A new mobile banking app may help curb the gambling addiction in Britain by allowing customers to block spending on betting sites and online casinos. With its new application, Barclays has become the first major banking institution in the United Kingdom to give its customers the option to “switch off” certain merchant categories, so that all gambling or drinking-related transactions would be automatically declined.
Barclays’ new mobile app is designed to help customers manage their money within seconds from a mobile device but with some of its functions, it focuses on helping people struggling with addictions. The app launches today and it allows Barclays clients to set up different controls regarding the way they use their debit cards. Various tools within it let people set their own limits on ATM withdrawals, activate and freeze their cards, or prevent them from being used with certain types of retailers. Up to five merchant categories can be “switched off” and one of them is gambling sites, which includes online casinos, betting shops, race tracks, lottery tickets and all other forms of gambling services.
Our app now allows you to “switch off” certain types of spending on your debit card, like gambling & betting shops. “I believe it will make a real difference to people’s lives” says @MartinSLewis from @mmhpi. For more info see https://t.co/THMp4JLTMd #MentalHealthe pic.twitter.com/7mkDUBIzey
— Barclays Access (@BarclaysAccess) December 11, 2018
Spending on activities such as drinking and compulsive shopping can also be limited, as the rest of the merchant categories where switching off is optional are pubs, bars and restaurants, groceries and supermarkets, petrol stations, premium rate websites, and phone lines. According to Barclays, this blocking tool was designed with vulnerable customers in mind. Any payment to a switched off category – to a bingo or casino site, for example, would be automatically declined, the bank explains. Currently, the tool can be used by debit card holders and Barclays says that in the near future, it would be available with credit cards, as well.
Putting Problem Gamblers in Control of Their Finances
The new mobile banking app is now being promoted as an aid to assist customers suffering from different mental health problems and addictions. On Tuesday, Barclays cited on Twitter Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) founder Martin S. Lewis who says that the new application would make a “real difference to people’s lives”. For the app, the bank has worked in partnership with the MMHPI, which has provided research and important data related to spending and mental health.
According to the institute, 24 per cent of adults who struggle with mental health issues also have a considerable debt problem. These two often result in even worse mental condition and deeper financial problems as many people with addictions tend to spend uncontrollably, Lewis explains. Such compulsive behaviours could come in the shape of gambling, shopping, drinking or any other form of excessive spending or consumption.
Charity group Gamble Aware also welcomed Barclays initiative and prompted other banks and card issuers to do the same. Marc Etches, Gamble Aware CEO, commented that such tools could help reduce “gambling-related harms” in the UK by allowing people to gain more control of how they spend and what they spend their money on.
How to block gambling on your @Barclays phone app:
1 Touch More at the bottom of the homepage
2 Touch ?Cards
3 Slide cards at top to select your debit card if more than one card shows then touch Merchant control
4 Touch Gambling
5 Slide button next to Gambling pic.twitter.com/OVWLW2g4QY— BeGambleAware (@BeGambleAware) December 11, 2018
Considering there are 430,000 problem gamblers in the country, while another 1.7 million people are at risk, the new app and similar initiatives could play a vital role in prevention and tackling problem gambling, he added.
- Author
Olivia Cole
