Complaints
How to complain about a UK casino, and who can actually help
There is a formal route, it is free, and it does not end with the operator. What it can fix, what it cannot, and the order to do it in.
Start with the operator, in writing
Every licensed operator must have a complaints procedure and must tell you what it is. Put the complaint in writing rather than through live chat, because you will want a record and a date. State what happened, what you want done, and the account or transaction it concerns. Keep it factual: the people who read these are working from records, not impressions.
The eight-week point
If the operator has not resolved it within eight weeks, or issues a final response you disagree with before then, the complaint can go to alternative dispute resolution. You do not need the operator's permission and it costs you nothing.
Alternative dispute resolution
Every licensed operator must be signed up to an ADR provider approved for its sector, and must tell you which one. The ADR body considers disputes about the outcome of a gambling transaction, including account management and access to funds. Its decision binds the operator if you accept it.
One change worth knowing about: from April 2026 the Chartered Trading Standards Institute takes over from the Gambling Commission as the body that approves ADR providers in this sector.
What the Gambling Commission will not do
The Commission is a regulator, not an ombudsman. It will not get your money back and it will not adjudicate your individual dispute. What it does do is collect reports, and patterns in those reports drive the compliance work that produces the enforcement decisions on this site. Reporting a bad experience is still worth the ten minutes, just not as a route to a refund.
What the Commission has actually penalised operators for
If the site is not licensed
None of this applies. There is no ADR route, no complaints procedure that binds anyone, and no British regulator with jurisdiction. This is the practical consequence of the licence question, and it is the reason to settle it first.
Questions about complaining
How long do I have to complain?
Operators set their own time limits in their terms, and they vary, so raise it as soon as you can rather than assuming you have months. What is fixed is the other end: after eight weeks without resolution you can escalate whether or not the operator agrees.
Does it cost anything to use alternative dispute resolution?
No. ADR is free to the consumer. The operator pays for the scheme, which it must be signed up to as a condition of its licence.
Is the ADR decision binding?
On the operator, yes, if you accept it. You are not bound by it: declining leaves your other legal options open. In practice most disputes end at this stage.
What if my complaint is about a self-exclusion that failed?
That is a licence-condition matter as well as a personal one, and it is worth reporting to the Gambling Commission in addition to complaining to the operator. Failures of self-exclusion and of customer interaction are among the most commonly penalised breaches on the register.
Can the Gambling Commission get my money back?
No. It regulates operators rather than adjudicating individual disputes, and it has no power to order a refund to you. Its route is enforcement against the company, which is slower and impersonal but is what produces the decisions published on this site.
What if the operator has gone out of business?
Contact the ADR provider it used and check the register for the licence status. If a licence has been surrendered or revoked, your position depends on how customer funds were protected, which operators must disclose in their terms. The Commission publishes the protection level each operator claims.