The fight against gambling related harm is becoming increasingly important, not only in the eyes of the public, but also to the Government and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) leading many companies and organisations to try and push themselves to the forefront of protecting vulnerable gamblers.This is what Barclays bank have done with the release of a Merchant Control feature that allows players to restrict their spending at online betting, casino, and other gambling sites.
How does it work?
While this new feature of Barclays mobile app, which currently only works with debit card transactions, isn’t aimed solely at the gambling world, the ability to block spending to certain sites certainly has the ability to help gamblers control their spending.The feature also works for premium rate phonelines and websites, bars and pubs, and more.If you do not have the Barclays app, it is still possible to use a version of the feature by either going into a branch of Barclays bank or speaking to a customer service agent on the phone and requesting a block on a specific industry.
Feedback
While there are other banks who have implemented similar controls in the past, Barclays is the first high-profile name to do so, leading to applause from inside the industry, including from found of MoneySavingExpert.com, Martin Lewis, who said:“I want to applaud Barclays for being the first major bank to sit up, take note and act. I believe it will make a real difference to people’s lives and I hope the other banks will follow suit.”There is precedent to suggest this could be a successful enterprise for Barclays as well, which online bank Monzo seeing a 70% drop in gambling spend since implementing a similar feature in June.