GamStop: what it is and how it protects players
Last updated · By Editorial Desk
What the UK's GamStop self-exclusion scheme does, how to register, and where to get help with a gambling problem.
About this page
GamStop is a self-exclusion scheme for online gambling in Great Britain. A player who thinks their gambling has become a problem can ask, once, to be blocked from every gambling website licensed in Great Britain — and the block applies across all of them rather than one at a time. It has run since April 2018 and every UK-licensed online operator is required to take part.
Registration is free and takes a few minutes at gamstop.co.uk. You choose how long the exclusion lasts — from six months to five years — and whether it renews automatically at the end. Once registered, the operators check the list at least every twenty-four hours, so existing accounts are closed to you and new ones cannot be opened.
It is a tool for someone who has already decided to stop, which is why it works: nothing about it depends on willpower in the moment. The Gambling Commission, which oversees it, and the support charities listed below are the places to go for the details and for help.
One thing this page will not do is point you to gambling sites that operate outside the scheme. Services that advertise themselves as "not on GamStop" are licensed offshore, and reaching them is the specific thing the exclusion exists to prevent. If you are looking for them, the more useful step is the one below.