Start with the sender, the communication channel and the change you want: no gambling marketing. Keep a copy of your request. This guide explains the gambling-specific rules for Great Britain, where the [Gambling Commission regulates gambling businesses](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/about-us/who-we-are), alongside UK data-protection guidance.
Stop messages from a known business
For a genuine email from a business you recognise, use its unsubscribe option or contact the business directly. For genuine marketing texts, follow the opt-out instructions; these commonly ask you to send STOP. The [Commission’s consumer guidance](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/page/how-can-i-stop-getting-gambling-marketing-texts-and-emails) explains both routes.
- For calls from a known business, ask for marketing calls to stop and follow up in writing. State that you want all gambling marketing to stop if that is your preference.
- Check each available communication channel and product category. Save your choices and retain any confirmation.
- Keep the date of your request and copies of any later messages so you can explain what continued.
Unsubscribing from email may leave text-message consent unchanged. The [ICO’s electronic marketing guidance](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guidance-on-direct-marketing-using-electronic-mail/how-do-we-comply-with-the-pecr-electronic-mail-marketing-rules/) gives this example explicitly. If your aim is no marketing, make that clear across channels, including calls and post, rather than assuming one unsubscribe link covers everything.
What gambling marketing preferences must cover
The Commission’s [product-and-channel preference rule](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/lccp/condition/5-1-12-direct-marketing-preferences) applies to remote casino, bingo and betting licences, with specified exceptions for ancillary, host, trading-room-only betting intermediaries and limited remote general betting licences. It is not a universal rule for every gambling business. Covered businesses must provide separate product and channel choices, defaulted to opt-out, and allow changes. The named channels include calls, email and SMS; product categories include betting, casino and bingo, where applicable. Marketing must respect the selections.
For existing accounts, the [current rule](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/lccp/condition/5-1-12-direct-marketing-preferences) allows compatible preferences to be carried over. Check your recorded choices or send an explicit withdrawal instead of assuming an older permission has expired.
Send a clear request
The [ICO explains your right to object](https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/the-right-to-object-to-the-use-of-your-information/): an organisation cannot refuse an objection to using your personal information for direct marketing. You can also withdraw consent. Use the business’s verified customer-service or privacy contact. Here is suggested wording to adapt:
Stopping marketing does not require all your data to be erased. A business can keep a suppression record to avoid contacting you again. Routine customer-service messages are also distinct from direct marketing. These distinctions are explained in the [ICO’s guidance](https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/the-right-to-object-to-the-use-of-your-information/).
If messages continue
Under the Commission’s [electronic marketing consent rule](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/lccp/condition/5-1-11-direct-electronic-marketing-consent), licensed businesses must stop electronic marketing as soon as practicable after consent is withdrawn, unless you consent again. Keep the original request, any acknowledgement and subsequent messages together; do not assume that another marketing message means you must accept it.
Raise the continuing contact with the business. You can report continuing unwanted gambling texts or emails to the ICO using the reporting routes in the [Commission’s consumer guide](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/page/how-can-i-stop-getting-gambling-marketing-texts-and-emails). For a separate gambling-business complaint, see our [complaints and ADR guide](/en/learn/licensing/gambling-complaints-and-adr).
Treat suspicious messages differently
If you are unsure a message is genuine, do not reply or follow its links to unsubscribe. [GOV.UK’s phishing guidance](https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing) explains how to report suspicious texts to 7726 and suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. Contact a known business through details you have independently verified.
Understand what these controls do
Withdrawing marketing permission concerns messages; it does not itself close an account or block gambling. [Self-exclusion](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/page/self-exclusion) is a separate arrangement intended to support stopping gambling. Read our [self-exclusion and gambling blocks guide](/en/learn/responsible-gambling/self-exclusion-and-gambling-blocks) if that is the change you need.
Do not treat an email opt-out as a promise that every advert will disappear. Social-media advertising has separate settings: the [Commission’s advertising guidance](https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/contact-us/guide/page/gambling-advertising-on-television-and-online) describes tools that can reduce exposure. For support beyond adjusting messages, visit [responsible gambling](/responsible-gambling).