UK Banks Looking at Gambling Control Measures

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Three major UK banks are looking into options for setting financial controls for customers that suffer from gambling addiction in an effort to aid them from being substantially harmed from the issues.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander Bank, and Lloyds Bank all revealed that they're investigating ways that they can help problem gamblers, with tools that will allow debit card transactions to be blocked out for betting. Other options include limits for sectors like betting, which could be useful as specific casinos don't have the ability to block transactions at sites outside of their own. Barclays has already introduced similar measures for their customers last year.

Problem betting has become a big issue in the UK, as many have been lured in with betting machines and rampant advertising. This has led to some operators and financial institutions becoming vested in fixing the problems themselves before regulators step in, although lawmakers have pushed back on some rules.

Speaking to betting site iGamingBusiness, a Lloyds representative said, "We have plans to support our customers who need help with gambling.

"Throughout 2019 we will be enhancing our customer communications so customers are informed and alerted to their gambling spend as well as introducing tools to improve self-service options such as gambling restrictions.

"New card controls give customers more control over debit card transactions for extra peace of mind. This will allow users to quickly and securely restrict card usage, for example if a card has temporarily been misplaced or to avoid a card to be used in certain ways."

Source: iGaming Business

About the author

Dustin Jermalowicz // News Editor
Dustin Jermalowicz
Dustin has a long-standing passion for gambling. He has been writing professionally on the subject and breaking industry news for Casino Listings since 2011. His favorite casino games include Blackjack, Poker, and Hi/Lo. A proud native of Detroit, Dustin currently lives in Michigan.
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ltVanilipas
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5 January 2019 - 2:16pm
#1

i think it could help for these people at certain moments when for ex. person got nervous and can quickly make deposit to the casino.But a problematic players who wants to play again he will find a way to it by opening account on other bank or to make deposits with these card to many electronic wallets.

sharpe

bgsharpe
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7 January 2019 - 12:46pm
#2
Vanilipas wrote:

i think it could help for these people at certain moments when for ex. person got nervous and can quickly make deposit to the casino.But a problematic players who wants to play again he will find a way to it by opening account on other bank or to make deposits with these card to many electronic wallets.

Of course anyone could find another way to gamble if they're so desperate to do it but it would make it more complicated if your primary bank accounts and cards are blocked and from that perspective these measures would be even more useful than if just your casino account being blocked I think.

zaLambino
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7 January 2019 - 12:59pm
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sharpe wrote:

Of course anyone could find another way to gamble if they're so desperate to do it but it would make it more complicated if your primary bank accounts and cards are blocked and from that perspective these measures would be even more useful than if just your casino account being blocked I think.

Very true and well said , I still think it's a good thing that banks take these measures, in South Africa banks have managed to restrict online casino gambling for thier issued banking credit and debit cards, this Wil likely have problem gamblers seeking out bitcoin as a prefred payment though

sharpe

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8 January 2019 - 7:10pm
#4

Thanks Lambino, that's from my personal experience...anytime my bank account have been blocked one reason or another (not because of gambling restrictions) I have to go to bank in person and find what's going on... so hopefully these measures 'd prevent many of those problem gamblers (at least the lazy ones 🙂 ) from gambling while it's a lot easier of just creating another casino account and start all over again.

I still have some coins myself but I'm tend to forget that... as they literally worth nothing at the minute...but you just remind me I could use those if my banking funds are unavailable for any reason 😉

Lambino