A national self exclusion register is one list that shuts you out of every licensed gambling operator in a country at the same time. You sign up once. The operators then have to check the list and turn you away. Fifteen of these schemes are compared below, and they are far less alike than they look.
Three things vary most: the shortest block you can take, whether you can change your mind, and whether the block reaches betting shops and casinos as well as websites. Every figure on this page comes from the scheme’s own site or from its national regulator.
What a national register actually does
A register works because the duty sits with the operator, not with you. Once your name is on the list, every operator covered by the scheme must check it before opening an account or taking a bet. Most schemes also stop marketing.
That is the strength and the limit of the idea. A register only reaches the operators a country licenses. It cannot reach a site that ignores the rules. Our complete guide to self-exclusion explains how the schemes fit together with blocking software and bank blocks.
The 15 schemes side by side
| Country and scheme | Run by | Shortest block | Longest block | End it early? | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK — GAMSTOP | GAMSTOP, as a licence condition | 6 months | 5 years, or 5 years with auto-renewal | No | Licensed online sites and apps |
| Ireland — National Gambling Exclusion Register | Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland | Not yet open | Not yet open | Not yet known | Licensed online gambling, once live |
| Sweden — Spelpaus | Spelinspektionen | 10 days | Until further notice, at least 12 months | No | All gambling needing registration, online and in person |
| Denmark — ROFUS | Spillemyndigheden | 24 hours | Permanent | Not stated on the register’s own page | Online, physical casinos, betting in shops |
| Netherlands — CRUKS | Kansspelautoriteit | 6 months | No stated maximum | No | Licensed Dutch sites, arcades and casinos |
| Germany — OASIS | Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder | 3 months | Open-ended | Only by applying to lift it | Gambling regulated under the 2021 state treaty |
| Belgium — EPIS | Gaming Commission | Open-ended | Open-ended | Only after a 3-month wait | Casinos, arcades and betting shops, online and physical |
| Spain — RGIAJ | Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego | Indefinite | Indefinite | You can ask after 6 months | Licensed Spanish online operators, plus some land-based games needing ID |
| Spain — regional registers | Each autonomous community | Varies by region | Varies by region | Varies by region | Land-based venues in that region |
| Italy — RUA | Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli | 30 days | Indefinite | Indefinite blocks only, after 6 months | Remote gambling with any licensed operator |
| Portugal — autoexclusão | SRIJ, Turismo de Portugal | 3 months | Indefinite | Yes, but it takes a month | Licensed Portuguese online sites |
| Portugal — proibição de acesso | SRIJ, Turismo de Portugal | Chosen by you | Chosen by you | No | Land-based casino gaming rooms |
| Czechia — RVO | Ministry of Finance | 1 year if you join voluntarily | Open-ended | Only after 1 year | Casinos, gaming halls, course betting, all online gambling |
| Australia — BetStop | Australian Government register operator | 3 months | Lifetime | No, and you cannot shorten it | Licensed Australian online and phone wagering |
| Brazil — autoexclusão | Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas | 1 month | Indefinite | Not stated | All federally authorised betting houses, but the platform is offline |
Spain and Portugal appear twice on purpose. Neither country runs a single list. Spain has a national register for online gambling and a separate register in each autonomous community for venues, and the national regulator publishes a directory of the regional registers. Portugal runs one scheme for online gambling and a different one for casino gaming rooms. If you only sign up to one, the other is still open to you.
The shortest block ranges from 24 hours to a year
Denmark is at one end. ROFUS offers a “24 timers pause” — a 24-hour break — then one, three or six months, or permanent exclusion. Spelpaus in Sweden starts at 10 days. Italy’s RUA starts at 30 days, and Brazil’s scheme at “um período mínimo de 1 (um) mês”.
Czechia is at the other end. Someone who joins the Czech register by choice can only ask to come off it “nejdříve po uplynutí 1 roku ode dne provedení zápisu” — at the earliest one year after the entry was made, according to the Ministry of Finance guidance. A voluntary Czech entry is a year long, whether or not that is what you wanted.
Short options are easier to agree to, and that cuts both ways. A 24-hour pause can break a session that is going badly. It will not help much with a pattern that has been building for years. Six months is the floor in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain, and that is closer to what the evidence on gambling addiction suggests a useful break looks like.
Can you end it early? This is the real difference
If you are choosing a scheme or a period, this matters more than the length. A block you can undo on a bad evening is not really a block.
Schemes with no way out
Sweden is the strictest. Spelpaus states plainly that “En avstängning i Spelpaus.se går inte att ångra eller avsluta i förtid” — a Spelpaus exclusion cannot be undone or ended early. The longest option, tills vidare, runs for at least 12 months.
The UK is almost as firm. GAMSTOP’s terms of use say that once you have registered “you will not be able to deactivate your self-exclusion until the end of your minimum exclusion period”. The periods are six months, one year, five years, and five years with automatic renewal.
Australia goes further in one respect. The ACMA says a BetStop registration runs for “a minimum of 3 months and up to a lifetime”, and that while you can extend it at any time, “you cannot reduce your self-exclusion period”. Coming off the register early is not simply a form: it needs a statutory declaration from a qualified professional confirming you have had counselling, and then a further waiting period.
Schemes with a built-in delay
Several countries let you leave but make you wait. The delay is the point: it puts a gap between the urge and the ability to act on it.
- Belgium. You send a signed letter and a copy of your identity card by registered post to the Gaming Commission. Then, the Commission says, “After a waiting period of 3 months, you will be able to access casinos again (physical and online), slot machine arcades (physical and online) and betting shops (physical and online).”
- Spain. Registration on the RGIAJ is open-ended: “La inscripción será por tiempo indefinido si bien podrá solicitar su cancelación trascurrido 6 meses.” You can ask to be removed, but only once six months have passed.
- Italy. Only an indefinite RUA block can be revoked, and only after six months. Even then, “L’abilitazione al gioco diverrà effettiva dopo sette giorni dalla richiesta di revoca” — you can play again seven days after you ask.
- Portugal. An online self-exclusion can be ended on request, but the request only takes effect “um mês após a referida comunicação” — one month later.
- Czechia. One year, as set out above, then a written request to the Ministry of Finance.
Where the block simply runs out
A fixed-term block usually ends by itself. In Italy, a 30, 60 or 90-day exclusion lapses when the period is up and you do not have to do anything. Portugal’s regulator puts it the same way: the period “cessa automaticamente com o decurso do prazo”.
The UK is the exception worth knowing about. GAMSTOP does not take the block off when your minimum period ends. Its terms state that “we will not automatically remove your self-exclusion at the end of a Minimum Exclusion Period”, and removal involves a 24-hour cooling-off period and a positive step from you afterwards. If you registered and forgot about it, you are still excluded.
Online only, or venues as well?
This is where people are caught out most often. Several of the best-known registers are online-only.
GAMSTOP covers licensed gambling websites and apps. Italy’s RUA covers remote gambling: it stops you opening new accounts and using existing ones with any licensed distance-gambling operator. BetStop describes itself as blocking “all licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers”. None of the three closes a single door on a high street.
Others reach both. Sweden’s Spelpaus applies to “allt spel som kräver registrering; online, i butik och på bana” — all gambling that needs registration, whether online, in a shop or at a track. ROFUS covers online gambling, physical casinos and betting in Danish shops. The Dutch regulator says a gokstop stops you playing “bij legale Nederlandse aanbieders, zowel online als in speelhallen of casino’s” — with legal Dutch providers, online and in arcades or casinos. Belgium’s register covers casinos, arcades and betting shops in both their physical and online forms.
Czechia’s register is broad but not total. It covers casinos, gaming halls, course betting and all online gambling, and does not cover lotteries, raffles or small tournaments run without remote access.
In some countries, someone else can add you
Self-exclusion is not always self-chosen. Belgium’s access ban covers people who ask for protection themselves, people referred by a third party such as a partner, people banned by a court, and people whose job rules them out — the Gaming Commission names “magistrates, notaries, court bailiffs and police officers”.
Germany has a formal two-track system. The GGL states that “die Selbstsperre kann für mindestens 3 Monate und die Fremdsperre für 12 Monate gebührenfrei über das Spielersperrsystem OASIS beantragt werden”: a self-block lasts at least three months, a block requested by someone else lasts 12 months, and both are free.
The Czech register goes furthest. Alongside voluntary entries it automatically includes people receiving material-need benefits and the adults assessed with them, people in insolvency proceedings, people under a court or criminal gambling ban, and parents whose unpaid maintenance has led to substitute alimony being paid. Those entries come off when the legal reason ends, not on request.
Two of the fifteen are not working normally today
Brazil’s register is offline. The Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas page carries a notice that the platform is unavailable “por conta de Medida Provisória n° 1.394, de 25 de setembro de 2026, que proibiu as apostas de quota fixa (apostas esportivas e jogos on line) no Brasil” — because of a decree of 25 September 2026 that prohibited fixed-odds betting in Brazil. Anyone in Brazil who wanted to self-exclude in the last fortnight could not. If that is you, ask each operator you hold an account with to close it, and use device-level blocking in the meantime.
Ireland’s register does not exist yet. The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland describes a National Gambling Exclusion Register as “a centralised record of individuals who want to exclude themselves from online gambling websites”, and says that where someone has self-excluded “the gambling operator must take reasonable steps to stop them”. The authority began accepting licence applications in February 2026 and says obligations under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 apply “on a phased basis”. It has not published a date for the register. Until it opens, self-exclusion in Ireland means asking operators one at a time.
What no register covers
Every scheme on this page binds the operators its own country licenses. Beyond that line, nothing on the list applies. Sites licensed somewhere else, sites with no licence at all, and crypto sites that ask for no identity documents will not see your name on any register and will not turn you away.
This is not a loophole to use. It is the main reason people relapse after signing up. A register removes the easy, legal, familiar options, and that is most of the battle — but it leaves a gap, and the gap is filled by operators with no duty of care, no complaints route and no obligation to pay you. Two things close it: blocking software on every device you own, and a gambling block from your bank. Both work without anyone’s permission and neither depends on a licence.
The other gap is the quiet one. If your register is online-only, the betting shop and the casino are still open. If you gamble in both places, you need both schemes — which in Spain and Portugal means two separate applications.
How to choose a period
Three things are worth knowing before you fill in the form.
- Pick the longest period you can live with. Almost no scheme lets you shorten one later. Sweden, the UK and Australia all let you extend and none of them lets you cut it short. The risk of choosing too long is small. The risk of choosing too short is a decision you have to make again in 30 days.
- Expect the end date to arrive quietly. In most countries the block lapses on its own. Decide now what you will do that week, rather than on the day.
- Do not make the register the whole plan. It is one layer. Blocking software, a bank block and telling one person what you have done all make it hold. A register plus support works far better than a register alone.
If you are not sure gambling is a problem for you yet, our page on what responsible gambling means sets out the ideas behind these schemes and where they fall short.
Signing up: the step that stops people
The schemes differ as much in how you join as in what they do, and the harder routes put people off at exactly the wrong moment. It is worth knowing which kind you are dealing with before you start.
- Straight through a website. GAMSTOP, Spelpaus, ROFUS and BetStop are all online sign-ups. In the Netherlands, the regulator sends people to the register itself, and the Kansspelautoriteit says a gokstop is “voor minimaal 6 maanden” — a minimum of six months.
- Through a national digital ID. Italy’s RUA needs SPID credentials. Brazil’s platform needs a gov.br account at silver or gold level. If you do not already hold one, that is a delay of days, not minutes.
- On paper. Belgium needs a signed letter and a copy of both sides of your identity card, sent by registered post. Spain accepts a form at public registries, post offices and Spanish diplomatic offices, at the reception desk of a gambling venue, online with a digital certificate, or through an app that reads an electronic ID card.
One warning about addresses. Because these registers are valuable search terms, look-alike sites exist, and some of them are commercial. Reach a register through its own regulator’s page rather than a search result. The Dutch register, for example, is at cruksregister.nl — the one the Kansspelautoriteit links to. If a page asks you to pay, or offers to “remove” an existing registration, you are not on an official site.
Where to get help
Signing up to a register is a practical step, and it works better with someone alongside you. In the UK, the National Gambling Helpline is 0808 8020 133. GamCare, which runs it, says it is “available 24 hours a day, every day of the year”. It is free, and it is open to family and friends as well.
Outside the UK, our guide on how to get help with gambling lists the routes country by country. We check every number against the operator’s own site before we publish it, and we say so in our editorial policy.
Last reviewed: 6 October 2026. Sources checked on this date.