More than 550,000 punters turn their backs on online betting as they use bank account gambling block
- Concerned gamblers are blocking themselves from their online banking
- Major banks offer customers an option to ‘block’ payments to gambling sites
- Gambling Commission believes there are 340,000 problem gamblers in Britain
More than half a million people are so concerned about their online gambling that they have blocked themselves from using their bank account for their habit.
Figures obtained by the Daily Mail reveal that at least 570,000 customers are gambling from their bank account – and then trying to stop themselves doing so.
It is the first insight into how online banking has enabled easy access to online casinos.
More than half a million people are so concerned about their online gambling that they have blocked themselves from using their bank account
Gamblers who set up an account with an online casino can fritter away huge sums by paying from their bank account.
In an attempt to manage the practice, every major bank now offers customers an option to ‘block’ any payments to gambling sites. The block can only be removed after a ‘cooling off’ period of 24 or 48 hours.
At Starling Bank more than 200,000 of its 1.2million customers use the feature, at Monzo the figure is 220,000 and at Lloyds 120,000. HSBC said 30,000 gambling restrictions had gambling addicts in the UK.
NatWest found that one in ten of its customers are gamblers, and that they spend more than a quarter of their incomes on gambling on average, often putting themselves into debt.
The Gambling Commission believes there are 340,000 problem gamblers in Britain, and that half a million are ‘at risk’ of developing harm.
On top of that there are 55,000 problem gamblers aged 11 to 16.
The Mail’s Stop The Gambling Predators campaign has highlighted the dangers of gambling addiction and the aggressive tactics used by some firms to keep customers hooked.
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling, said banks ‘must do more’
Danny Cheetham, a former addict who uses a gambling block, said: ‘It’s great that so many people are using blocks to control the immediate urge to gamble, and putting friction in place to stop them gambling.’
Banks have rushed to put measures in place to protect customers after being criticised for failing to act over a ‘gambling epidemic’.
Betting on credit cards will be banned from next month, but gamblers can still spend money from payday loans and overdrafts.
Labour MP Carolyn Harris, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling, said: ‘It is great that so many people are taking steps to protect themselves from this awful addiction. Now banks must do more to prevent players betting money from overdrafts and payday loans.’