Gamstop Online needed CGI’s support to maintain availability and performance during the Grand National 2026. The team successfully delivered a highly resilient and scalable service during the busiest period of the year, handling more than four times normal volumes at the peak. CGI successfully delivered capacity planning, performance testing, AWS scaling, application optimisation and operational readiness, ensuring the platform successfully managed the increased demand with no alerts or incidents.
The challenge: Peak demand during Grand National 2026
Gamstop Online is the UK’s national online self-exclusion service, enabling individuals to block access to licensed online gambling operators based in the UK. As a critical public protection platform, availability and performance is paramount, especially during peak demand around major sporting events.
The Grand National is one of the most significant betting events in the UK calendar, driving a surge in demand for Gamstop Online services given the popularity of the event and extensive marketing.
The Grand National creates a sharp spike in traffic, multiple times above typical averages, including increased concurrent users and requests to the service within a short timeframe. Each logon to an account with a licensed UK online operator, and at the point of bet placement, triggers a check against the self-exclusion register. The platform must handle this surge without downtime, due to its safeguarding role.
The challenge for CGI was to ensure seamless scalability, performance and resilience under pressure. Any issues could have had massive consequences for vulnerable individuals, causing reputational impact for both Gamstop and CGI.
Our solution: Scaling and readiness
To ensure the day passed without issue, CGI undertook capacity planning and performance testing, using extensive load testing to simulate peak demand scenarios. The team scaled AWS cloud infrastructure in advance to ensure enough resources were in place to handle spikes in demand. We optimised the application through key user journeys for speed and efficiency. We also ensured operational readiness by putting dedicated out-of-hours support coverage in place to respond quickly if required.
The outcome: Stable service under pressure
The platform successfully handled increased demand on the day of the Grand National:
- High availability was maintained with no alerts or incidents, and performance remained consistent across all user journeys
- The client gained increased confidence in platform resilience and the ability of our team to proactively forecast and manage the demand created by the Grand National and other major events
The impact
This delivery reinforced CGI’s capability to manage mission-critical national services, particularly those which are fundamental to our client’s business and provide safeguarding services.
The platform ensured self-exclusions were accurately applied in the lead up to and after the race, a time when consumers depend on the service the most. The Grand National 2026 highlighted the strength of CGI’s partnership with Gamstop. Through preparation, collaboration, scalable architecture, and operational excellence, the team delivered a resilient service at a critical time.
The proactive approach of the CGI team ensured that our services busiest day of the year passed without issue. The technical expertise within the team was evident throughout the planning and monitoring processes.
Chief Marketing Officer, Gamstop
