What I see here is askgamblers helping a problem gambler free roll a Casino that allows anonymous players to use VPNs.
Returning money to the player that self excluded is the worst option. Problem gamblers justify their decision to gamble any way they can think of, and when they lose, they pass responsibility for their decisions to other people in any way they can think of.
Askgamblers basically just gave the degen motivation to try the whole thing again, as well as cash in hand and an easy way to convince himself it was the Casinos fault, not his.
I guarantee you there are multiple players that have freerolled Stake and other casinos multiple times from alt accounts by self excluding and continuing to play and then publicly pressuring them to give their money back.
My $1m idea: The money should go to a charity chosen by the player at the time of self exclusion. Any funds he is caught gambling with are donated.
I agree that if the money is given back, it will almost certainly lead to the fact that the same person, or others who notice such a situation, will want to use it in the future.
I think that the charity chosen by the person who loses the money in such a situation is a very good solution.