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<p>The government recognises the important role banks can play in helping their customers
monitor and manage their gambling spend. Last year the then Secretary of State for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport convened a roundtable of banks and other stakeholders
in the financial sector to encourage them to do more in this regard and ministers
have since corresponded with industry leaders on this issue. I am pleased that many
banks have acted to offer their customers the option to block gambling transactions
from their accounts and welcome NatWest’s introduction of a 48 hour gambling block.</p><p>Research
published by the University of Bristol in July this year estimated that debit card
gambling blocks are available for roughly 63% of UK current accounts but we encourage
those banks that have not yet developed these kinds of services to do so. We also
encourage banks to follow best practice in the design of their blocks, for instance
including a sufficient 'cooling off' period.</p><p> </p>
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