Expand the protective self-exclusion bubble so that as players move from state to state, the protection that they have asked for can also move with them.
• Enable consumers to self-exclude across multiple states to prevent the incidence of simply crossing a state line and continuing to gamble.
• Empower operators to strengthen responsible gaming programs – and make more data-driven decisions – with greater insights into players that have already self-excluded in one state but need to be recognized and protected if/when they seek to play in another jurisdiction.
• Streamline the administrative burden and eliminate the silos associated with maintaining numerous separate state-operated self-exclusion databases.