If Your Gambling Site Closes: Great Britain Steps

If your gambling site has announced that it is closing or leaving Great Britain, save the notice and check who holds your account. Then ask that business how it will handle your balance and any unsettled bets. Do not deposit or gamble again to try to unlock money.

This guide is for adults using a Gambling Commission-licensed business serving England, Scotland or Wales. It separates an orderly shutdown from formal insolvency. It is not individual legal or insolvency advice, a refund promise, or a universal process for overseas companies.

1. Check the notice and the exact business

A website failing to load does not establish that the business has closed or become insolvent. Look for an official announcement through a contact or domain you already know, not only a link in an unexpected message.

Compare the legal company, trading name and website in your account terms and notice with the Gambling Commission business register. The register includes information supplied by businesses; it helps corroborate identity but does not prove a notice is genuine or a business is solvent.

If only your individual account is closing, use the relevant platform account guide instead. Closing one account, a business shutdown, self-exclusion and data deletion are different events.

2. Keep a private record before access changes

Save the notice, account reference, balance, pending withdrawals, unsettled-bet details and relevant correspondence. Note dates and keep screenshots where available. The Commission's complaint guidance explains the value of a clear timeline, supporting evidence and copies of what you send.

Keep those records private. Do not send account history, bank statements, passwords, payment details, identity documents or crisis disclosures to GuardingGamblers. If the verified business or appointed case handler needs identity checks, ask for its official secure route.

3. For an orderly closure, ask about money and contact

Use the business's published closure contact and ask in writing:

• How can I request my account balance, including after the website closes?
• What happens to my pending withdrawal and each unsettled bet?
• What deadline applies to my next action, and what contact remains available?
• Where is the formal complaint procedure and named dispute-resolution provider?

The Commission's operator-closure guidance expects plans for customer communication, funds and later-settling bets. An open bet is not a guaranteed payout: the operator may communicate a consistently applied policy to void bets instead. These are regulatory expectations, not a guarantee that money will arrive. Do not turn notice or access periods in operator guidance into a universal customer claim deadline.

4. If formal insolvency is confirmed, find the case handler

Do not assume a gambling balance has bank-deposit protection. The Commission's customer-funds guidance explains that even money held separately may not be returned if a business has financial difficulties. Check the protection disclosed in your operator's terms.

If an official notice confirms administration or liquidation, identify the exact legal company and appointed case handler. The Insolvency Service creditor guidance explains how company records and the responsible practitioner or official receiver can help you find the case. Ask how to record your claim, what evidence is needed and which deadline applies. Recovery depends on the case and available assets; it is not guaranteed.

Jurisdiction matters. Scotland has a different creditor process; for a Scottish company, use the appointed practitioner and Accountant in Bankruptcy corporate-insolvency information. A Great Britain gambling licence does not establish that a company is registered in the UK. Overseas cases may follow different rules.

Do not wait eight weeks to act on an insolvency claim deadline. The ordinary complaint route below is a separate process, not a reason to delay contacting the appointed case handler.

5. Keep a transaction dispute separate from a regulatory report

For an unresolved transaction dispute during orderly closure, use the operator's formal complaint procedure first. You can pursue ADR when the operator confirms its final or deadlock position, or after eight weeks if the complaint is still unresolved. You do not need to wait out eight weeks after an earlier final response. The Commission's complaint-handling guidance sets out these alternative endpoints.

Its public ADR guide explains the free, independent route. Follow the referral and check the provider's scope: it decides whether it can handle the dispute and does not accept every issue. This guide does not establish ADR availability for every insolvency case.

The Gambling Commission cannot resolve individual withdrawal disputes or recover your money. Information sent to it may support regulatory action; that is not a refund service. Its business-licensing contact is not your consumer complaint route.

6. Protect yourself while the outcome is uncertain

Do not open another gambling account to replace this one or try to win back money. You can review bank gambling blocks and GAMSTOP registration separately from the funds question. If essential costs are at risk, use the UK gambling-debt and essential-bills guide for support routes. These steps do not settle the operator's liabilities, but you do not need to wait for a money decision to seek help.