Casino games are a popular form of entertainment in the UK. According to the UKGC, 47% of Brits have placed a bet on a gambling game during the past 4 weeks. Lotto is the most common form of gambling in the UK. In 2019 only, 30% of Brits have bought at least one ticket of the National lotto in 2019. Furthermore, the average of the Brits spending on land based casino games and sports betting activities is £2.6 per week. In total, the British gambling market equals £14.3 trillion per year
Although the UK is a big and old gambling market, the laws are young! As the British Gambling Law was enacted in 2005. On the basis of this act, the UK Gambling Commission has been established.
For nearly 20 years, the UKGC has worked with various bodies to harmonize actions and efforts to give players the freedom to gamble while maintaining the principle of responsible gaming.
2020 was a challenging year for every industry. Although everyone expected that players would not consider gambling during these difficult times, online casinos and sports betting sites have boomed and gained popularity even among people who have never tried gambling before.
The pandemic has created a new situation as the traffic on online casinos and sports betting sites has increased notably, which prompted the UKGC to consider using an effective method to protect players prone to gambling addiction, which is GamStop.
What Is the GamStop?
Started in 2018, GamStop is a free self exclusion service. It is operated by the charity, National Online Self Exclusion Scheme Limited. The main goal of this service is to offer free help to players who are prone to gambling addiction. At first, the service was working in a voluntary manner with both online gambling sites and players. Then, in 2020, the UKGC has taken a decisive step by requiring all online gambling sites to register with GamStop. Otherwise, the committee will cancel their license! Thus, if a player signed up for this service, he will not be able to login to his account on any British casino or create a new account on a new UK casino. The only thing that a player can do in this case is to withdraw his winnings only.
GamStop works in a very simple way. First, players register their details on the service site, then they should choose the ban period (6 months to 5 years). After finishing these steps, the service team will process your request for 24 hours and activate your account.
If a player ventures to try playing again during the self block period, the casino will freeze his account as well as any winnings it may hold.
GamStop Goals
GamStop is a charity which aims to assist players who have addiction tendencies and let them put controls on their gambling activities. During the exclusion period, you will be banned from all gambling sites which hold the UKGC license.
It is important to note that GamStop exclude you only from engaging in online casinos and sports betting sites which hold the UKGC license only. The service is unable to prevent you from playing on offshore casinos which hold licenses of gambling committees in other countries.
Does GamStop Cover the Land Based Casinos?
Some players on many sites like Reddit are asking if GameStop covers regular casinos and land betting shops. However, this is not true at all! GamStop’s mission is to serve online punters only.
The UK land based casinos have another self exclusion scheme, National Self Enrollment Self Exclusion, more known as SENSE. Like GamStop, joining this programme is essential for all regular casinos to obtain a license, employ staff, pay tax, and start hosting guests.
SENSE vs GamStop
Essentially, both services serve the same goal of helping players stop gambling for a while. If your will may slip, your subscription to these services will not slip! Because players can’t reduce the duration of self exclusion or cancel their accounts under any case.
In addition, they both offer varying periods of self exclusion ranging between 6 months to 5 years. Also, the casinos during the self block period casinos will not send you any promo messages.
To sign up for any SENSE and GamStop, you need to fill in the sign up form which asks for your details, such as the full name, email, date of birth, address, and your job. Then, the data you have entered will be revised within 24 hours. After that, your account will be activated and the ban will take place promptly.
The only difference between SENSE and GamStop is that you can’t get around SENSE in any way, but there are several ways to get around GamStop.
Ways to Get Around GamStop?
You can easily get around the GameStop program by playing on any casino that does not hold the UKGC license!
Nothing obligates offshore gaming commissions such as Curaçao, Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus to include GameStop or any of other UK’s self exclusion services. Simply because these services are concerned with the sites that hold the UKGC license only!
Casinos without GamStop have a lot of advantages that make them head and shoulders over many UK casinos.
They offer inclusive and attractive game pack. Support crypto and fiat currencies. Accept a wide range of payment solutions. Offer their players an excellent set of bonuses that you can take advantage of to play longer and earn more!
Casinos not on GamStop secure players’ financial and personal data by the state of the art protocols like SSL. Also, it offers games from worthy studios only as well as up and coming game creators.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, UK regular casinos aren’t subject to GamStop, this scheme covers the online gambling sites only. The regular casinos have another self exclusion programme, SENSE, which works in a very similar way to GamStop. Both aim to help players who wish to limit their betting activities. However, if you think that you opt in GamStop by mistake, you can resume playing on an offshore casino. Joining an offshore casino doesn’t have any crucial drawback. Quite the opposite, many offshore casinos outperform their UK counterparts.