Monzo Gambling Block

Digitization has changed our lives. Financial service providers have also upped their game. Many provide various tools such as automatic budgeting with the help of tagging your spends. Using the same technology, Monzo rolled out a feature called Gambling Block a few years ago. Anyone looking for information on how to block gambling sites will find it easier to do so with a Monzo bank account. Essentially, Monzo tags all your transactions and identifies gambling merchants. If the block is up, it will decline the transaction automatically.

Though you can turn the feature off yourself, there is a cooldown period (which you set) and an option feature of setting a personalised reason or message to be displayed when you try turning it off. In this guide, we’re going to learn all about its quirks and features.

Why Monzo Offers a Gambling Block

Monzo has a commitment to promote responsible banking and address the potential harm associated with excessive gambling in the UK. In that spirit, the company has been a trailblazer, prompting other banks to adopt similar measures as well.

The actual reasons are multidimensional. For example, Monzo maintains that they did the pilot program and finally implemented this feature for their customers owing mainly to the customer’s well-being. Then, there’s also the argument of social responsibility and innovation in the banking industry. Monzo’s feature has already empowered over 700,000 customers, the company states.

How the Monzo Gambling Block Works

The way it works is simply – Monzo can identify your expenses. More particularly, it knows what kind of product or service you’re paying for based on the bank details. In a bid to help its customers play responsibly, the company also started this “automatic tagging” of all expenses for gambling operators and service providers.

Note that the automatic tagging isn’t 100% accurate and it can indeed miss certain providers. Monzo urges you to get in touch with them if your transactions are going through even if your block is on, this will allow them to update their merchant list with the specific operator after a check.

Features of Monzo’s Gambling Block

Monzo’s Gambling Block has a few features that make it a superior alternative to exerting your willpower to stop gambling transactions. These not only make your life easier but also help you remember why you set up the block in the first place. These features have also been adopted by other banks for their blocks. Here’s a full breakdown of all the features and how they work:

How To Set Up Your Monzo Gambling Block

You can use the Monzo app to set up your gambling block. However, Monzo recommends getting in touch with customer support first to explain your reasons. This will allow them to help guide you throughout the process and provide suggestions at every step. As you’re unlikely to delete all gambling accounts manually, we highly recommend getting in touch with their staff before you set up the block as they can help you determine the cooldown period.

• Start a chat:
  First, talk with their customer support staff and explain your reasons and priorities. This will help them talk you through the recommended cooldown period for you. The process itself is pretty straightforward.
• Turn on the block:
  Open your Monzo app and go to the Account section. Here, scroll down until you find the “Limits & Controls” section. In this section, you will find the option to block gambling transactions clearly. All you need to do is turn on the toggle and it will be set up.
• Reminder & cool down:
  While you’re setting this up, the app will prompt you to set an optional reminder for why you’re setting the block up. This will be shown when you try to remove the block. Also, you will need to mandatorily set a cooldown period here which can be as little as 2 days or as much as a year. You must wait out this cooldown period before the block can be turned off if you ever try to turn it off.

Alternative Gambling Blocks

Monzo has been a trendsetter in this regard – but other banks have been quick on the uptake. Today, as per Monzo’s statistics, over 90% of banks in the UK have some kind of gambling block feature. We have detailed guides for all of them, in case you wish to set up a gambling block in another bank account or someone else’s bank account.

1. NatWest gambling block
2. Barclays gambling block
3. HSBC gambling block
4. Nationwide gambling block
5. Halifax gambling block
6. Lloyds bank gambling block

Conclusion: Is It Worth to Use Monzo Gambling Blocker?

Any kind of self-imposed limit or exclusion is good for you when it comes to gambling. The efficacy of different methods varies and then there are pros and cons to almost every type of block. Monzo’s gambling block is one of the more reliable and convenient ones of the lot and we highly recommend turning it on if you find yourself overspending on online casinos or bookies with no GamStop, as there’s no other way to stop yourself on these platforms. At the very least, we recommend you try their service with a 2-day cooldown and see how it helps you.