Bank Card Gambling Blocks

How the Block Works

Gambling transactions can usually be blocked through the bank's app or internet banking service. The Gambling Commission advises that most UK banks allow you to activate this transaction block directly. Individual banks additionally detail where to find these controls:

• Royal Bank of Scotland explains its gambling payment block can be activated online in the app, under Manage my card and then Card payment controls.
• Nationwide also gives online activation in its app or in internet banking as the route.

The core blocking is at card and account level, which is to say: the card cannot be used for gambling, and gambling transactions cannot be paid from the bank account.

• The Gambling Commission states it works by "preventing a card or bank account from gambling", and the effect is that the blocked card is "not used for gambling transactions".

Operator blocks on bank payments are also set at card and account level, and remoter gambling controls are likewise usually found in banking products:

In summary: a bank gambling control is a card-level block that also disables the bank account for gambling.

What it Stops and What it Misses

A gambling block stops card payments to gambling operators, online and in person. It also stops payments by card through app pay services.

• Nationwide lists Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay among the transactions it blocks once the control is activated. Royal Bank of Scotland says the under-management card control blocks "UK regulated gambling-related" card payments.

and stops recurring card transactions.

But a gambling card block is not a total roadblock. Many banks that offer the service have limitations.

• Nationwide notes that it cannot block bank transfers out of the account. It also cannot block payments made through the bank's internet banking, its app, or by open banking connections.
• Royal Bank of Scotland thinks through more indirect payment methods, placing sections of the lottery and scratch cards in the "not blocked" column. The difficulty for banking payment controls is that merchants describe transactions in what they think is the most favourable light. Royal Bank of Scotland says gambling ticket and scratch card payments might slip through because they are not coded optimally: "some gambling-related payments might pass through... depending on how the shop has set up its till systems". The block prevents card payments, but there is no guarantee on how a merchant classifies payments.
• Bank of Ireland UK says its service identifies gambling operator payments and blocks the transaction. It makes clear in the same page that the match is not perfect and some gambling operator payments may miss the control and go through.

The Cooling-Off Delay

Once a customer switches on their block, removal is often delayed. This is a cooling-off period to let the control be effective as an obstacle to immediate action.

• Nationwide's gambling card block is one of the controls available online. Nationwide says the limit is only liftable after a 72-hour wait. Your money cannot be spent with gambling operators until then, and there is no logic that can override this - you cannot do an emergency intervention or judgement call. Royal Bank of Scotland also creates a delay, but it uses only 48 hours for its cooling-off period. Bank of Ireland UK deals the same sort of reasoning but does not specify a waiting time.
• Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide appear in the list. It is not clear from the sources seen whether this is a universal rule.

But mistiming is not a problem - with banks with similar delays, there is no competitive advantage to acting instantly.

If Your Bank Has No Obvious Switch

There are two things to try, in the absence of a gambling block that a bank calls out in its payment controls or card settings. Nationwide has its self-help guide to online settings, plus its guide to "Challenging Times", and other banks copy some or all of these.

1. "Find the payment block, it's probably there." The first route is to look for a card payment control in the banking app or internet banking. Check every menu and page of the app, and turn on card payment blocks, if offered. Check "Card payments", "Transaction controls" and similar names.
2. "Ask the bank to set a track." If a payment control is not listed, contact the bank directly. Ask about its gambling payment track, or how it handles those payments, and request a payment block that cannot be turned off instantaneously.

Gambling payment controls are formulated to stop payments but not to block or even slow necessary financial activity:

Why Your Bank Does Not Have the Checklist You Need

There are problems with the string of gambling payment controls held by the big banks, and users looking for a comprehensive record might be frustrated. For one thing, the controls are inconsistent. The list is long, but random - access to payment blockers is margin-dependent as much as availability. For another, the controls are inaudited. There are grey zones in every control - card payment controls miss the broad precursors to cash processing, and even the most broadly scoped controls do not noticeably change the NHS or Home Office statistics.