Coroner Urges National Lottery to Join GamStop Scheme
A senior coroner has formally asked the UK Gambling Commission to close a gap in GamStop, the national self-exclusion scheme, after a man who had twice signed up to block himself from gambling died by suicide having continued to play National Lottery Draw games online. The Commission says it is now working with GamStop and National Lottery operator Allwyn to consider changes, though no date has been set for any decision.
What’s actually changed
Nothing has changed yet – this is a formal recommendation, not a new rule.
Emma Whitting, senior coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton, called for the National Lottery to be included in a self-exclusion gambling scheme after a man with a gambling addiction took his own life, dying from asphyxiation at his flat in Leighton Buzzard.
The inquest, held at Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner’s Court on 7 July 2026, concluded that Goff’s death was caused by Gambling Disorder and gambling with licensed and unlicensed operators.
Despite self-excluding from all online licensed gambling operators in 2018 and again in 2024 via GamStop, he continued to gamble online with the National Lottery Draw.
His last bank payment from his almost depleted account was to the National Lottery Draw.
That is possible because
the National Lottery licence requires a separate, standalone self-exclusion process
rather than full coverage under GamStop. Allwyn and the GamStop website clarify that
GamStop will only exclude you from National Lottery Instant Win Games and not Draw Games, and it can take up to 12 hours for your self-exclusion to become effective.
In her Prevention of Future Deaths report, sent to both the Gambling Commission and GamStop, the coroner warned directly:
“By not including online gambling with the National Lottery Draw in the GAMSTOP scheme, there is a risk that consumers having self-excluded via GAMSTOP will still gamble online with the National Lottery Draw.”
Recipients of such a report are required to respond within a set period, and
recipients of a Prevention of Future Deaths report must respond in writing within 56 days.
Responding, the Commission said it had
“been working with Gamstop and Allwyn, the National Lottery operator, to consider whether further protections are needed in this area”.
It added that
“although National Lottery draw-based games are generally lower risk when compared against other gambling products, we will consider the potential for further changes, including the possibility of extending the scope of Gamstop in some form”.
What it means for you
If you have registered with GamStop believing it blocks every form of online gambling, it’s worth knowing the current limits. GamStop covers GB-licensed sports betting and casino operators, plus National Lottery instant-win games, but not the Draw-based lottery games.
National Lottery players can also self-exclude from draw-based games in their online account
– but this is a separate process you have to set up yourself, rather than something automatically triggered when you join GamStop.
Allwyn says it has strengthened its own safeguards regardless of the GamStop question.
Its safeguards include self-exclusion options, mandatory deposit and spending limits, and daily play caps, and the operator says that although National Lottery games are lower risk, it takes player protection seriously, having improved controls including monitoring of draw-based games since becoming operator.
For context on how widely this product reaches players,
the Gambling Survey for Great Britain reports that 31% of adults participate in the National Lottery, making it the country’s most widely practised form of gambling.
If you’re relying on GamStop as a complete block, the practical takeaway is to also check and set exclusions directly with any lottery account you hold, rather than assuming one sign-up covers everything.
The bigger picture
The case highlights a long-standing structural quirk in how GamStop’s scope was decided. Allwyn has pointed out that
the decision to include only instant-win games was made by the Gambling Commission when the National Lottery was run by the previous operator, Camelot, and more detail is available on the GamStop website about what it covers.
The family’s solicitors argue the gap matters given how many routes to harm already exist outside the regulated perimeter:
“Along with the huge numbers of unlicensed online gambling sites – many of which target people using GAMSTOP – this seems to us to be a gaping hole in the self-exclusion system.”
The Commission’s response so far stops short of a commitment, describing only ongoing engagement rather than a firm reform timetable. Whether draw games are eventually folded into GamStop will depend on further discussions between the regulator, GamStop and Allwyn, making this a live but unresolved player-protection question rather than a completed fix – one to watch for readers who use self-exclusion tools and assumed the National Lottery was already covered.
Sources
- Yahoo News/BBC – Call for lottery gambling controls after dad’s death
- Gambling.com – Coroner Urges National Lottery To Join GAMSTOP
- Leigh Day – Coroner raises concerns over National Lottery products
- iGaming Express – Regulator Mulls Gamstop for National Lottery
- Leighton Buzzard Online – Calls for National Lottery website to be ‘blockable’
- National Lottery – Use our responsible play tools
