Before you lift GAMSTOP. 10 steps.
GAMSTOP blocks you from the websites and apps of every gambling company licensed in Great Britain for six months, one year or five years, and it cannot be cancelled early. When the minimum ends, nothing happens by itself: GAMSTOP does not tell you, and the block stays until you ask for it to be removed. What decides that day is what you did before it. Here is the plan: ten steps, at your pace.
B4GAMBLE earns commission from licensed casinos. The plan contains none.
- Your minimum period runs to the end of
- —
- From this day you can ask GAMSTOP to lift it
- —
GAMSTOP does not contact you when the minimum ends, and the block stays for a further seven years. To lift it, you sign in to your GAMSTOP account, check that it has expired and ask for removal by chat or on 0800 138 6518. A 24-hour cooling-off follows. Your account shows the exact dates.
All ten in one evening, or one a day
Ten steps from the B4GAMBLE Programme, in the order you take them. Each takes 5–15 minutes and ends with something you keep. You set the pace: the whole plan in one evening, or one step a day. You always continue where you left off.
- Day 1Step 1Say what is happening
Write down the real amount and the real time. For you only. That is your Starting Point.
- Day 2Step 2Set a 7-day goal
Decide the amount before you open the app. A number, not a feeling.
- Day 3Step 3Knowledge before the decision
Learn to read terms, odds and RTP while nothing is at stake.
- Day 4Step 4Understand the urge
What happens just before you open the app? Write the chain down: situation, thought, action.
- Day 5Step 5Build one boundary
One boundary you can keep this week: a time, an amount or a place.
- Day 6Step 6Check before deciding
Three checks before a deposit: the bills, the amount, the clock.
- Day 7Step 7Add friction
Take the app off the home screen and delete saved cards. Make the fast route slow.
- Day 8Step 8Prepare support
Choose one person who knows the real number. One is enough.
- Day 9Step 9Rehearse the decision
Say out loud what you will do the evening after the pause. Practise the answer before it counts.
- Day 10Step 10Make the plan reviewable
Write the plan on one page: the amount, the time, the person. Decide when you read it again.
The day you decide
When the minimum is over, the choice is yours: keep GAMSTOP, or ask for it to be lifted. If you go back, your rules are ready: the amount is set before the app, the time is set before the app, one person knows. You don't have to quit. You have to be in control.
Start step 1 nowKeeping GAMSTOP?
If you decide to keep it, you do not have to do anything: the block stays. If you want to talk it through, take what you already know to the helpline. Five lines are enough, and they make the call shorter:
- I have been excluded since: …
- What I decided about amount and time: …
- The boundary that held: …
- The person who knows the real number: …
- What I want help with now: …
Questions about GAMSTOP
Plain answers to what people ask while the exclusion runs.
- Still getting gambling emails on GAMSTOP?
- A break shorter than six months: GAMSTOP or a time out?
- Casinos not on GAMSTOP: what actually happens
- GAMSTOP five years with auto-renewal: what it means
- GAMSTOP in numbers: who self-excludes in 2026
- What GAMSTOP does not cover
- Can you cancel GAMSTOP early?
- My GAMSTOP has ended: how removal works
Questions people ask
- Can I cancel GAMSTOP early?
- No. GAMSTOP will not remove an exclusion before its minimum period ends, whatever the reason. Spelpaus and a temporary ROFUS exclusion cannot be cancelled early either.
- What happens when the minimum period ends?
- Nothing, by itself. GAMSTOP does not contact you, and the block stays in place for a further seven years. To lift it, you sign in to your GAMSTOP account, check that it has expired and ask for removal by chat or on 0800 138 6518, every day from 10am to 8pm. A 24-hour cooling-off follows, and you can cancel the request during it.
- Does GAMSTOP cover betting shops, casinos and the National Lottery?
- GAMSTOP covers online gambling with companies licensed in Great Britain. Betting shops, bingo halls, casinos and arcades have schemes of their own. National Lottery draw games such as Lotto and EuroMillions are not covered; its online instant win games are.
- Are there casinos in the plan?
- No. The plan and its ten steps contain no casinos and no offers. While you are on GAMSTOP, every gambling company licensed in Great Britain must check it whenever you sign up or log in.
- Do I need an account?
- Not to read the plan. To take the steps and keep your answers you create a free Programme account. Your answers are never used for offers, rankings or ads.
- What about sites "not on GAMSTOP"?
- They hold no licence in Great Britain, so GAMSTOP does not reach them and neither does British consumer protection. The same goes for sites advertising casinos "without" Spelpaus or ROFUS. We never link to them.
- Where do I turn if it is urgent?
- Great Britain: the National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare, 0808 8020 133, free, confidential and open 24 hours a day. Sweden: Stödlinjen, 020-81 91 00, free and anonymous. Denmark: StopSpillet, 70 22 28 25, free and confidential. In an emergency call 999, or 112 in Sweden and Denmark.