Monzo reveals £9m in blocked gambling transactions as 70,000 customers use responsible gambling tool

Imago

UK bank Monzo has reported that it has successfully blocked £9m in gambling transactions in 2024 as an increasing number of customers are taking advantage of their gambling block facility.

Since 2018, Monzo has offered customers a gambling block feature. It allows users to set up the block itself and define the length of the cooldown period to give them some space away from online gambling. Before the block can be lifted, customers have to go through a few extra steps before they can resume online gambling. 

The function is a handy, easily accessible function made available via Monzo’s banking app. Customers can set a cooldown period from a minimum of two days to a maximum of one year. Once set, users must wait until the cooldown period has expired before the block can be removed.

It’s a function that has become increasingly popular with Monzo users. Internal data released by the bank shows that eight per cent more users have activated gambling blocks since the function was tweaked to be even more accessible in 2023.

Monzo’s statistics state that in 2024, their gambling block has stopped a total of £9 million in gambling transactions. The bank also reported a 20% increase in average monthly gambling payments, with an estimated £800,000 compared to 2023’s monthly average of £657,000. 

The data also showed that more than 70,000 Monzo customers are currently making use of the gambling block function, with 75% choosing cooldown periods of more than 48 hours and 41% for the maximum cooldown period available – 12 months.

Monzo’s vulnerability manager, Kate Graham, said that the function is proving to be both, popular and effective.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Sports betting companies across the industry have made responsible gambling measures an integral part of their offering. Many of the major bookmakers in the UK are devoting valuable advertising expenditure to billboard, internet and television advertising to highlight their commitment to responsible gambling.

Elsewhere, the UK government is currently assessing the Gambling Act White Paper Review which intends to update the 2005 Gambling Act to better cater to the modern era of betting and gaming, the different points of entry and the mainstream popularity of the pastime.