SBC News

Banks are becoming increasingly prominent stakeholders in problem gambling prevention in the UK and Ireland at a time of regulatory and political focus on betting in both countries.

The UK is in the process of adopting the recommendations of the Gambling Act review, which ran between December 2020 and April 2023 with a white paper published in the latter.

Throughout this process, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) encouraged the betting industry to learn from banks and the wider financial services sector in areas such as data sharing.

In Ireland, meanwhile, a new regulator is establishing itself as the chief overseer of the country’s large betting and gaming sector – the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).

As it prepares to take on full regulatory duties next year, the GRAI too is looking at how financial services tools can play a role in customer protection.

Another British bank plays its part
This week, TSB Bank became the latest major UK financial institution to throw its hat into the gambling player protection ring. The bank, the seventh largest in the UK by total assets, has started working with gambling harm prevention and education charity Ygam.

The partnership focuses on specialist educational resources in schools informed by Ygam’s research and experience and delivered by TSB Bank staff. The sessions will focus on practice guidance on money management and identifying potential risks when playing video games.

“Gaming now plays a central role in young people’s lives, offering significant benefits,” said Linda Scollins Smith, Director of Programmes at Ygam.

“However, it is always important to safeguard against the risks, and the increasing sophistication of game monetisation through microtransactions and in-game purchases underscores the need for education on this issue.”

TSB joins the player protection push after recently commissioning a Censuswide survey of 2,000 young gamers which found that gamers spend an average of £540 annually on in-game purchases and subscriptions.

This all forms part of a long-running conversation around the potential cross-over between video games and gambling, largely focused around in-game purchases and loot boxes, and whether these features can encourage gambling-type behaviour.

Kate Osiadacz, Head of Responsible Business, TSB, said: “Gaming is often one of young people’s first interactions with spending or managing their money digitally; so we’re pleased to be working with Ygam to reach young people with targeted advice.

“Our Money Confident schools programme greatly benefits from Ygam’s insight – and we’re keen to help empower the next generation to make informed decisions for their financial lives ahead.”

Another Irish ‘big four’ bank joins too
TSB Bank is not the first UK bank to get involved in gambling harm prevention, and probably won’t be the last. Monzo, the country’s fastest growing challenger bank, has offered a gambling payments block tool for some time and continually reports year-on-year increases in engagement with it.

Spanish bank Santander, the 11th largest in the UK by assets, has some of its own programmes. This firm demonstrated these in a workshop with Gamcare last year, one of Britain’s biggest gambling charities, such as solutions for revising spend levels, push notifications, and signposting to support services.

“At Santander, we believe that the bank, although not responsible, does have a part to play in gambling harm prevention,” said Graeme Cunning, Vulnerable Customers Strategy Manager at Santander.

Over in Ireland, the new Irish gambling regulator has also been welcoming banks introducing payment blocks for gambling. Anne-Marie Caufield, the GRAI’s CEO, publicly praised Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and EBS for doing so back in January.

The Bank of Ireland, one of the ‘big four’ of Irish banking alongside the aforementioned AIB, has become the latest to do so. The block can be applied across all betting, gaming and lottery sites licensed in the Republic of Ireland.

The bank cited some of its card spending data from Q1 2025 showing that 90% of gambling transactions took place online, with 99% funded by debit cards. It also found that the local areas which saw the sharpest increases in gambling activity during the quarter were Wicklow, Kilkenny, Limerick and Laois, particularly around popular sports events like Cheltenham and the Six Nations.

Áine McCleary, Chief Customer Officer at the Bank of Ireland, said: “Problem gambling can have a devastating effect not just on the person involved, but also on families, friends and loved ones. For those with a gambling addiction it can often seem like help is out of reach.

“This initiative we are launching is designed to help customers take positive steps to improve control over their finances. It also furthers Bank of Ireland’s ambition to improve the financial wellbeing of our customers and communities, especially those going through difficult times.”

The bank has also published an explanatory video via its LinkedIn page featuring testimonials about the benefits of gambling block products. This post was subsequently shared by the GRAI.