Gambling loss recovery has its own vocabulary, and the words can feel built to keep you out. This plain-English glossary defines the terms you meet most often: the checks an operator should have run, the bodies that resolve disputes, the licences behind a site, and how a recovery claim is built and funded.
Use it as a reference. Each entry is short and concrete. Where a term connects to a fuller explanation, you will find a link to one of our guides, including how gambling loss recovery works and how to recover gambling losses in the UK. If you would rather have someone read your situation directly, a free eligibility check is the quickest route.
Checks an operator should run
These are the duties a UK-licensed operator owes you. When they are skipped, ignored, or done badly, that failure often sits at the centre of a recovery claim.
KYC (Know Your Customer)
KYC is the identity verification an operator must carry out to confirm who you are, your age, and that you are not using someone else’s details. It usually means checking ID, address, and date of birth. Operators are meant to do this properly and promptly, not only when you try to withdraw winnings.
Anti-money-laundering (AML)
AML is the set of legal duties that require an operator to spot and report funds that might come from crime, and to understand where a customer’s money comes from. It is a real obligation, not an excuse to stall a payout. Some account holds are lawful AML checks. The question in a claim is whether a check was genuine and proportionate, or used to delay you.
Affordability check
An affordability check is the operator’s assessment of whether your gambling matches what you can sensibly afford to lose. It can draw on deposit levels, betting patterns and, in some cases, financial information. When losses run far beyond any plausible income and no check is made, that gap is often the strongest part of a recovery case.
Source of funds
Source of funds is evidence of where the money you are gambling with actually came from: salary, savings, an inheritance, a loan. Operators may ask for it as part of AML and affordability duties. A site that lets large, unexplained sums flow through an account without ever asking has usually not met its obligations.
Tools that should stop the harm
These exist to help you stop. When they are offered but not honoured, the failure can support a claim.
Self-exclusion
Self-exclusion is a formal request to be barred from gambling for a set period, made directly to an operator or through a scheme. Once you self-exclude, the operator should close your account and stop marketing to you. Being allowed to keep gambling after you self-excluded is a serious failing, and one of the clearest grounds a recovery claim can rest on.
GamStop
GamStop is the UK’s free national online self-exclusion scheme. Register once and every operator licensed by the Gambling Commission must block you from opening or using an account for the period you choose: six months, one year, or five years. GamStop is mandatory for UK-licensed sites. It does not reach offshore operators, because they hold no UK licence and sit outside the scheme. You can register at gamstop.co.uk.
Bodies that resolve disputes
If you cannot settle a complaint with an operator directly, these are the routes that may be open to you.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
ADR is a way to settle a dispute with a gambling business without going to court, using an independent adjudicator approved by the Gambling Commission. Every UK-licensed operator must belong to an approved ADR provider. ADR is free to you. It looks at whether the operator followed its terms and the rules, and it can direct a payment, though its scope is limited.
IBAS (Independent Betting Adjudication Service)
IBAS is the best known approved ADR provider for gambling in Great Britain. It adjudicates disputes between customers and the operators registered with it, once the two sides have reached deadlock. IBAS weighs the facts and the terms and reaches a decision. It does not assess wider questions of harm or affordability in the way a recovery claim can. You can find IBAS at ibas-uk.com.
Deadlock letter
A deadlock letter is the operator’s written confirmation that its internal complaints process is exhausted and it will not change its position. You usually need it, or proof that eight weeks have passed, before an ADR provider such as IBAS will take your case. Ask for it in writing and keep it. It is a key piece of your record.
The rules and the regulator
The Gambling Commission
The Gambling Commission is the body that licenses and regulates commercial gambling in Great Britain. It sets the rules operators must follow, runs the public register of licensed businesses, and takes enforcement action when operators fall short. If a site is not on its register at gamblingcommission.gov.uk, it is not UK-licensed, and UK protections such as GamStop do not apply to it.
The LCCP (Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice)
The LCCP is the Gambling Commission’s rulebook. It sets out the conditions every licensed operator must meet, covering customer protection, anti-money-laundering, fair terms, and the duty to keep customers safe from harm. When a claim argues that an operator failed in its duties, it is usually the LCCP standards the operator is measured against. Breaching the LCCP can lead to fines or loss of licence.
Offshore licences
An offshore licence is a gambling authorisation issued outside Great Britain. A site holding one is not regulated by the Gambling Commission, is not bound by the LCCP, and is not part of GamStop. The level of protection varies widely between regimes, and several are much lighter than the UK system. Common examples you will see named in terms and conditions include:
- Curaçao: a long-standing and very common offshore jurisdiction, historically known for light-touch oversight, now moving to a reformed licensing system.
- Anjouan: a licence from the Comoros island of Anjouan, used by many newer offshore brands, with limited consumer protection.
- Kahnawake: a licence issued by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada, one of the older offshore regimes.
- MGA (Malta Gaming Authority): a more established European regulator, generally seen as stricter than the lighter-touch jurisdictions, though still not the UK system.
- Gibraltar: a respected jurisdiction that licenses many large operators, with closer ties to UK standards than most offshore regimes.
The practical point is the same across all of them. An offshore licence tells you which UK rules were never going to apply to your account. If you played at a site you later found was offshore, our guide on recovering gambling losses in the UK explains where you may still stand.
How a claim works and is paid for
Recovery claim
A recovery claim is a request to be repaid losses on the basis that an operator breached the duties it owed you: for example, ignoring clear signs of harm, taking deposits after you self-excluded, or letting you lose far beyond what you could afford. It is built on evidence of those failings. It is not a complaint about losing bets that were fairly placed. Our guide on how gambling loss recovery works walks through the process step by step.
No win, no fee
No win, no fee means you pay nothing up front, and a fee is taken only from money that is actually recovered for you. If the claim does not succeed, you do not pay that fee. The fee is usually an agreed percentage of the amount recovered. Always check what is and is not covered before you sign anything, so there are no surprises.
Net deposits
Net deposits is the total you put into an account minus anything you withdrew. It is a clearer measure of real loss than headline turnover, which counts every wager and every re-bet of winnings. If you deposited 20,000 pounds over time and withdrew 4,000, your net deposits are 16,000. This figure is often the starting point for working out what a recovery claim is worth.
Putting the terms together
Read in sequence, these terms describe how a UK gambling account is meant to work and where it goes wrong. An operator should verify you through KYC, understand your money through AML and source of funds, and check that your play is affordable. If you ask to stop, self-exclusion and GamStop should make that stick. If something goes wrong, you complain, reach deadlock, and can take the dispute to an ADR provider such as IBAS, with the Gambling Commission and the LCCP standing behind the rules. Where the site is offshore, those protections fall away, which is why the licence behind a brand matters so much. And where an operator’s failings caused your losses, a recovery claim, often funded on a no win, no fee basis and measured against your net deposits, may be a route to recovering some of that money.
None of this requires you to act alone. You can complain to an operator and gather your records yourself, at no cost. Where the picture is more complicated, a free eligibility check can tell you honestly whether a claim is worth pursuing.
If gambling is causing you harm, free and confidential help is available now. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or chat to GamCare (gamcare.org.uk). To block gambling sites across your devices, BetBlocker (betblocker.org) is free.
Sources
- Gambling Commission, Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and public register of licensed businesses (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, guidance on Alternative Dispute Resolution and approved ADR providers (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), an approved ADR provider (ibas-uk.com).
- GamStop, the national online self-exclusion scheme (gamstop.co.uk).
- Malta Gaming Authority (mga.org.mt), Gibraltar Gambling Division, Kahnawake Gaming Commission, and the Curaçao and Anjouan licensing authorities, for offshore licence descriptions.
- GamCare and the National Gambling Helpline (gamcare.org.uk). BetBlocker (betblocker.org).
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.