Self-exclusion

The distinction that matters most

Operator-level self-exclusion

You ask a single gambling business to close your access. It covers that licensee — sometimes across all the brands it runs, sometimes not. It is a licence obligation in every jurisdiction covered here bar Curaçao, where the current online regime is not documented in the sources reached. But it protects you only from the company you asked.

Scheme-level self-exclusion

You register once with a central scheme, and every operator bound to that scheme must check the register and refuse you. This is the one worth doing first, because it does not require you to contact each operator individually — which is not a realistic task for someone in difficulty.

The schemes themselves are not built the same way. GAMSTOP is a not-for-profit company — The National Online Self Exclusion Scheme Limited — which operators must join as a condition of their licence. Spelpaus, Cruks and ROFUS are run by the regulators themselves and are tied to national electronic identity systems: BankID or Freja eID+ in Sweden, DigiD in the Netherlands, MitID in Denmark. Ontario’s BetGuard is administered by iGaming Ontario.

That difference has a practical consequence. Where a scheme requires a national e-ID, a person without one generally has to use a paper or postal route instead, and those routes are slower.

What no self-exclusion scheme covers

Two further limits are worth stating plainly:

• Channel gaps. Several schemes cover online gambling but not land-based venues, or the reverse. Great Britain runs separate schemes per land-based sector; Ontario’s BetGuard covers digital gambling and explicitly does not cover land-based casinos.
• Registration is not instant protection. Operators check the register on their own cycle. Your existing accounts also need closing, and any balance handling follows the operator’s own rules.

The national and provincial schemes

GAMSTOP — Great Britain

Operated by The National Online Self Exclusion Scheme Limited. Registering blocks you from signing up for or using online accounts with gambling companies licensed in Great Britain. The Gambling Commission requires participation in the national multi-operator scheme through its licence conditions and codes of practice, subject to a list of exceptions within that provision.

• Period: from six months up to five years, with an auto-renewal option.
• Ending it: it does not simply lapse. Deactivation requires you to contact GAMSTOP affirmatively after the period ends, and a 24-hour cooling-off period applies before it takes effect.
• What you provide: your details including email addresses and mobile numbers — give every one you have used, because the match is made on them.
• Land-based gambling is separate. Great Britain runs distinct sector schemes: GAMSTOP Betting Shops, SENSE for casinos, BISES (the Bingo Industry Self-Exclusion Scheme) through The Bingo Association, and schemes covering arcades and adult gaming centres. Registering with GAMSTOP online does not cover a high-street venue.

Spelpaus — Sweden

Run by Spelinspektionen, the Swedish gambling regulator. Registration is made with e-identification — Mobilt BankID, BankID, Freja eID+ or a foreign eID — and covers every operator holding a Swedish licence.

• Period: from 10 days upwards.
• Ending it: the exclusion cannot be undone or shortened before the date you chose. Choosing a longer period is a commitment, not a default.
• All or nothing: you cannot exclude yourself from some Swedish-licensed operators and not others.
• Marketing: gambling companies must check Spelpaus before sending direct marketing, so registration also cuts off gambling advertising sent to you directly.

Cruks — Netherlands

The Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen, run by the Kansspelautoriteit. Registration is made with DigiD. The regulator states that Cruks applies to all online gambling providers and slot-machine arcades in the Netherlands, and to Holland Casino.

• Period: a minimum of six months, with much longer terms available.
• Ending it: cancellation becomes possible once the first six months have passed — the lock-in is that initial six months, not the whole term you selected. If you are choosing a long period in the expectation that it cannot be undone, know that this is not how Cruks works.
• Involuntary registration is possible under a separate policy rule, on someone else’s application rather than your own.

ROFUS — Denmark

The Register Over Frivilligt Udelukkede Spillere, run by Spillemyndigheden. Registration is made with MitID, or by submitting form 9-01 by post for those without it — you can only register yourself.

• Period: short temporary exclusions are available from 24 hours, alongside longer and permanent options.
• Ending a permanent exclusion: a request can be made no earlier than one year, and requires a second confirmation within a defined window after the first.
• StopSpillet, the national helpline, is operated alongside the register.

BetGuard — Ontario

Ontario’s centralised self-exclusion programme, administered by iGaming Ontario, which announced its availability in May 2026. One registration opts a person out of Ontario-regulated online gaming sites — announced as covering more than 75 regulated sites, including OLG’s.

• Period: AGCO’s standards and bulletin describe six-month, one-year and five-year options; iGaming Ontario’s launch announcement for the live product also refers to a custom term. Both are recorded here because they differ.
• Land-based is separate. BetGuard does not cover in-person casinos. OLG’s My PlayBreak is the land-based route, and it involves providing a facial image used for comparison against facial-recognition cameras at casinos.

Four jurisdictions with no cross-operator online scheme

These are the markets where it is easiest to assume protection that is not there — in two of them a scheme exists, but not the kind most readers would expect.

Each of these is a statement about what the official sources we reached document, not a finding that nothing else exists. Where a scheme is described here as land-based or operator-level, ask the operator directly what its exclusion actually covers, and treat blocking software and payment blocks as doing the work a central register would otherwise do.

The schemes compared

Every one of these binds only the operators licensed by the authority behind it. None of them reaches a site licensed elsewhere or a site with no licence at all.

Operator-level exclusion, and why it is still worth doing

Scheme-level registration is the stronger step, but operator-level exclusion still matters: it is available in jurisdictions without a central scheme, it works immediately with the operator you contact, and it is the only route where no scheme exists.

• Ask in writing and keep the request. It is evidence if the operator later allows you to gamble.
• Ask how far it reaches. Whether an exclusion applies across every brand a licensee runs is not universal — Malta’s regulator makes the cross-brand effect depend on the reason given, so the reason you state can change the coverage.
• Your balance is not forfeited by excluding yourself, and the MGA states this explicitly for Malta. If an operator suggests otherwise, that is a complaint.
• A time-out is not self-exclusion. A short cooling-off period is a different and weaker tool — see time-outs and reality checks.

The layers that sit outside gambling regulation

Regulators themselves point to two further tools, because a scheme alone leaves gaps.

• Blocking software

  Software that blocks gambling sites on your devices, which works regardless of where a site is licensed. The Gambling Commission names Gamban among the tools it lists; blocking software is a separate product category from the schemes above.

• Bank and card gambling blocks

  Many banks let you switch off gambling transactions on your account. The Gambling Commission lists eleven named banks offering some form of block, with the level of friction to reverse it varying between them.

When an exclusion period ends

The end of a period is the point at which schemes differ most, and assuming the wrong model is how people end up gambling again without meaning to.

• Some schemes lapse automatically. Others do not: GAMSTOP requires you to contact it affirmatively, and applies a cooling-off period before deactivation takes effect.
• Some cannot be shortened at all. Spelpaus is fixed until the date chosen.
• Some can be ended part-way. Cruks becomes cancellable once six months have passed, regardless of how long a term was selected.
• Records persist after the period. GAMSTOP’s terms describe a defined period during which data is retained after an exclusion ends.

If the period is approaching its end and you do not want to gamble again, the practical step is to extend or re-register before it lapses, rather than to rely on inertia.

Primary sources

Each link below goes to the issuing authority’s own website. Where a page could not be retrieved by our automated checks, that is stated rather than hidden.

• Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario Information Bulletin: AGCO Sets iGaming Standards for Centralized Self-Exclusion Program
  Sets only three terms for the centralized program: six months, one year and five years. iGaming Ontario's BetGuard launch announcement additionally mentions a custom term. The conflict is unresolved, so a custom term must not be described as a standards-mandated option. The bulletin also gives no effective date for the standards.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) Self-Exclusion and Breaks in Play — AGCO
  Sets out the operator duties for Centrally Self-Excluded Persons (no new or existing account access, wagers cancelled and refunded within 24 hours with narrow exceptions, marketing stopped within 24 hours) and names iGaming Ontario as registry administrator. Term lengths are given as six months, one year and five years, but iGaming Ontario's own launch announcement for the live product adds 'a custom term' — treat the three-option list as incomplete and attribute each version.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Gambling Commission Block gambling payments with your bank
  Stale for a fast-moving subject: roughly 19 months old at the date checked, and bank product features change. Present the eleven named banks as 'as listed by the Commission on 25 February 2025', never as current fact. It is an information page, not a tool — there is no search interface.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Gambling Commission Free multi operator and national self-exclusion schemes
  The freshest GB page in this set. Lists the sector schemes and their joining routes, including the telephone numbers. Two points the verification pass insisted on: the bingo scheme's own name is BISES (Bingo Industry Self-Exclusion Scheme), and betting-shop self-exclusion is area-based, not national in the way GAMSTOP Online is. Durations for the land-based schemes are not stated.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Gambling Commission Self-exclusion — Gambling Commission guidance for the public
  Distinguishes the online scheme from the area- and sector-scoped land-based multi-operator schemes, which it does not name. This refreshed page writes the online scheme's name as 'GAMSTOP ONLINE', while other Commission pages and this register still use 'GAMSTOP' — check the current branding before publication.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Gambling Commission Self-exclusion with GAMSTOP — Gambling Commission
  Stale, and it conflicts with the LCCP: this page says 'All gambling businesses must participate in this scheme', while social responsibility code provision 3.5.5 applies to remote licences subject to a nine-item exception list. The conflict is recorded, not resolved — describe the LCCP scope and note the exceptions rather than publishing either version as settled.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Gambling Commission View playing history and restrict or block gambling activity
  The only device-blocking product named by an official regulator page reached in this research (GamBan). GamCare's own blocking-software page returned 403, so no further tool names are verified from any source here.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• GamCare Blocking software — GamCare self-help
  HTTP 403 to automated retrieval, as with every other GamCare path tried — site-wide bot protection, not a dead page. Because it could not be read, no blocking-tool names from GamCare are usable; the only officially named tool in this research comes from the Gambling Commission's own page.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · bot-blocked
• GAMSTOP About | Gamstop Online
  States a range of 'from 6 months up to 5 years' with an automatic renewal option, and that 'Once you've registered, you cannot cancel your registration during the exclusion period.' It does not enumerate discrete durations and does not state an activation delay. Note what the scheme actually blocks: signing up for or using online accounts with gambling companies licensed in Great Britain. It does not make gambling websites unreachable, and copy that says so sets a false expectation.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• GAMSTOP Gamstop Online — national online self-exclusion scheme homepage
  The scheme's own site, authoritative for its corporate identity but not the regulator: it is operated by The National Online Self Exclusion Scheme Limited, Registered No. 10504973. The site now leads with the brand 'Gamstop Online'.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• GAMSTOP Participating companies | Gamstop Online
  A static alphabetical list with no search control and no query-string parameter: use the browser's own find-in-page. It is not a licence register — presence on it is an integration fact, not a regulatory endorsement, and the list goes stale between updates.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• GAMSTOP Terms of Use | Gamstop Online
  The strongest official statement that a national scheme does not reach non-participating operators, plus the exact period options, the deactivation request and 24-hour cooling-off, and the seven-year post-exclusion notification period. One qualification from the verification pass: the Terms enumerate a single 'home address (including post code)', so advice to enter every address ever used is unsupported — the multiple-entry requirement is explicit only for email addresses and mobile numbers.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• GAMSTOP What is self-exclusion? — GAMSTOP help centre article
  Returned HTTP 403 Forbidden to automated requests and the body was not retrieved. This is the page that would settle the discrete self-exclusion durations, any activation delay and post-expiry retention; until a human opens it in a browser, none of those are stated here.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · bot-blocked
• iGaming Ontario BetGuard — centralized self-exclusion for Ontario iGaming (iGaming Ontario news)
  Confirms the 14 May 2026 launch, the 19+ eligibility and coverage of all Ontario regulated igaming sites including OLG. It does not mention land-based or in-person casinos anywhere, so the land-based carve-out must be cited to OLG's My PlayBreak page instead. It lists a custom term that AGCO's standards bulletin does not.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• iGaming Ontario Opt out of online gambling in Ontario | BetGuard
  The site resolves but returned only a JavaScript shell — the document title above and a skip link were all that could be read. Its screens, fields and enrolment flow are undocumented in this research and must not be described. The title is the page's own <title> as returned.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · js-only
• Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) Beleidsregels onvrijwillige inschrijving Cruks | Kansspelautoriteit
  Dutch-language page covering involuntary registration in Cruks, linked to Dutch legal identifier BWBR0045439, in force from 1 October 2021. It states who may request it and the necessity test, but neither the duration of an involuntary registration nor the detailed procedure — do not state either.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) Gokstop voor een ander aanvragen | Kansspelautoriteit
  HTTP 403 to automated retrieval, while other pages on the same host loaded — this is per-path blocking, not a dead page. It is the consumer-facing procedure for requesting a gambling stop for another person, so that procedure is undocumented here.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · bot-blocked
• Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) Neem een gokstop met Cruks | Kansspelautoriteit
  Dutch-language only; no English Ksa page on Cruks was reached. Corrected by the verification pass: the lock-in is the first six months, not the full chosen term — the page says cancellation is possible once the first six months have passed. A Dutch sentence the original research attributed to this page, stating that the gokstop cannot be ended earlier, could not be found on two independent readings and is not used here. The page also documents DigiD versus paper registration and that the exclusion ends automatically at the end of the enrolment.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) Uitsluitregister Cruks | Kansspelautoriteit
  Dutch-language page, aimed mainly at providers: they need a Cruks code and check on citizen service number (BSN), name and date of birth. Coverage is 'alle online kansspelaanbieders en speelautomatenhallen in Nederland en voor Holland Casino' — the verification pass corrected the wording from 'speelhallen'. 'Alle' means all Dutch-licensed providers; the page does not extend coverage beyond the Netherlands.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Malta Gaming Authority Player Protection — Malta Gaming Authority (Licensee Hub)
  States that once a player has exhausted the internal process, operators 'must offer the opportunity to refer any dispute to a registered ADR entity', and names the Player Protection Directive (Directive 2 of 2018) as the governing instrument. The licensee's own 'Player Support team' here is a different thing from the MGA's 'Player Support Unit'. This page is also the only place on any fetched MGA page where the figure 18 appears, and it appears inside a marketing-conduct rule rather than as a stated statutory minimum age. No last-updated date.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Malta Gaming Authority Remote Gaming: Is a self-exclusion applied across all brands operated by a Licensee? (MGA FAQ)
  The most important player-protection source for Malta, and the reason Malta must not be compared to jurisdictions with a national scheme: a self-exclusion covers all brands of one licensee, and the Authority only 'encourages Licensees to emphasise with players that they should also exclude any accounts they hold with all other Licensees', pointing additionally to third-party blocking software. There is no national cross-licensee self-exclusion register.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Malta Gaming Authority Self-Barring — Malta Gaming Authority (Player Hub)
  Online-oriented: it describes self-exclusion as blocking access to 'the gaming website which the player has excluded with', and publishes the Self-Barring Request Application Form (MGA-F-006) and the Self-Barring Auto-Renew Removal Form (MGA-F-015). The land-based self-barring sentence is on the Safer Gambling page, not this one. No last-updated date, and the land-based renewal mechanics are not stated anywhere.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation My PlayBreak — OLG's self-exclusion tool
  OLG is a Crown agency and operator, not the regulator, so cite this as the scheme's own authority rather than as a regulatory source. It is the only verified source for the statement that BetGuard does not cover land-based casinos, and it publishes two enrolment numbers: 1-800-387-0098 for casinos and 1-855-978-7529 for OLG.ca. Its term lists are longer than AGCO's summary of them. No last-updated date; only a 2026 copyright line.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spelinspektionen Responsible Gambling and duty of care — Spelinspektionen (English)
  States an 18 minimum for gambling and a 20 minimum for entry to Casino Cosmopol. The figure 20 was not found in the Gambling Act text, so its legal basis is unestablished and must not be attributed to that Act.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spelinspektionen Spelpaus.se — This is how it works
  Durations are 10 days, 1, 3 or 6 months, or until further notice (at least 12 months). A self-exclusion cannot be cancelled or ended early; it may be replaced with a longer one but never shortened, and a fixed-term exclusion ends automatically on its end date.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spelinspektionen Welcome to Spelpaus.se — English entry point for Swedish self-exclusion
  Registration is confirmed with Swedish e-identification (Mobilt BankID, BankID, Freja eID+ or a foreign eID) and the FAQ states a Swedish personal identity number is needed. An alternative route for people without e-identification is signposted but was not opened.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spelinspektionen (Swedish Gambling Authority) The SGA's situation report — online gambling outside the licensed market (PDF)
  Downloaded as a 733 KB binary PDF but never parsed — no text was read and no claim on this site rests on its contents. Listed because it is the likeliest official Swedish source on people gambling outside the licensed market despite an exclusion; a human must open it before anything is quoted from it.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable
• Spillemyndigheden (Danish Gambling Authority) What is ROFUS? — the register of voluntarily excluded players
  Link this path: https://www.rofus.nu/en/ returned HTTP 500 on two independent attempts. Confirmed here: the durations, the coverage boundary (operators licensed by the Danish Gambling Authority, plus Danish land-based casinos and betting), MitID or form 9-01 registration, the automatic 'No thanks to gambling ads' marketing block, and the two-step deletion of a permanent exclusion. Write MitID, not NemID. An unfetched Spillemyndigheden technical PDF appeared in search snippets to give a different minimum for temporary exclusion; that conflict is unresolved and must not be reconciled in print.
  Checked 18 September 2026 · reachable