Five years with auto-renewal means your exclusion does not stop after five years. When they end, a new five-year minimum starts on its own, without you contacting GAMSTOP. You can turn auto-renewal off in your GAMSTOP account, but only within the last six months of the five years.
GAMSTOP has offered this option since December 2024. Below is how it works, how many people choose a long block, and how to use the last six months. Checked on 15 October 2026.
The four GAMSTOP periods
- Six months: the shortest period.
- One year.
- Five years.
- Five years with auto-renewal: after five years, a new five-year minimum starts unless you have turned auto-renewal off.
None of them can be cancelled early, whatever the reason. A longer period can be added at any time.
When you can turn auto-renewal off
Only within the last six months of the five years, and only in your GAMSTOP account. Before that window opens, the setting stays as it is. If the window passes with auto-renewal still on, the next five-year minimum begins.
GAMSTOP says it will not contact you when a minimum period expires, so do not count on a reminder. Put the date your last six months begin somewhere you will see it.
If you turn it off
With auto-renewal off, the five years are your minimum period, and the general rule applies when it ends. Nothing happens on its own: if you do not ask for removal, the exclusion stays in place for a further seven years. To lift it, you sign in, check that it has expired and request removal by online chat or phone. A 24-hour cooling-off period follows.
How many people choose five years
GAMSTOP's own figures show how common a long block is:
- Second half of 2025: five years was chosen by 47%.
- December 2025: more than half of those choosing five years took auto-renewal.
- Release of 16 July 2026: more than one in two of the people currently on GAMSTOP had chosen five years.
Use the last six months well
The last six months are the one time the auto-renewal setting can change. That makes them a good time to decide, calmly, whether to keep the block or lift it, and to have your own rules ready either way. You don't have to quit. You have to be in control.
- The amount before the app: decide how much you can spend in a week before you open any account again. A number, not a feeling.
- The time before the app: decide which days and for how long, before you log in.
- One person who knows: choose someone who gets to hear the real number.
If you decide to keep it, leave auto-renewal on or add a longer period. Both are your call, and neither needs a new registration.
If it feels hard
The National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare, is on 0808 8020 133. It is free and confidential, and GamCare says it is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also use live chat or WhatsApp through GamCare. If it is urgent and you cannot get through, call Samaritans on 116 123. In an emergency, call 999.
Sources
Figures: GAMSTOP's release on the second half of 2025, published in early 2026, and its release of 16 July 2026 on the first half of 2026.