Barclay's introduces 72-hour 'cool off' for gambling transactions

Barclays has recently announced a new 72-hour gambling transaction block, which will come about for its users in the next few weeks. This aims to give customers additional control over their spending on gambling sites. 

During the ‘cooling off’ period all gambling-related transactions will be automatically declined, whether actioned by Visa or Apple Pay. It will be triggered automatically should a player ever decide to activate the block, unlike some other measures which take 24-hours to come into effect.

Barclays has announced this 72-hour delay function was ‘developed from customer feedback’ in an attempt to assist responsible gambling practices. The delay is said to give customers ‘real pause for thought and helps when they are tempted to return to gambling.’ 

Barclays originally introduced a block on gambling transactions back in 2018. Following suit, just this year HSBC introduced gambling block options. This function has been used approximately 570,000 times, including some 187,000 times since mid-March. The new block has been brought in to help those who want a more temporary measure, not a long term block in order to prevent problem gambling. 

This follows a call from responsible gambling charity GambleAware to standardise gambling block options on all bank accounts in the UK. A study from the University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre into gambling blockers on bank cards has discovered that only 60% of current accounts in the UK have the option of blocking gambling transactions.

Sian McIntyre from Barclays spoke at the press-release and stated the new 72-hour delay will join a range of other tools that already permit customers to ‘control their spending,’ such as spending and withdrawal limits or even so far as freezing their cards. 

It is important that gambling remain safe and within reason, in order to carry on enjoying gambling. For more information about how to keep yourself safe while playing at online casinos, read our Responsible Gambling guide.