To complain about an online casino in the UK, follow one order: the operator first, in writing; then a free independent adjudicator such as IBAS, where the operator is UK-licensed; then the regulator, which oversees both but does not settle individual disputes.
Step one: complain to the operator
Every complaint starts with the operator’s own published complaints process. Put it in writing and keep it there. Set out the dates, times and amounts, and attach your evidence: cashier screenshots, messages, the terms as they stood when you played, and your transaction history. Without dates and amounts attached, the operator can keep asking for more before it engages with the substance.
If a UK-licensed operator is holding your winnings behind repeated checks, the same groundwork applies as for a casino that will not pay out: complete reasonable verification once, in full, and get the refusal and the term being relied on in writing before you do anything else.
What the timescales require
An operator licensed by the Gambling Commission must acknowledge your complaint as soon as reasonably possible. For a business that offers gambling around the clock, that acknowledgement must come within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. The whole process, including any internal escalation, must take no longer than eight weeks from when you first complained.
Eight weeks is a hard limit. Once it passes without a resolution, you can escalate.
Those timescales matter because they unlock your next step. You cannot take a complaint to an independent adjudicator until you have been through the operator’s own process. That route opens once the operator gives you its final answer (a deadlock) or once eight weeks have passed without resolution.
Step two: independent adjudication (ADR)
If the operator’s process ends without a fair result, your next route is Alternative Dispute Resolution. ADR is a free, independent service for you as the consumer, and the operator should tell you which ADR provider to use and how to contact it. The long-established principal body in the UK gambling sector is IBAS, the Independent Betting Adjudication Service, which has operated since 1998 and is recognised by the Gambling Commission.
IBAS is funded by registered operators rather than by players, so it costs you nothing. Where an operator is registered with IBAS, it agrees that an IBAS decision will be binding on it up to a published limit, currently £10,000. That is real leverage, used in the right order.
There are limits to what ADR will look at. It will not take on complaints that are only about customer service, an operator refusing to accept a bet, or an operator’s decision about whom it will accept as a customer. ADR addresses disputes over money and how you were treated.
Step three: report the operator to the regulator
You can report an operator to the Gambling Commission, and it is worth doing where you believe rules were broken. Be clear about what it does. The Commission regulates operators. It does not act as a complaints service, does not investigate individual consumer complaints, and does not order refunds to individual players. Reporting can inform regulatory action and help protect other people, but it is not a way to recover your own money. Use the Commission to flag wrongdoing; use ADR to pursue your own money.
When a bank or lender is involved
Some harm does not sit with the casino at all. The Financial Ombudsman Service deals with complaints against regulated financial firms, such as a bank or lender. Some people complain that a financial firm did not act on clear signs of gambling harm, or lent in a way that did not reflect their circumstances. Where that applies, your complaint may lie against the financial firm rather than the operator. Time limits apply, so it is worth raising this side early.
Where offshore casinos leave you
This entire structure depends on the operator holding a UK licence. An operator licensed only offshore, commonly in Curaçao, is not within the Gambling Commission’s complaints and ADR regime. It is not bound to acknowledge your complaint promptly or to resolve it within eight weeks, and no binding adjudication applies. Players commonly report that such operators stonewall or ignore complaints. The operator-then-ADR-then-regulator route was never built to reach an operator outside UK licensing.
That is the situation many people find themselves in: a self-exclusion that did nothing, a deposit that should never have been accepted, and a site that will not engage. If you were let to gamble beyond your means and lost large sums, the complaint routes above may give little leverage, and recovering gambling losses by working with regulated legal partners may sometimes be the stronger path.
A note on the rules changing
The ADR framework has been reformed under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. From 6 April 2026 the operator licence conditions refer to ADR providers accredited under that Act rather than under the previous regime, and operators are still required to give you free access to ADR. The core path for you is unchanged: operator first, then free independent adjudication, then the regulator.
You can do all of this yourself
None of these routes needs a claims company. The operator complaint, ADR through IBAS, reporting to the Gambling Commission, and the Financial Ombudsman where a financial firm is involved are all free, and you can use them yourself. Where a case is more complex, or where an offshore operator leaves the free routes ineffective, a free eligibility check will tell you honestly whether there is a recovery route worth pursuing, and you are under no obligation to take it further. The initial 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.
If gambling has affected you, support is available. You can call the National Gambling Helpline free on 0808 8020 133, or talk to GamCare (gamcare.org.uk), at any time.
Sources
- Gambling Commission, complaints and disputes guidance: time limits and escalation (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, LCCP social responsibility code provision 6.1.1, complaints and disputes (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, complain about a gambling business (gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players).
- IBAS, Independent Betting Adjudication Service (ibas-uk.com).
- Financial Ombudsman Service, complaints involving gambling-related harm (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.