Why would a casino advertise that it is not on Gamstop? Every online gambling business licensed by the Gambling Commission has had to take part in Gamstop since 31 March 2020, so a site that advertises being outside the scheme does not meet a condition every licensed online operator must meet. With the licence go the complaints process, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider, deposit limits and the self-exclusion block. Those are the main risks of casinos not on Gamstop.

This guide explains what the label means, who the advertising is aimed at and which protections a player loses. It names no operators and recommends no site. Sources were read on 9 October 2026, because the rules and the evidence keep changing.

What does ‘not on Gamstop’ actually tell you?

Gamstop is a free tool that lets people who live in the UK exclude themselves from licensed gambling websites and apps. You choose a minimum exclusion period of six months, one year, five years or five years with auto-renewal. The exclusion stays in place after that period ends, for up to a further seven years, unless the person asks Gamstop to remove it, as the terms of use explain. The details sit in the guide to how long Gamstop lasts and what happens when it ends.

Taking part is not optional for a licensed business. Gamstop’s terms of use say the requirement covers all businesses licensed to offer online and other remote gambling to individuals in Great Britain. The commission enforced it: on 3 April 2020 it announced that it had suspended the licences of two operators “for failure to comply”, after taking part in Gamstop had become a licence condition. A licensed site cannot simply opt out.

The commission’s wider position is that online gambling companies have to be licensed by the commission to provide gambling to British consumers, as its guidance for players puts it. Put the two rules together and an inference follows. It is an inference, not an official statement: in practice, a site that takes British customers and is not on Gamstop is a site outside the commission’s licensing.

The scheme is large and still growing. In a post dated 16 July 2026, Gamstop said that 614,738 people were on Gamstop Online. Registrations in the first half of 2026 were 16% higher than a year earlier, and 26% higher among people under 25.

Who are these sites aimed at?

The commission has said so directly. Tim Miller, the commission’s executive director, said at ICE Barcelona on 19 January 2026 that “a major part of the audience for illegal gambling websites and apps are people who are already self-excluded”. He added that many social media adverts aimed at users in Great Britain are for the so-called ‘not on Gamstop’ sites. The speech is on the commission’s website. The advert has a target, and the target is a person who has already asked for protection.

If gambling is affecting you or someone close to you, the National Gambling Helpline offers free and confidential support on 0808 8020 133.

A commission blog post of 21 October 2024 makes the same point. The illegal market, it says, aims at people who are self-excluded or whose customer relationships operators have ended, and offers them “a route back to gambling”.

Research for the commission shows how people reach these sites. Yonder Consulting ran an online survey of 2,046 people who had gambled online in the previous four weeks, in December 2024, and the commission published the findings on 18 September 2025. The sample included 117 users of what the report calls illegal gambling sites. Among those 117, 7% named avoiding Gamstop as one of their three main reasons for choosing a site, against 2% of the whole sample. Among the same users, 23% came to a site through self-find methods such as search engines and 30% through social media, although the report does not state the base for those two figures. The earlier, qualitative stage of the research says that self-excluders “primarily use search engines to find ‘not on GAMSTOP’ websites”. The full results are in the commission’s reports on motivations and on routes into the illegal market.

The commission’s methodology note warns that the findings “should not be treated as representative of all those who gamble online”. Read the numbers as a pointer.

Taken together, the sources support one plain conclusion. A site that boasts about being outside Gamstop is saying who it wants to sell to.

What does the law say, and who is it written for?

The Gambling Act 2005 makes it an offence to provide facilities for gambling unless an exception applies, and holding a licence from the Gambling Commission is one of them. That is section 33 of the act. For remote gambling, section 36 looks at whether the facilities are used in Great Britain. The offence is written for the business that provides the gambling.

The commission states the business-side position bluntly on its page What to look at before you gamble: “Any gambling business operating without a Gambling Commission licence is acting illegally”. The same page says major payment systems may withdraw payment facilities from such businesses. Both statements are about the business.

What they mean for an individual player in a particular case is a question for a solicitor. This guide gives general information and is not legal advice. The practical question is what protection remains.

What you lose without a licence

The protections in the table are conditions or rules for licensed businesses. The right-hand column describes no particular site. It marks where a player has no guarantee.

ProtectionAt a licensed siteAt a site not on Gamstop
ComplaintsThe business has eight weeks to resolve itNo guarantee of a process
ADR providerFree, independent serviceNo route to an ADR provider
Gamstop blockOperator takes partGamstop cannot block it
Financial limitPrompt to set one before your first depositNo guarantee
TimeoutsTimeout facility requiredNo guarantee
Stake limit on slots£5 or £2 per game cycleNo guarantee
Bonus termsWagering capped at 10xNo guarantee
Credit cardsBanned since 14 April 2020No guarantee
Age and ID checksBefore you can playNo guarantee

Two notes on the table. The stake limit applies to slots played online, per game cycle: £5 for players aged 25 and over and £2 for players under 25. The cap on wagering requirements has applied since 19 January 2026. The sources for each row are listed at the end.

The commission ties protection to the licence. Its page Make sure that the gambling business is licensed says that with a licensed business “you will be protected by consumer and gambling protection rules in Great Britain”. On the other side, its guidance for players says that illegal overseas websites “may not have any of the protections that we require”, and its blog post says that the illegal market “is also unlikely to operate in a way that is fair or safe”.

Complaints show the gap most clearly. The commission’s compliance and enforcement report for 2019 to 2020, now archived, says that when consumers have complaints with unlicensed operators these are “often not dealt with” and that consumers “have no right to appeal”. At a licensed site the route runs from the business to an ADR provider. Outside the licence, neither step is guaranteed, and the commission’s rules do not apply. No official figure for how often that happens was found for this guide.

The guide to how complaints and ADR work at a licensed site covers that process in full. For the licensed side of the market, see the page on online casinos licensed by the Gambling Commission.

What the commission actually checks, and where its reach stops

The commission has not ignored the problem. Speaking at ICE Barcelona on 19 January 2026, Miller described its enforcement between April and the end of December 2025. The commission issued 592 cease and desist notices to advertisers and operators. It reported 327,964 URLs to search engines, and 203,571 were removed. It also disrupted 627 websites, which were taken down or geo-blocked. The UK government announced an additional £26m of funding over three years. Enforcement is real, and it is large.

By its own account, the commission works with search engines and payment providers. Blocking a domain is a different matter. Schedule 18 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, headed “Suspension of internet protocol addresses and internet domain names”, would let a judge suspend addresses and domain names on the application of an appropriate officer. In England and Wales that includes a person designated as an enforcement officer by the Gambling Commission. As at 9 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk shows the schedule as prospective. Parliament has passed the powers, but they are not yet in force.

The commission publishes a public register of the businesses it licenses. No equivalent public list of unlicensed sites was found for this guide. That is why the check runs the other way: start with the licence, not with a list of sites to avoid. The guide to how to check a licence on the commission’s public register sets out the steps, and the wider picture is in unlicensed casinos and how to stay on the licensed side.

The complaints process and the ADR route described above are built around licensed businesses. That is where the commission’s reach stops.

If you already have an account with one of these sites

Nothing below is guaranteed to recover money. Each step protects your position.

  1. Keep every email, screenshot and payment receipt, and note the date on each.
  2. Look the business up in the commission’s public register. Check that the activities and website domain names on the licence match the site, as the commission’s page What to look at before you gamble advises.
  3. Contact your bank about the payments and ask whether they can be disputed. Do this early, and do not expect a refund to be guaranteed.
  4. If you suspect fraud or identity theft, report it to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or to Police Scotland on 101. Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud on 4 December 2025.
  5. Treat offers to recover lost money for an upfront fee with suspicion. The Financial Conduct Authority warns about recovery room scams, which offer to help people get their money back for a fee.

If you have information about a site that appears to be offering gambling without a licence, you can tell the commission in confidence. The service does not process complaints about a bet or a payment; those go to the business.

Where to report and where to get help

The National Gambling Helpline offers free and confidential support on 0808 8020 133. GamCare describes it as free support for anyone affected by gambling harms in Great Britain, with chat and WhatsApp options as well. It is for a person experiencing gambling harms and for people close to them.

Gamstop is free and open to anyone who lives in the UK. It blocks the licensed operators that take part, so it works alongside other tools, not instead of them. Blocking software on a phone or computer is one of those tools. Some banks let customers block gambling payments, and the commission lists them on its page on blocking gambling transactions. More options are on the page about free gambling support in Great Britain.

Registering with Gamstop and then ending up at one of the casinos not on Gamstop is not something to be ashamed of. The advert was written for exactly that moment, and support does not depend on how it happened.

What do people ask about sites that are not on Gamstop?

Are casinos not on Gamstop legal in the UK?

The Gambling Act 2005 makes it an offence to provide gambling facilities without a licence or other permission, and the commission says a business operating without its licence is acting illegally. Both statements are about the business. What they mean for a player in a particular case is a matter for a solicitor, and this is not legal advice.

Why are some online casinos not on Gamstop?

Taking part in Gamstop is a condition of a Gambling Commission licence, so a site outside it is usually a site without that licence. Research for the commission found that 7% of a small group of illegal-site users named avoiding Gamstop as a main reason for choosing a site. Treat that as a pointer, not a measure.

What are the risks of casinos not on Gamstop?

The commission says the illegal market is unlikely to operate in a way that is fair or safe. A site outside the licence is not bound by the commission’s complaints and ADR requirements, and Gamstop cannot block it. Safety cannot be judged from an advert, so the public register is the place to start.

Does Gamstop block every gambling site?

No. Gamstop’s terms of use say it is “unable to help prevent you from accessing gambling services that are operated by organisations which do not participate in GAMSTOP”. It blocks the licensed businesses that take part. If gambling is causing harm, the National Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 0808 8020 133.

Can you complain about a site that is not on Gamstop?

The commission’s complaints route starts with the gambling business, which has eight weeks to resolve it, and then runs to a free ADR provider. Both steps assume a licensed business. For a site outside the licence, keep your records, tell your bank about the payments and report suspected fraud to Report Fraud.

How can you tell whether a site has a Gambling Commission licence?

Search the commission’s public register for the business, then check that the activities and website domain names on the licence match the site you are using. Licensed businesses must display that they are licensed and link to the register, so the footer is the first place to look, but the register is the source to trust. The guide to how to check a licence has the steps.

What can you do if you are on Gamstop and still gambling online?

Start with the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, which is free and confidential. Blocking software and a bank’s gambling block add further layers. The guide to how long Gamstop lasts explains exclusion periods and what happens when they end.

Sources

Pages read on 9 October 2026, except those marked 8 October 2026, which were checked a day earlier.