British regulator launches gambling block campaign

The Gambling Commission has begun a campaign promoting gambling block services.

UK.- The Gambling Commission (UKGC) has begun a consumer guidance campaign to provide the public with information on the different gambling block services offered by banks in the UK.

The campaign, part of the new “money and rights” section on the commission’s website, offers details on the blocking tools provided by both high street and digital banks.

Nine high street banks – Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, MBNA, Natwest, RBS and Santander – now offer gambling blocks to customers.

They’re joined by the digital banks Starling and Monzo, which was the first bank to offer a gambling block.

There are still some notable exceptions on the list of banks that now offer gambling blocks. They include Citibank, Co-operative, Nationwide, Standard Chartered, Metro Bank and Virgin Money.

Monzo has called on the government to legislate to make it an obligation for all banks to offer gambling blocks. The digital bank also wants gaming operators to have to share account numbers to a central registry to allow gambling blocks to block transfers as well as card payments.

It is working with Fintech compliance specialist TrueLayer on the development of a “universal gambling block“, which would also cover payments made via e-wallets and loans.

It aims to offer the tool an open banking API for all financial services companies.