What is GAMSTOP?
Definition and example from our casino glossary.
Definition
GAMSTOP is Great Britain's free national self-exclusion scheme, blocking access to online gambling with every operator licensed there.
GAMSTOP lets a person register once to be excluded from the online gambling websites and apps of all companies licensed by the Gambling Commission in Great Britain. Registration is free and asks for personal details that operators then match against new and existing accounts. The available minimum periods are six months, one year and five years, with an option for automatic renewal, and an exclusion cannot be cancelled before its period ends. When the period is over, the block remains until the person actively asks for it to be removed. GAMSTOP does not cover land-based venues, operators licensed in other countries or unlicensed websites, so it works best alongside blocking software, bank gambling blocks and support services. Sites that advertise themselves as not on GAMSTOP are, by definition, outside the protection and accountability of the British regulator.