GamCare recommends banks raise gambling block awareness

Added: June 27, 2023

GamCare has recently made a recommendation for UK banks to raise awareness of their gambling blocks.

Gambling blocks are tools offered by banks to help people control their gambling habits and spending. However, the gambling charity has noted that many players were not aware of their existence when gambling, only learning of them after signs of gambling harm became prevalent.

A couple of months ago, the charity held a workshop covering the topic of bank gambling blocks, which featured more than 60 attendees who were given the opportunity to learn about these systems from a panel of speakers.

The need to raise awareness for these tools was a major point of discussion during the workshop, with the concept of banks actively promoting their gambling blocking solutions, especially to potentially vulnerable people, getting quite a bit of support from the workshop’s participants.

GamCare made several other recommendations as well, all of which were grouped into five main categories, namely awareness, activating the block, disabling the block, potential loopholes, and additional tools for vulnerable gamblers. The workshop’s main point of discussion was under the first category, while the second and third ones involved recommendations like reassuring customers that gambling blocks do not have negative consequences and making disabling the block harder to prevent compulsive behavior.

Lastly, the charity recommended banks maintain the effectiveness of gambling blocks when cards are used with online wallets or other payment systems. GamCare also added that banks should incorporate gambling spending limits as well, which can provide players with a finer degree of control over their gambling habits.

GamCare