Self-Exclusion Mapping: GamStop Analyzes Hotspots in North East England

The debate over effective player protection in the digital age is gaining a new level of granular detail. GamStop, the central UK service for self-exclusion from online gambling, has for the first time presented a regional breakdown of its user data. The focus is on North East England, a region traditionally facing significant structural challenges. By publishing a so-called heatmap, the organization aims to enable local authorities and researchers to better assess the need for support directly on the ground. It is no longer just about national statistics but about looking into individual communities and districts where the risk of gambling-related harm is evidently more pronounced.

These findings were presented at the Real Voices, Real Harm, Real Change launch event in Newcastle upon Tyne. Public health practitioners met with individuals with lived experience to discuss new prevention pathways. A central element of the campaign is a series of short films co-produced by the ADPH North East Gambling Harms Programme. These films are intended to show the human side behind the raw data and illustrate the impact that loss of control in gambling has on families and social structures. It is an attempt to move the topic from the anonymity of the internet into local community policy.

Numbers and facts

Statistical evaluations for December 2025 paint a clear picture of the situation in the North East. A total of nearly 33,000 people from this region were registered with GamStop at that time. Notably, all 12 local authority districts in the region recorded registration rates above the national average of 1.1%. Hartlepool holds the top spot, where the registration rate of 2.32% is more than twice the national benchmark. Middlesbrough follows closely with a rate of 2.13%. Rates are also disproportionately high in Redcar and Cleveland (1.96%) and South Tyneside (1.94%).

Even in cities like Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland, both at 1.91%, the pressure on support systems remains palpable. Somewhat more moderate, but still above the benchmark, are Darlington (1.70%), Gateshead (1.65%), and County Durham (1.62%). The lowest rates within this regional cluster were measured in North Tyneside (1.55%), Newcastle upon Tyne (1.46%), and Northumberland (1.33%). These local variations are crucial for the allocation of funding and the establishment of counseling centers, as they show where barriers to self-exclusion have already been overcome.

„By sharing regional heat map data, we hope to help professionals and policymakers better understand how gambling harms are affecting communities locally and support conversations around prevention, intervention and recovery.“ - Katie Reynolds-Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at GamStop

Background

GamStop serves as a free safety net in Great Britain. Anyone registering there is excluded for a period of six months, one year, or five years from all online gambling sites holding a UK license. Complementary to this are systems like SENSE for land-based casinos or SmartEXCLUSION for gaming centers. The current move towards regionalized data is a response to criticism that general statistics often mask specific problems in disadvantaged areas. Nevertheless, GamStop remains cautious in interpretation: high exclusion rates could indicate a high level of problems, but could also show that support services are already better known in these regions than elsewhere.

Why it matters for German players

In Germany, the system established by the State Treaty on Gambling 2021 (GlüStV 2021) has gone even a step further than its British counterpart. While GamStop is a private, albeit state-recognized initiative, the German exclusion system OASIS is directly supervised by the Joint Gambling Authority of the States (GGL). For German players, this means absolute security: an exclusion in OASIS applies across all licensed online casinos, sports betting providers, and even local casinos or lottery outlets. Players in Germany also benefit from strict protective measures such as the cross-provider deposit limit of 1,000 euros per month, controlled via the LUGAS IT system.

Additionally, the stake limit of 1 euro per spin on virtual slots ensures that the risk of high losses in a short time is minimized. However, these strict rules only apply to providers on the official GGL whitelist. German players should strongly ensure they play exclusively with these legal providers. Portals with licenses from Malta or Curacao do not offer access to the German exclusion system and often ignore vital LUGAS limits. The regional data from England shows us how important it is that such protective mechanisms not only exist but are actively used to support social hotspots.

What it means for GGL-licensed casinos

For operators with a GGL license, such reports underline the necessity of clean data management. Connection to OASIS and LUGAS is not an option for German providers but a mandatory licensing requirement. Experiences from the UK market show that transparency towards authorities increases market acceptance in the long run. German casinos must ensure that excluded players never gain access to the offering. The integration of local support, as GamStop is now pursuing with heatmaps, could also be a model for German municipalities to place prevention work more specifically in cities where OASIS is used particularly frequently.