How GamStop Works

GamStop is a free self-exclusion service for online gambling, and its defining feature is that it works across operators rather than one account at a time. That is the part people get wrong most often. A self-exclusion arranged directly with a single bookmaker covers that bookmaker. GamStop reaches every participating licensed online operator at once.

What GamStop covers, and who has to be part of it

Participation is not voluntary for the industry. The Gambling Commission announced on 14 January 2020 that every online gambling operator licensed to offer online gambling to British customers must participate in GAMSTOP, with the deadline set at 31 March that year. GamCare, which runs support services for people affected by gambling harm, describes the effect in practical terms: registering blocks online logins and account creation with businesses licensed in Great Britain, for UK residents. So it is not only a barrier to using accounts you already hold. It is also meant to stop you opening new ones.

Note what is absent from that description. The scheme is for online gambling with GB-licensed operators. It is not a universal switch.

Choosing your exclusion period at registration

Registration asks you to commit to a length of time up front. GamStop's terms of use set out three options: six months, one year, or five years. Its "About" page frames the same choice as picking how long to exclude yourself, from six months up to five years. There is no rolling month-to-month version. You choose one of the three, and that is the minimum you are signing up to. The other thing registration depends on is you. The scheme matches the personal details you supply.

What happens when the minimum period ends

This is where a lot of people assume something that is simply not true: that a self-exclusion can be called off early because you have changed your mind. The minimum period you chose has to run. And when it does expire, nothing happens automatically. GamStop's privacy policy states that after the minimum period has expired, the customer must contact GamStop and complete the removal process to end the exclusion.

Two deliberate frictions, then. One long, one short. The five-year option is worth reading with that in mind, because it means five years before the removal process can even begin.

The National Gambling Helpline sits alongside the block

Self-exclusion is a technical measure. It does not replace support. The Gambling Commission lists the National Gambling Helpline number for England and Scotland as 0808 8020 133. GamCare says the line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which matters because the moments when a block is tested are rarely office hours.

Where the scheme stops

The helpline is the one that is free, confidential and open every day, rather than reserved for a crisis. Which leaves a useful asymmetry to remember. Starting a GamStop exclusion takes one registration and a choice between six months, a year and five years. Ending it takes the full minimum term, then a request you have to make yourself, then at least another 24 hours.