Being able to place a limit on how much you spend on gambling can be very useful. Lloyds Bank customers will be able to do just that on their mobile app.
The feature will allow customers to set limits on their monthly debit card when spending at online ganbling sites. This applies whether the payment is made online, over the phone or in person. Lloyds Bank customers already have the ability to freeze gambling spending, a feature introduced three years ago.
Other banks have also introduced similar features to help gamblers who find it easy to just make another deposit into their betting accounts. That’s been one of the concerns of anti-gambling campaigners. The much delayed White Paper into gambling reform may introduce measures that would deal with this problem, especially at online sites.
The new Lloyds Bank feature will allow a personalised gambling spend limit to be set. The amount can be edited or even removed. The amount that has been set rolls over into the next month until the customer decides to remove the set limit.
Speaking about the new feature, Philip Robinson (director of personal current accounts at Lloyds Bank) said: “For several years, we’ve helped our customers ‘turn off’’ gambling spend.” This new feature will help customers to “better manage their money and establish boundaries around certain spending behaviour.”
The introduction of the feature has been welcomed by GamCare. Their chief executive is Anna Hemmings and she believes it’s an important move at this difficult economic time. Commenting on the feature, the chief executive said it will “give those most vulnerable to gambling harms an important means of controlling their gambling – and preventing harms from escalating.”
Meanwhile, Flutter Entertainment are expecting to take £300 million in bets during the 2022 World Cup. They operate Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Betting & Gaming so a busy time is expected at all their brands.
It won’t just be in the UK and Ireland that Flutter will do well. They also own FanDuel and Sportsbet in the USA and Australia respectively. With the American gambling industry having seen massive expansion and both countries qualifying for the finals, that bodes well for the next month.
Flutter won’t be wanting the USA to win the World Cup. At 125/1 to do so, they are Flutter’s biggest overall liability followed by Argentina.
Dom Crosthwaite is their chief trading officer. Looking ahead to the World Cup he said: “Our UK and Ireland brands are set to manage over £300m in stakes, but we expect global customer interest considering the involvement of countries such as the USA, Australia, Spain and Brazil – all important markets to Flutter.
“With 9.5m average monthly players now engaging with our brands around the world, many of whom are likely to bet on their own country, our global Risk and Trading operation must provide a compelling World Cup proposition, distribute accurate prices and manage risk effectively across the group.
