CALL TO ACTION TO challenger banks to offer a card product with block for gambling transactions.

 UPDATE: 15th June 2017.

Please respond to this survey www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/9SYBKT7  to provide your views on a bank account with a card blocked to gambling transactions and with a £30 daily cash withdrawal limit.

When considering the price point consider how much the card could save you from gambling relapses.

The product is primarily aimed at gambling addicts and those at risk of but remember as a husband / wife you may have concerns about your partner and this product could be good for family finances as a preventative tool.

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Original Post:

Twelve years on from the Gambling Act 2005 and there is still no effective method of self-exclusion from online gambling or using your debit / credit card to fund gambling transactions other than the will power to abstain.

How can this be possible when two of the three licensing objectives that underpin the gambling legislation state:

• Ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way.
• Protecting children and other vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

Self-exclusion is in demand.

The numbers requesting self-exclusion from gambling operators have exploded to 1.1 million requests in 2016, double the numbers seen in 2014.  (Source- Sun Newspaper 13^th March 2017)

This number will likely continue to increase with the current light touch regulation of the gambling industry in the UK and the continued promotion of gambling as a ‘fun’ activity through 24/7 advertising.

The problem with operator self-exclusion is that the gambling addict goes and opens a betting account elsewhere a couple of weeks later and relapses.

Cutting the finance off is the most effective way to help someone self-exclude.

The challenger banks are already prevalent in the underbanked market and they have the technology to solve this social problem. 

There is a business case for them too and I will happily lend my expertise in this area having campaigned for well over ten years now to find a solution in this space.

Nearly 4 million people in the UK identify as gambling addicts or at-risk gamblers and need help to take control of their finances. (Source: Gambling Commission – gambling participation in 2016)

Come on Challenger banks, step up and take this on. Offer a card product that blocks gambling transactions and restricts cash withdrawals to £20 daily.