Gambling support
Issues with gambling can affect anyone and can quickly become out of control. We’re here to offer you help and support.
Gambling can affect your health, relationships and mental wellbeing. If you’re worried that gambling is taking control of your life, we have a range of tools to help you. The sooner you get support, the better it will be for you and your finances.
How we can support you
You can see a breakdown of where your money goes every month by using our spending insights tool. This will show you the amount and frequency of your spending at all retailers. It may help you to see if your gambling spend is manageable or not.
Let’s look at the details
-
Each time you use your debit card, the type of transaction is recorded. When you apply a freeze, we’ll block any transactions attempted from gambling merchants. This freeze will not apply to direct debit or bank transfers.
If the retailer doesn’t define the transaction as a gambling related payment, or the retailer hasn’t requested a pre-authorisation with us first, we may not be able to stop it, even if you believe it to be gambling related.
Payments made into your account like winnings or refunds will not be affected by a gambling freeze.
If you report your card lost or stolen, you’ll need to turn your freeze back on when you get your replacement card.
How do I turn it off?
To turn the freeze off, just toggle off in the app. You won’t need to call us. Once you’ve done this, we’ll remove the freeze after 48 hours. If you change your mind you can toggle back on during this period.
-
You can set a monthly gambling limit on your debit card as a way for you to control how much you are spending on gambling. Once you reach your limit, any more attempts to make gambling transactions with your debit card, will be blocked. Once you reach your monthly limit, no further gambling transactions will be approved. This applies to any online or in-person transactions defined by the retailer as ‘gambling’.
If the transaction is not defined by the retailer as gambling, or the retailer hasn’t requested a pre-authorisation from us first, we may not be able to stop it – even if you think it’s gambling related.
Your limit will renew on the first day of each month.
You can manage your limit or remove it altogether in the mobile banking app. Just make sure you select ‘Save Limit’ once you have made your changes.
It’s worth remembering that changes update straight away. Your limit will instantly renew if you change it or remove it and reinstate it. So any gambling payments you've already made that month won't be included in that month's limit.
If you report your debit card lost or stolen, you’ll need to re-set your limit when you get your replacement card.
How we've helped our customers
Talking about gambling is not always straightforward. When Peter, one of our trained advisors, noticed that one of our customers was spending most of their wages on gambling websites, he took the time to encourage the customer to talk about it.
The customer found it a great relief to talk with someone who was offering support, rather than judgement. As a result, the customer chose to change their debit card to a cash card, which removed the option of gambling online.
Peter also passed on details for GambleAware, sharing the number for the confidential helpline and enabling the customer to contact them from the privacy of the branch.
The customer can now see a positive way forward, and is grateful for the practical and discreet way the issue was dealt with.
Further support
