GAMSTOP has announced that more than 500,000 people have registered for its self-exclusion service since its inception in 2018 and that the age of those registering is falling.
The UK’s self-exclusion service allows consumers to exclude themselves from gambling sites licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, for a period of six months up to five years.
According to GAMSTOP, over 440,000 people are currently excluded, with approximately one in two opting for the longest time frame possible. April 2024 had the highest volume of monthly registrations since the service’s launch with 8,686 new registered users.
GAMSTOP noted that it uses insights from the UKGC’s most recent research to inform its outreach strategy.
Fiona Palmer, CEO of GAMSTOP, commented: “We have come a very long way since our launch in April 2018 and GAMSTOP is now widely recognised as an important tool to help vulnerable consumers take a break from their gambling.
“We are proud to have been able to help hundreds of thousands of people to take back control of their lives through self-exclusion and we hope to help many more in the years to come.”
As previously mentioned, GAMSTOP has reported that the age of those self-excluding is falling, as in the first half of 2024, one in two who registered for the service were aged 16-35. There was also a 12% year-on-year increase in the number of 16-24-year-olds registering.
A second independent evaluation of the self-exclusion service will be published later in September, as Ipsos surveyed more than 4,650 GAMSTOP users on the service’s “effectiveness in reducing gambling harm and how it supports its users alongside other forms of gambling prevention and support”.
Providing a snippet of the Ipsos survey, the self-exclusion service stated that “78% said that GAMSTOP had delivered the results they were hoping for, with 75% feeling more in control of their gambling choices”.
Palmer noted: “It is right that we regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the service through independent research and we will shortly be announcing the results of a comprehensive listening exercise conducted by Ipsos, who have surveyed thousands of GAMSTOP’s users.”
GAMSTOP’s report comes ahead of the third annual Self-Exclusion Day on 12 September, when football clubs across the UK raise awareness about the self-exclusion service to their supporters, with self-exclusion messaging displayed at EFL stadiums on 7-8 September and digital assets posted on partner clubs’ social channels.