GAMSTOP: What It Covers, What It Doesn't and How It Works
GAMSTOP is the free, national self-exclusion service for online gambling in Great Britain. Once you register, every UK-licensed online gambling operator is required to stop you using accounts with them and to stop marketing to you. It is run independently of the operators and is a practical tool for anyone who wants gambling to be harder to get to, whether that is a few months of distance or a longer break.
What it blocks
GAMSTOP applies to online gambling with operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, which must take part in the scheme. That includes online casinos, sports betting, bingo and poker sites. When you register, you provide your details once, and licensed operators check against the register. Existing accounts are closed to you and new ones cannot be opened with the same details.
It also means participating operators should stop sending you marketing. If you still see promotions from a licensed operator after registering, that is worth reporting to the operator and, if it continues, to the regulator.
What it does not cover
- Sites without a UK licence. Operators licensed only elsewhere are not part of the scheme, and signing up to them would leave you without UK protections. Our responsible gambling hub explains why that matters.
- Land-based venues. Betting shops, casinos and arcades are not covered by GAMSTOP. Venues generally have their own self-exclusion arrangements, which you arrange with the venue directly.
- Other tools and products. It does not cover things such as the National Lottery, and it does not manage your bank cards or stop you playing free games.
In short, it is a strong lock on one door, not a wall around the house. Pairing it with other measures makes it considerably harder to slip around.
What changes in daily life
Most people notice the effect straight away: logins stop working, the sign-up forms of licensed sites reject your details, and the promotional emails and texts gradually dry up. It can feel oddly quiet at first. That quiet is the scheme doing its job, and it often helps to fill the gap deliberately, with a different routine for the times of day when you would normally have played, such as late evenings or the commute.
It is also worth knowing what GAMSTOP is not. It is not a judgement, it is not recorded against you in any public way, and it is not a punishment. It is a request you make of the industry, and the industry is legally obliged to honour it. You do not need to give a reason, and you do not need to have lost any particular amount to use it.
One more practical point: GAMSTOP works on the details you register with, such as your name, date of birth, address and email. If you later use different details at a licensed site, the match may not work, so keep your details consistent and never open accounts under someone else's name to get round it.
How long it lasts
You choose a period when you register: 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. The period cannot be shortened once chosen, which is the whole point of it. When the period ends, the exclusion does not simply vanish. You need to contact GAMSTOP to ask for it to be lifted, and there is a cooling-off step before it takes effect, so a quick impulsive decision will not work. Check the exact process on gamstop.co.uk.
Extra help alongside it
GAMSTOP is one layer. These add others:
- Operator tools: deposit limits, time-outs and reality checks, which you can set in your account.
- Bank tools: many banks let you block gambling transactions on your card from within the app.
- Blocking software on your devices, to cover sites that GAMSTOP does not reach.
- Telling someone you trust, if you can.
For support and conversation, BeGambleAware is a good place to start, and the National Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 0808 8020 133. You can also read about managing a budget if you are not ready for full exclusion but want firmer limits.
What to do
- Decide on a period. If unsure, longer is usually easier to live with than it seems, because you cannot undo it halfway.
- Register on the official GAMSTOP site only; the service is free.
- Close or withdraw from any accounts with non-participating or non-UK sites rather than leaving them open.
- Unsubscribe from marketing messages and remove saved payment details.
- Add a second layer: bank block or device software.
Asking for a break is a sensible decision, not a failure. Gambling is for over-18s, and if you are worried about yours or someone else's, the responsible gambling page has more routes to support.