Self-exclusion in Texas

How to put yourself on Texas's self-exclusion list, what it covers, and what it does not.

Programme: No statewide self-exclusion programme could be confirmed. Texas licenses no commercial casinos and no online gambling: Penal Code 47.02(a) makes it an offence if a person 'makes a bet on the partial or final result of a game or contest' or 'plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device'. The one statewide operator, the Texas Lottery, publishes no exclusion scheme on either of its responsible-gambling pages.statutes.capitol.texas.gov (archived copy of ), checked 3 October 2026
Covers online betting: There is no programme, and no licensed online operator to be excluded from. Penal Code 47.02 makes betting an offence, with a narrow defence where 'the actor engaged in gambling in a private place', 'no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings' and the risks were the same for all participants. Online gambling from Texas therefore happens with operators outside state regulation, which no Texas list would reach — see notes.statutes.capitol.texas.gov (archived copy of ), checked 3 October 2026
Covers casinos and shops: No statewide list covers any Texas venue, because no statewide programme exists. Penal Code 47.03 separately makes it an offence if a person intentionally or knowingly 'operates or participates in the earnings of a gambling place' or 'engages in bookmaking', so there is no state-licensed casino or sportsbook estate for a list to attach to. Two gaps to know about: tribal casinos operate under federal law, outside state regulation, and any ban there is that casino's own; and Texas does license pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing under the Texas Racing Commission, whose site we could not read, so racetracks are unconfirmed rather than confirmed-uncovered. See notes.statutes.capitol.texas.gov (archived copy of ), checked 3 October 2026
Covers the lottery: No. The Texas Lottery offers no way to bar yourself. Its Player Protection page lists only 'YOU MUST BE 18 OR OLDER TO PURCHASE A TICKET' and 'TEXAS LOTTERY TICKETS MAY NOT BE PURCHASED WITH A CREDIT CARD', alongside pages on scams and myths; nothing on it offers self-exclusion or voluntary exclusion.texaslottery.com, checked 3 October 2026
How long you can choose: None exist, because there is no programme to enrol in for any length of time.texaslottery.com, checked 3 October 2026
Can it be undone: Not applicable — there is nothing to reverse. The tools that do work in Texas each have their own reversal rules, and those are the ones to check: operator account closure, blocking software and bank gambling blocks.texaslottery.com, checked 3 October 2026
What happens when it ends: Nothing expires, because nothing is recorded. There is no Texas list to be on, so there is no term to run out and no renewal window to miss.Your real expiry dates in Texas belong to the tools you set up yourself: a blocker subscription that lapses, a bank block with a short cooling-off period, or an operator 'cooling-off' that reopens the account automatically. Those are the dates to diarise.texaslottery.com, checked 3 October 2026
How you sign up: There is nothing to enrol in. The Texas Lottery's responsible gambling page offers education and a pointer to help — 'If you or someone you know is struggling with their gambling, help is available' — plus brochures, training videos and links to national bodies, but no exclusion route. In practice the answer in Texas is operator-level closure, blockers and bank blocks; see notes.texaslottery.com, checked 3 October 2026

Worth knowing before you start

Texas is a no-programme state, so if someone has told you to 'get on the Texas list', there is no list. That is worth knowing precisely, because believing you are excluded when you are not is the worst outcome here. What actually works, in order: close every gambling account permanently with the operator itself and ask for written confirmation (insist on permanent closure, not a deactivation or a cooling-off that quietly lapses); install a blocker on every device; and ask your bank or card issuer for a gambling block, checking how long it takes to switch off again. Because most Texas online gambling happens with offshore sites or sweepstakes/social casinos that answer to no Texas authority, none of them is obliged to turn you away and none of the winnings-forfeiture protection that self-excluded players get in licensed states applies to you. Two things we could not confirm and you should not assume: whether the Texas Racing Commission operates any voluntary exclusion for racetracks and simulcast betting (its site did not respond to us, so ring and ask before assuming either way), and what any individual tribal casino offers, since those bans are set casino by casino and are not statewide. The National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER, free and confidential, 24 hours. One sourcing note: the Penal Code text was read from the Internet Archive's copy of the Texas Legislature's own statutes site, because statutes.capitol.texas.gov returns only a script shell to automated requests; an archived copy of the Legislature's page is still the Legislature's text.

Done? The rest of the hour: blockers, a bank block, closing the accounts, telling one person.

Every fact on this page was read from an official source and dated. The oldest of them was checked on 3 October 2026. Tell us if something here is wrong.