The UK-based mobile banking app Monzo has blocked £9,000,000 (roughly $11,381,850) in gambling transactions this year alone.
This figure marks an 8% year-on-year rise since 2023, with the banking company having released its gambling block in 2018.
This news comes as The Gambling Commission in the UK is reported as seeing a 12% increase in gambling transactions – bringing the total to £1.46 billion in 2024.
The gambling block is an optional tool. When turned on, users will see any gambling transactions being blocked through Monzo. This includes betting shops, online casinos, and sports betting apps.
The company further updated the feature in September of 2023, adding greater flexibility to how people block gambling spending. This included featuring longer cool down options, being able to write a note for future you, and better access to specialist gambling support.
When turning the feature off, the cooling off period will be initiated and the reminder message will be shown if it was set up by the user. “We hope this added ‘friction’ gives you a little time and space to work out whether the decision to gamble again is the right one for you,” the company writes online.
Monzo’s gambling block has been widely used
Over 700,000 customers have used the feature since it has been up and running, with 75% of those people choosing cooldowns of over 24 hours. This has seen the bank’s average cooldown period surge to 10 months from three months.
41% of customers are reported to have opted for the maximum 12-month cooling-off period, with 8,500 customers writing notes to their future selves.
Kate Graham, Vulnerability Manager at Monzo said: “By staying close to our customers, we build and evolve products and features like the Gambling Block that help them to transform their relationship with money.
“Hearing from them about the impact our latest additions to the tool have made is fantastic, even more so because so many customers are controlling the urge to gamble by reading notes they’ve written to themselves in the Monzo app and choosing longer cooldown periods than ever.”
Featured Image: Credit to Monzo website
