If you’re interested in online gambling or igaming, you’ve probably come across terms like “casinos not on GamStop”. This refers to a specific category of casinos that exist outside of the GamStop scheme.
What is GamStop?
It’s a self-exclusion scheme in the United Kingdom designed to help people take extended breaks from gambling. You can read more about it on the official website here. In essence, every online casino in the UK is part of GamStop; it’s a legal requirement by the governing body to register with the scheme so it can block players from accessing casinos across the country.
As a consequence, non-GamStop casinos are websites not connected to this programme. This includes every online casino in the world that’s not registered or licensed in the UK. The reason we’re broaching this topic is that it’s created a lot of myths as of late. People get fed incorrect information about casinos like this, so we’ve identified the four biggest myths to determine if there’s any truth to them or not!
The most common myth about these casino sites is that all of them are unlicensed. We’ll admit there’s a semblance of truth to this; you will find hundreds of online casinos not connected to GamStop without a licence at all.
Having said that, you need to go back to the definition of a non-GamStop casino; it’s simply a site that isn’t registered in the United Kingdom.
This means hundreds - if not thousands - of casinos are fully licensed overseas and available with no link to this scheme. Just look at CasinoGam’s list of online casinos without GamStop for evidence of this fact. Hundreds of the sites there are licensed in Curacao, Europe or further afield. You can find a casino with no links to this self-exclusion scheme and it can still have a proper gambling licence.
In other words, these websites can be regulated by governing bodies, so you don’t always have to worry about joining unlicensed enterprises. The trick is knowing how to find if these sites have a licence - the easiest way is by looking at the bottom of the home page or in an “About Us” section. Usually, a licence will be advertised if one exists as it’s something a casino will want to brag about. If you can’t find any mention of one, there’s a strong chance the site is unlicensed and should be approached with a bit more caution.
We fully understand where this information comes from and it would be true if one word was added to the sentence.
All online casinos in the UK are partnered with GamStop.
That’s 100% true - but not all casinos in the UK are online! You could have multiple casinos within a few minute's drive away from where you live. These will NOT be covered by the GamStop self-exclusion scheme. Even casinos with online variations won’t be covered if you visit them in person. For example, you could visit Grosvenor Casino online and be blocked by GamStop if you’re signed up for the scheme. But, visit a Grosvenor Casino in real life and they’ll let you walk straight through the doors.
Nobody can come up with a good enough reason why land-based casinos aren’t covered by GamStop, but that’s the reality at the moment. It technically means that not all casinos in the UK are partnered with the scheme as hundreds of traditional ones are disconnected.
With that in mind, what should you do if you have trouble gambling and want to be blocked from all of the land-based casinos in the country? GamStop won’t work, but you can sign up for something called SENSE. It stands for the Self-Enrolment National Self-Exclusion scheme and will block you from physically entering all UK land-based casinos.
This is false, but we can see where the information comes from.
You’d assume that sites located in different countries might be geo-restricted for UK people. This is sometimes the case and online casinos won’t let you load up their websites or join from Great Britain, but it rarely happens.
The majority of international gambling sites open their doors to people from every continent. All you need to do to check this is load the website without activating a VPN. If it loads and lets you register, then it’s open to UK players. A handful of overseas betting sites will also give you GBP as a currency option, negating the need for any conversion headaches.
On the topic of VPNs, we’d probably advise against using one when gambling online. Some sites will (ironically) detect that you’ve activated a VPN and will stop you from accessing the site. If you are going to use one, make sure it’s set for your home country to get the security benefits without trying to pretend you’re from a different country.
Look, some casinos not linked to GamStop will be scam websites. That’s the harsh reality of the internet; people are always looking to take advantage of others. Any casino that doesn’t have a licence could potentially be harbouring scams or malware. The best way to deal with them is by using the latest anti-malware software on your computer - and prioritising casinos with proper licences.
Of course, we should also stress that this myth is technically a lie. It suggests ALL casinos outside GamStop are scams, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ll find more legitimate online casinos than illegitimate ones in this domain. The majority are 100% safe and the only difference between them and casinos on GamStop is that they’re not located or registered in the United Kingdom.
The moral of the story is to do your research before believing everything you read online. Yes, casinos not on GamStop can carry some dangers and you should look further into them before joining. However, you will find thousands of completely safe and secure betting sites with overseas licences that accept UK players and provide a wonderful gambling experience!
