What GAMSTOP covers, and what it cannot
Self-exclusion applies to every site licensed in Great Britain. That boundary is the whole point, and it is where people get caught out.
GAMSTOP is the national self-exclusion scheme for Great Britain. It is free, it takes a few minutes, and the boundary of what it covers is the single most misunderstood thing about it.
What it does
Register once and you are excluded from every online operator licensed by the Gambling Commission — not one site, all of them. Participation is a licence condition, so an operator cannot opt out and continue serving British customers. You choose a minimum period of six months, one year or five years, and it cannot be lifted early on a change of mind.
What it cannot do
GAMSTOP covers licensed operators. It therefore does not reach sites operating without a Great Britain licence — and those sites are precisely the ones that advertise to people who have just excluded themselves. This is the gap that causes real harm, and it is worth being blunt about: an unlicensed site accepting you after you have self-excluded is not a loophole working in your favour.
Self-exclusion is only as wide as the licensed market. Outside it, nothing is enforcing anything.
It also does not cover betting shops, casinos you walk into, or gambling by someone else in your household.
Worth pairing it with
- Bank-level blocks. Most UK banks now offer a gambling transaction block, often with a cooling-off delay before it can be removed.
- Blocking software on the devices you actually use.
- Credit cards are already out. Gambling on credit cards has been prohibited in Great Britain since April 2020.
If you need to talk to someone
GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, free and confidential, 24 hours a day. BeGambleAware has treatment routes, and gamstop.co.uk handles registration directly.