What is GamStop?
GamStop is Great Britain's free national online self-exclusion scheme, launched in April 2018, which blocks a registered person from all UK-licensed online gambling sites and apps.
People can register for six months, one year or five years. Once registered, they cannot open or use accounts with any operator licensed by the UK Gambling Commission for online gambling. Participation in GamStop has been mandatory for these operators since 31 March 2020.
The scheme is run by the National Online Self-Exclusion Scheme Limited, a not-for-profit company funded by the industry. Before it existed, people had to self-exclude separately with each operator.
GamStop does not cover unlicensed offshore sites. Some of these market themselves as 'not on GamStop', which the Gambling Commission and support charities have repeatedly warned about. Registration requires an email address, date of birth and postcode, which are used to match accounts at participating operators. A registration cannot be cancelled during the chosen period. When the period ends, the person must contact GamStop to lift the exclusion.