GAMSTOP reports record New Year registrations and auto-renewal feature
Self-exclusion scheme update comes as a response to user requests, while start of 2025 sees large influx of self-exclusion requests
UK self-exclusion register GAMSTOP has announced a new five-year auto renewal option alongside record registration numbers for the start of the year.
In a bid to offer greater protection to vulnerable players, GAMSTOP has implemented the new auto-renewal period because of “direct feedback from users”.
In its near seven years of existence, the register has added more than 500,000 users, many of whom have called for an auto-renewal system to be in place.
Under the previous system, a user’s exclusion would remain active after their chosen duration for a further seven years unless they contact GAMSTOP to request its removal.
However, the new structure will see all users that opt for a five-year exclusion have that period automatically renewed for another five years. This cycle will continue until the customer actively chooses to opt out of the GAMSTOP register.
The news comes months after an independent Ipsos review of GAMSTOP found some users were anxious about what happens following the end of their exclusion period and would have favoured a lifetime ban option if it were available.
Consumers who have chosen to receive emails from GAMSTOP and have chosen a five-year exclusion period, with or without auto-renewal, will receive reminders every 15 months regarding their exclusion.
Users who are currently part of an existing five-year exclusion can upgrade the service so that auto-renewal is turned on.
The update comes after GAMSTOP CEO Fiona Palmer suggested such a move could happen while speaking to EGR in November 2024, talking up the importance of allowing users to exclude how they see fit.
“We work with the Gambling Commission, we have formed a working group which is a self-exclusion scheme owners’ group,” Palmer said.
“We work together to look at tackling the topic of putting the consumer at the heart of this. If consumers want to self-exclude, we should make it easy for them to do so.
“We shouldn’t be sending them around the houses. That’s what we should be striving towards, a consumer-first approach.”
After the news was confirmed, Palmer noted: “Our goal is to provide consumers with tools and options that empower them to take control of their gambling activity. As such, we’re consistently listening to feedback and evaluating the effectiveness of our service.
“Consumers wanted longer exclusion periods and we listened. The introduction of the five-year auto-renewal exclusion is an important step in ensuring consumers peace of mind when using our service and helping vulnerable consumers take a sustained break from their gambling.”
Additionally, the safer gambling tool has revealed that it saw its largest amount of daily sign-ups since its launch in 2018 during the opening exchanges of this year.
On 1 January, 415 people opted to register with GAMSTOP, before a further 413 a day later and another 396 on 6 January, the three highest number of daily sign-ups since May 2023.
In September of last year, the self-exclusion schemed shared how it had surpassed the 500,000-user mark since its inception in 2017.