Clinton & Co is not a law firm. We are claims specialists, and the first thing to say about money is that the assessment of your case is free and there are no upfront fees at any point. Where a case proceeds and is referred on, our regulated legal partners typically act on a no win, no fee basis: a success fee is taken as an agreed percentage of funds actually recovered, agreed with the partner in writing before anything is signed. If nothing comes back, nothing is paid. This guide sets out exactly how that works, in plain terms.
What “no win, no fee” actually means
The phrase is used a lot and explained badly. Stripped to its core, it means the fee for the work is contingent: it depends on a successful outcome. With us, the starting point costs you nothing. We look at your situation and tell you honestly whether there is a case worth pursuing. If it proceeds, the case is referred to our regulated legal partners, who typically work on exactly that contingent basis: a fee only where funds are actually recovered, taken as an agreed percentage of the recovery, never a charge on money that never arrives.
That structure exists for a reason. Most people who come to us have already lost money they could not afford to lose, often after a self-exclusion was ignored or after an operator let them gamble far beyond their means. Asking those same people to pay a large bill before anyone even knows whether they have a case would be the wrong way round. The fee should follow the result, not precede it.
Being clear costs nothing, so here is the boundary up front: no outcome is promised. No honest firm can promise to get your money back, because that depends on the facts, the evidence, and the operator involved. What we can say is how the money side works, so there are no surprises later. You can see the same logic laid out in our explanation of how gambling loss recovery works.
The free eligibility check comes first
Nothing starts with a fee. It starts with a question: do you have a case? The initial eligibility check is free and confidential. You tell us what happened, when, and to which operator. We look for the things that turn a loss into a potential claim, such as a self-exclusion that was not honoured, identity or affordability checks that should have caught the harm and did not, or an account that was allowed to keep running when it plainly should not have been.
Sometimes the answer is that there is no realistic claim. We would rather tell you that for free than take you into a process that goes nowhere. Where there does appear to be something to pursue, we explain the likely route, what evidence it needs, and how the fee would work before anything is signed. You can begin with a free eligibility check, and you are under no obligation to go further. Our page on how it works walks through each stage in order.
How the success fee is calculated
If a claim proceeds and recovers funds, a success fee is charged as an agreed percentage of the amount actually recovered. The key words are “agreed” and “actually recovered”. The percentage is not fixed on this page and we do not publish a number, because it is set by the regulated legal partner handling the case and written into the agreement you sign, so you know the figure in advance. It is applied only to money that reaches you, not to the amount you originally claimed or hoped for.
A short worked example makes it concrete. Suppose a claim recovers a sum and the agreed success fee is a set percentage of that sum. The fee is taken from what is recovered, and you keep the rest. If nothing is recovered, there is nothing for the percentage to apply to, and no success fee falls due. The fee can never exceed the recovery, because it is a slice of it, not a separate bill stacked on top.
The full terms set out the exact percentage, when it applies, and anything else you should know, including the limited circumstances in which costs could arise. Read them before you commit, and ask us about anything that is not clear. Claims firms are expected to explain “no win, no fee” arrangements clearly rather than use the phrase as a slogan, to spell out any fee a customer might have to pay, and to tell people about the free routes open to them. We agree with that standard and write our terms to meet it.
What happens if a claim is unsuccessful
If a claim does not succeed, you do not pay a success fee. That is the point of the model. The risk of the outcome sits with the people doing the work, not with you. Before you sign anything, the terms will tell you whether any other costs could ever apply and in what narrow situations, so you can decide with the full picture in front of you rather than a half-explained promise.
This is also why the honesty of the first conversation matters so much. A firm paid only on success has every reason to tell you early if your case is weak, because taking on claims that cannot win helps no one. When we say a case is worth pursuing, it is because we believe the facts support it, not because there is a fee to be earned regardless. That is the difference between a fee model that protects you and one that simply markets to you.
Clinton & Co is not a law firm
This part matters and we will not blur it. We are not solicitors or a law firm. We connect clients with regulated legal partners. We are claims specialists who assess your situation and, where a case proceeds, connect you with regulated legal partners who carry out the legal work. When you read “no win, no fee” here, it describes how the arrangement is funded, not a claim to be something we are not.
Keeping that line clear protects you. It tells you who is doing what, and it means you can ask the right questions of the right people. The recovery specialists assess and coordinate. The regulated legal partners provide the legal services. The fee model is built around that division of work, and our role is to make the path from a free check to a funded claim as clear and as fair as it can be.
You can use the free routes yourself
A claims company is optional, and you should know that plainly. Several routes are open to you directly, at no cost, with no firm in between. For a UK-licensed operator, you start with the operator’s own complaints process and put everything in writing. If you are not satisfied, you can escalate to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider once you have a deadlock letter or after eight weeks. The Gambling Commission requires that ADR is free of charge to you.
The Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) is the gambling-specialist ADR body most players will meet. It adjudicates disputes between UK-licensed operators and their customers, it is free to consumers because operators fund it, and its decisions bind a registered operator up to a stated value. You can also report any operator to the Gambling Commission, although the Commission regulates operators rather than ordering refunds for individual players. None of these routes charge you, and you can pursue them without any claims company at all.
There are limits worth knowing before you rely on a route. ADR and IBAS reach UK-licensed operators, not sites licensed only offshore. The Gambling Commission does not settle individual refund claims. Where those free routes cannot reach the operator, or where the loss is tied to a duty the operator breached, a recovery claim with regulated legal partners may be the realistic option, and that is where a no win, no fee arrangement comes in. Either way, the choice is yours, and the free check helps you make it with the facts in front of you.
Where a recovery claim fits, and where it does not
A no win, no fee recovery claim is not a payment dispute and it is not a shortcut. It is a route for cases where an operator owed you a duty and breached it: letting you gamble after you had self-excluded, or allowing losses far beyond what you could afford while controls that should have intervened did not. The bank-transfer or other payment trail matters as evidence of what happened, not as a route in itself. The claim is built on the operator’s conduct, supported by your records.
It is worth naming the rules actually in play, because the phrase “no win, no fee” says nothing about them. For a Great Britain-licensed operator, the framework is its licence conditions: the customer interaction code for remote operators (Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3, in effect from 31 October 2023), the self-exclusion obligations including GAMSTOP, and the financial vulnerability check required since 28 February 2025 once net deposits pass £150 in a rolling 30 days. Where the argument is about the wording of the operator’s terms rather than its conduct, Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires consumer contract terms to be fair and written in plain and intelligible language. None of that is a promise of an outcome; it is simply the ground a case is argued on.
Offshore is a different picture, and we are specific about it because the difference decides the route. Sites licensed in Curaçao or Anjouan owe none of those UK duties, so the case is built on the operator’s own published terms, its conduct and the account record instead. Establishing which entity held which licence for the period you played is the first step, and our casino licence checker searches the Curaçao register by brand, domain or licence number.
That is why the evidence you keep decides so much. The operator’s own terms, your account and transaction history, any written refusals, your self-exclusion record, and the support messages you were sent all build the picture. Strong records let anyone assess your options honestly, whether you pursue a free route yourself or a funded claim with us. If you want a second view on whether there is anything to pursue, the free eligibility check is the quickest way to find out where you stand.
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). You can self-exclude from UK-licensed gambling sites for free through GAMSTOP (gamstop.co.uk), and to block gambling sites across your devices, BetBlocker (betblocker.org) is free.
Sources
- Gambling Commission, taking your complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider, including the eight-week and deadlock-letter rules and that ADR is free to the consumer (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, role in licensing and regulating gambling in Great Britain (gamblingcommission.gov.uk).
- Gambling Commission, customer interaction guidance for remote gambling licensees, formal guidance under Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3, in effect from 31 October 2023 (gamblingcommission.gov.uk). Read 16 September 2026.
- Gambling Commission, position on light-touch financial vulnerability checks (£150 net deposits in a rolling 30 days, in force since 28 February 2025) (gamblingcommission.gov.uk). Read 16 September 2026.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, Part 2 (Unfair Terms), fairness and plain-language requirements for consumer contract terms (legislation.gov.uk). Read 16 September 2026.
- Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS), gambling-specialist ADR, free to consumers, decisions binding on registered operators up to a stated value (ibas-uk.com).
- GAMSTOP, the free national self-exclusion scheme covering UK-licensed online operators (gamstop.co.uk).
- GamCare and the National Gambling Helpline (gamcare.org.uk); BetBlocker (betblocker.org).
General information, not legal advice. We are not solicitors or a law firm. We connect clients with regulated legal partners.