GamStop is a national self-exclusion register. Every online gambling business licensed in Great Britain must check it before it lets a person log in, open an account or keep an existing account open. A person who registers is refused by each of those businesses for the length of time they chose.

The scheme comes up in three places. It appears in the safer gambling pages of every licensed online casino. It appears in the rules that operators must follow. It also appears in GamStop's published registration figures. Those figures show 562,000 people actively registered at the end of 2025. By the first half of 2026 the figure had risen to 614,738, according to GamStop's corporate blog.

How the check works

Registration asks for identity details. These are the details later compared against operators' customer records. The GamStop privacy policy lists them:

  • title, first name and last name
  • date of birth
  • current address and postcode
  • previous addresses
  • phone numbers
  • email addresses

Two third parties confirm that the person registering is who they say they are. TransUnion asks knowledge-based verification questions. Onfido uses facial recognition to check the person against an ID document.

What happens when an operator checks the register

  1. Check at login or sign-up

    Every time a person tries to log in or create an account, the operator checks GamStop's database for a match.

  2. Daily check of existing customers

    Operators run checks against their existing account holders every day. A customer who registers with GamStop is therefore checked even if they do not log in.

  3. Data is hashed

    The details the operator sends are hashed before comparison. GamStop stores them only as long as the check requires. If there is no match, the operator's data is deleted immediately after the check.

  4. Action on a match

    If there is a match, the operator must refuse access and close active accounts. It must also take all reasonable steps to remove the person from marketing within 2 days.

The sources used for this page do not give a single published figure for how quickly a new registration reaches every operator. They do show that checks run at every login and sign-up attempt, and daily for existing customers.

Exclusion lengths and why they cannot be shortened

The person registering chooses one of three minimum periods:

  • 6 months
  • 1 year
  • 5 years

The 5-year option can be set to renew automatically. Each renewal adds a further five-year cycle. GamStop's privacy policy cites up to four additional cycles.

An exclusion cannot be cancelled during the chosen minimum period. This applies to the person who registered as well as to everyone else.

When the period ends and is not renewed, the record is not deleted. GamStop keeps a post-exclusion notification record for 7 years, and operators continue to be informed during that time. A further 7-year archival retention period follows.

The rule that makes operators take part

The Gambling Commission confirmed several LCCP amendments for 2026, effective on 19 March, 6 April and 29 July. Code 3.5.5 is not among the provisions amended.

Registration figures, 2025 to 2026

July to December 2025. GamStop recorded 58,675 new registrations, an average of 319 per day. Registrations among 16 to 24 year-olds rose 40% year on year. That age group made up 29% of sign-ups. The total number of active registrations reached 562,000 by the end of the year (Yogonet, February 2026).

January to June 2026. New registrations were 16% higher than in the same period of 2025. May 2026 set a monthly record of 12,236 sign-ups. GamStop linked that record to concern about gambling around the 2026 World Cup. Registrations among under-25s rose 26% year on year. Under-25s made up nearly one in three new self-exclusions. Men made up more than 7 in 10 new registrations.

47%
Chose 5 years
Share of all July to December 2025 registrants who chose the longest term
Over 50%
Chose auto-renewal
Share of 5-year registrants who also chose auto-renewal, first recorded in December 2025
38%
Under-25s choosing 6 months
Share of younger registrants who chose the shortest term

What GamStop does not cover

Often confused with How it differs from GamStop
Self-exclusion with one site That exclusion applies to one operator. GamStop applies to every remote operator licensed in Great Britain.
A bank or card block GamStop works through operators checking identity details against its register. It does not act on payments.
Betting shops and gaming venues Land-based premises fall under SR Code 3.5.6 and separate schemes. One example is Gamstop Betting Shops, formerly MOSES, which covered more than 9,000 consumers across about 6,000 premises run by over 60 businesses.
Offshore sites Operators without a Great Britain licence fall outside GamStop's scope.

The land-based duty is enforced separately. Holland Park Leisure Limited runs three Adult Gaming Centres in Leicester. It did not join a multi-operator scheme until its licence was suspended in October 2025. On 31 July 2026 the Commission recorded a £150,000 penalty for the breach of Code 3.5.6.

Before registering

If a period is chosen, it cannot be shortened. The 6-month, 1-year and 5-year terms are minimums.

Matching uses the details given at registration. The form asks for previous addresses, phone numbers and email addresses as well as current ones.

If a site is not licensed in Great Britain, GamStop does not apply to it. If the gambling takes place in a betting shop or a gaming venue, a separate land-based scheme applies.