Recall the three things holding back gambling self-exclusion: low awareness, a burdensome application process, and fragmented enforcement. Because digital self-exclusion is native to the device, all three of these are resolved: awareness is inherently high for owners, there is no application process, and enforcement is centralized at the operating system level.
Q: What is Digital Self-Exclusion?
A: Digital self-exclusion seeks to use the same principles of gambling self-exclusion programs and apply it to digital life. Some of the biggest hindrances to gambling self-exclusion are solved by the inherent qualities of our digital devices.
Put simply, digital self-exclusion allows a consumer to voluntarily and irrevocably block apps and websites of their choosing over a discrete period of time. Once blocked, there is no hack, no 4 digit code, no phone a friend that will allow the consumer access to those apps or websites.
Digital Self-Exclusion is:
- Voluntary – the individual alone is empowered with the right to self-exclude.
- Irrevocable – once self-exclusion is implemented, it cannot be revoked for the duration of the exclusion period.
- Finite – consumers are empowered to choose the length of their self-exclusion period (6 months, 1 year, 5 years, etc.).
- Native – digital self-exclusion must be native to iOS and Android operating system for maximum benefit.