GAMSTOP

GAMSTOP is Great Britain's national online self-exclusion scheme: a free service through which consumers can bar themselves from all online gambling sites licensed by the Gambling Commission (UKGC), for a chosen period of six months, one year or five years.

Participation is not optional for operators. Since 31 March 2020, integration with GAMSTOP has been a condition of holding a UKGC remote licence. In practice, operators must:

• query GAMSTOP via API at registration and at every login, blocking matched players in real time;
• suppress all marketing to registered individuals across email, SMS, push and affiliate channels;
• handle matching on personal details (name, date of birth, postcode, email), including fuzzy matches, with documented decision logic;
• keep the integration live and monitored — downtime does not excuse a missed block.

Exclusions cannot be cancelled during their term, and remain active after expiry until the consumer asks to be removed.

Why it matters: allowing a GAMSTOP-registered player to gamble is a headline enforcement trigger in the British market, typically involving fines and stake refunds. For any operator entering Great Britain, GAMSTOP integration is a day-one platform requirement — see how the Vuch compliance suite handles national register connections.