If you have lost money to a casino that is not on GamStop, you have done nothing wrong, and you are not without options. A casino “not on GamStop” is simply one without a UK Gambling Commission licence, which is why your self-exclusion could not reach it. This page sets out your rights and the routes open to you.
Support comes first. You can call the National Gambling Helpline free on 0808 8020 133 at any time, or speak to GamCare (gamcare.org.uk).
What “not on GamStop” really means
GamStop is a free self-exclusion service. With a single registration it excludes you from all UK-licensed online gambling, for six months, one year, or five years. It is run by The National Online Self-Exclusion Scheme Limited, a not-for-profit funded by the gambling industry. Since 31 March 2020, taking part in GamStop has been a mandatory condition of holding a remote operating licence from the Gambling Commission.
The boundary is the part that catches people out. GamStop binds operators the Gambling Commission licenses, and only those. A casino licensed solely offshore, commonly in Curaçao but also in places such as Anjouan, falls outside the scheme. Your registration cannot see it, so it cannot block it. That is not a setting you missed. It is the limit of what GamStop was built to do.
A casino “not on GamStop” is a casino with no UK licence. Everything else follows from that.
So if you self-excluded in good faith and still found yourself depositing on an offshore site, the gap was never on your side. For the legal position, see our explainer on whether non-GamStop casinos are legal in the UK.
You did nothing unlawful
It is not against the law for a UK player to gamble on an offshore site. The Gambling Act 2005 puts the regulatory duty on the operator, not on you. An operator that provides remote gambling used in Great Britain must hold a Gambling Commission licence or it commits an offence under section 33, and advertising unlicensed gambling to British consumers is an offence under section 330. The burden sits with the business. You cannot be prosecuted or fined for having deposited, and the shame belongs elsewhere.
The protections you lost
A UK Gambling Commission licence carries a layer of consumer protection that an offshore licence does not. With a non-UK casino there is no GamStop enforcement, no Commission oversight of how the operator treats you, no requirement to use a UK-approved dispute-resolution service, and the UK’s affordability and safer-gambling licence conditions do not apply.
A Curaçao licence is real, but it is lighter-touch. Since the National Ordinance on Games of Chance came into force on 24 December 2024, Curaçao licences are issued directly by the Curaçao Gaming Authority, replacing the old master-licence and sub-licence system. The regime requires identity verification, responsible-gaming measures and a published complaints procedure. What it does not require is GamStop participation or any UK dispute-resolution route.
That gap is why preserved evidence becomes central. Your account history, deposit and transaction records, correspondence with the operator, and the terms as they stood when you played are the material any recovery attempt is built on. Treat your payment records as part of that evidence trail, a record of what happened, rather than a route to pursue in their own right.
What players report happening
On complaints platforms the same patterns recur. Players commonly report withdrawals delayed or blocked through repeated identity and source-of-funds requests, terms applied that were not clearly signposted, and balances confiscated on “responsible gaming” or bonus grounds. These are allegations made by players, not findings of a regulator. The right response is to record them carefully, not to assume the worst about every operator. If an operator is withholding your money, our guide on what to do when a casino is not paying out sets out the steps.
If your losses involve a brand such as Velobet, you can check the verified licence position and the documented player reports through our Velobet operator page, or browse the wider articles and operator directory for related detail.
The routes open to you
Start with the free routes. They exist whether or not you ever speak to a claims company. If the operator were UK-licensed, you would complain to it first, then escalate to its Commission-approved ADR provider, such as IBAS, once that process was exhausted. IBAS has adjudicated betting and gaming disputes since 1998 and is free to consumers. The Gambling Commission regulates operators rather than ordering refunds for individuals, and the Financial Ombudsman can consider some complaints about payment providers. For a step-by-step, see how to complain about an online casino.
Where the operator is offshore, those formal routes are narrower, which is where specialist help can earn its place. The strongest cases tend to share two features: a clear breach, such as an operator that let you gamble after a self-exclusion or well beyond any sensible affordability limit, and an evidence trail that proves it. If you registered with GamStop and still lost money offshore, read about claiming a refund after gambling post self-exclusion. For the wider picture, our guides cover getting money back from an offshore casino and, more broadly, how to recover gambling losses.
We are recovery specialists, not solicitors, and we work with regulated legal partners. The initial eligibility check is free and confidential. Where a case proceeds, our regulated legal partners typically work on a no win, no fee basis, so you pay an agreed percentage only from funds that are actually recovered. No outcome can be promised in advance, and you are free to use the free routes above yourself. If you would like us to look at your situation, a free eligibility check is the simplest place to begin.
Sources
- Gambling Act 2005, ss.33 and 330 (legislation.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, GamStop participation requirement and IBAS guidance (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- GamStop (gamstop.co.uk).
- Curaçao Gaming Authority, National Ordinance on Games of Chance (cga.cw).
- Financial Ombudsman Service (financial-ombudsman.org.uk).
General information, not legal advice. Clinton & Co Advisors is a trading name of Ramays TA/Clinton and Co Limited. We are not solicitors or a law firm. We connect clients with regulated legal partners.