Origins and purpose
GAMSTOP began operating in April 2018 following a period of consultation and industry engagement led by what was then the Remote Gambling Association. The scheme was created to address a specific gap in the UK's consumer-protection framework: while individual UK-licensed operators had been running their own self-exclusion tools since the Gambling Act 2005 took effect, those tools were operator-specific. A player who self-excluded from one company could still open an account with another the same day. GAMSTOP closed that gap by creating a single register queried by every UK-licensed remote operator.
The scheme is administered by The National Online Self-Exclusion Scheme Ltd, an independent, non-profit organisation. Its Board includes members drawn from beyond the gambling industry to safeguard independence, and the scheme is funded through mandatory contributions from all UK-licensed remote operators. Participation is not optional for those operators — it is a condition of holding a UK Gambling Commission licence, set out in Licence Condition 3.5.5 of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
The purpose is straightforward: to give people who feel they have lost control over their gambling a single, portable, enforceable way of stepping back. GAMSTOP does not judge, does not require anyone to demonstrate a clinical diagnosis, and does not cost anything. Anyone in Great Britain aged 16 or over can register, whether they have gambled once or every day for a decade.
How registration works
You register directly at gamstop.co.uk. There are no intermediaries and no third-party sites that can register you on your behalf — if you encounter one claiming to offer this, it is a scam. The registration form asks for identifying information: your full legal name, date of birth, current address including postcode, all email addresses you use for gambling, and any known variations of your name (nicknames, previous surnames, etc.). Providing complete information matters, because the operator side of the check is essentially a name-match against the register.
You then choose an exclusion period: six months, twelve months, or five years. The choice is yours, but once selected it cannot be shortened. It can be extended at any time, and the scheme allows you to add operators after registration too. You do not have to explain your reasons, and the information you provide is not shared beyond the operators who query the register during a check.
Following the short cooling-off period, the exclusion is active. From that moment, if you attempt to log into or create an account at any UK-licensed operator, the operator's system will check the register, find a match, and block access. If you already have an active account at an operator, that account is closed or suspended for the duration of the exclusion.
Coverage and limits
GAMSTOP covers every operator holding a remote gambling licence from the UK Gambling Commission. That means online casino, online bingo, online poker, sports betting, lottery-style products, and any other remote gambling product offered legally to consumers in Great Britain. The register is queried at login, during registration, and at various friction points including deposit attempts and account reviews.
What GAMSTOP does not cover is anything outside the UKGC's licensing remit. That includes: land-based venues (which use SENSE and MOSES); social casino apps that do not offer real-money play; skill-based competitions that fall outside gambling law; and — critically for the wider discussion on this site — operators that hold no UK licence and instead operate under offshore licensing regimes. That final gap is discussed in depth on our non-GAMSTOP explained page, and the alternative tools that can supplement GAMSTOP are set out in our gambling controls guide.
How effective is it?
Independent evaluation of GAMSTOP was conducted most recently by Sonnex, Reith and colleagues, and the findings were broadly encouraging. A substantial majority of registered users reported that the scheme had reduced their gambling, and most reported that it had helped them either stop entirely or significantly cut back. Lapse rates — the proportion of registered users who nonetheless found ways to continue gambling during their exclusion — were meaningfully lower than sceptics had assumed.
Nothing in this section should be read as a claim that GAMSTOP is a perfect firewall. It is not, and no self-exclusion scheme anywhere in the world is. What the evidence supports is that GAMSTOP is a materially effective harm-reduction tool for a substantial majority of the people who use it, and that its impact is amplified when combined with the wider toolkit — bank blocks, device-level blockers such as Gamban, support from GamCare, and where clinically appropriate, treatment through the NHS network.
What happens at the end of the exclusion period
When your chosen period ends, GAMSTOP does not automatically re-open you to gambling. You have to actively request re-registration, and that request triggers a further waiting period — typically at least 24 hours, with additional friction built in. This design reflects the well-documented risk of impulsive access at the end of a self-exclusion, and the fact that the moment of relief when the period expires is not necessarily the safest moment to make a decision about resuming gambling.
If you decide, at that point, that self-exclusion has been useful and you would like to continue it, you can extend. If you decide you would like to resume gambling, we would strongly encourage you to think carefully about the tools you want to have in place before you do — deposit limits set low from the start, gambling blocks kept on at your bank, and a plan for what you will do if you feel yourself slipping. Our gambling controls guide is a good starting point.
If you are struggling right now
The National Gambling Helpline is available 24 hours a day on 0808 8020 133. Calls are free from any UK phone. The line is operated by GamCare, whose advisers can talk you through GAMSTOP registration, refer you to face-to-face counselling near you, and — if that is what you need in the moment — simply listen. You do not need to be certain you have "a problem" to call. Anyone concerned about their gambling is welcome to reach out. See our full help and support directory for the wider range of services available.
Last reviewed on by Dr. Rowan Fairweather, Behavioural Research Lead.