Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Block

• Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Blocking
• Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Blocked
• Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Block Software

Gambling blocking software maker Gamban has secured a partnership with Lloyds Banking Group. As part of the arrangement, customers of the Group will have access to Gamban’s software which prevents payments for gambling-related products or services.

Gamban Agrees on Lloyds Banking Group Deal © Pixabay.

Freeze at tills and terminals - stops transactions when your card is present at the place of payment. Freeze gambling - stops most gambling transactions the moment you turn it on. If you turn it off, it will take 2-3 days to remove the freeze. More help and support with gambling is available. Lloyds Banking Group has announced they are now providing customers of Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and Halifax access to gambling-blocking software, Gamban, as an additional layer of protection to.

Gamban confirmed integration to Lloyds Banking Group platform had already been completed, and said demand for the product was high with a “significant number” of users have already signed up for the service.

Lloyds’s Group customers, which include Bank of Scotland and Halifax as well as Lloyds bank, have access to the Gamban software as well as the company’s own ‘Lloyds Banking Group Gambling Transaction Freezes’. Customers can access their mobile banking app and totally prohibit gambling or set maximum monthly amounts if they wish to control their spending.

The founder of Gamban, Jack Symons, paid tribute to the banking giant for having the foresight to enter into an agreement that can protect vulnerable customers. He said:

It’s very positive to see forward-thinking banking institutions such as Lloyds Banking Group rise to the challenge of protecting vulnerable customers from gambling addiction through barriers such as spend control and collaboration with market-leading gambling-blocking technology, Gamban.– Jack Symons, Gamban founder.

In a statement on the agreement, Elyn Corfield, Managing Director, Consumer Finance, Lloyds Banking Group said the bank understood that gambling-related harm can have serious and long-term impacts on their customers and was committed to enabling a range of support measures to help them. Corfield said the partnership with Gamban, which would give customers three months free access to the software, would complement the company’s own harm prevention measures.

Gamban, who is based in Southampton, has enjoyed huge success with their software that can be used on various operating systems as well as mobile devices. The software has been used in GambleAware’s suite of treatment tools since October 2018.

The banking sector, like the gambling sector, has been increasingly subject to regulatory and public pressure to increase social responsibility efforts. Banks are increasingly expected to show a duty of care towards vulnerable customers. Stakeholders in both industries have been encouraged by regulators to work together to find solutions.

Collaboration between banks and gambling companies may become much more common if affordability checks are introduced. Mentioned in the All-Party Group on Gambling Related Harm interim report, the Group said that improved affordability checks are urgently needed.

The Group said there are no stake and spend limits for players when gambling online and added that it is simply not good enough for the online operators to say they are ‘developing affordability checks’.

The reportsaid operators should have a clear understanding of what is affordable to online users and this should be calculated on a proportion of a gambler’s income, something the operators would need help from financial institutions to set this limit.

Unibet is set to become the first UK brand to integrate gambling blocking software. The move will see an alignment of self-exclusion to the ability to access services. The service is free of charge for Unibet customers.

Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Blocking

Unibet customers will soon be able to use Gamban blocking software that runs parallel with any self-exclusion initiatives they may have signed up for. The change, announced by parent company Kindred, will give more flexibility to the duration of any self-exclusion.

Perhaps the most significant impact in harm reduction these changes could bring is the ability for customers to self-exclude for longer than a year. Previously Gamban’s software only allowed 12 months, but consumers can now select any duration from six months up to five years.

Kindred said, in a statement released on their website, that their collaboration with Gamban is good news and will help consumers who wish to exclude from their website. The company point to this as being one of the many innovations that they have deployed to safeguard their consumers.

Neil Banbury, Kindred’s UK General Manager, believes the company has responsible gambling at the top of their priorities at Kindle and acknowledged the need to empower customers with support applications. He said;

Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Blocked

We are strong advocates for education around responsible gambling and ensuring all of our customers are able to make an informed choice. All of our customers should have the tools and support they need to enjoy our products responsibly and by offering this service for free to all of our customers we are certainly taking a step in the right direction.– Neil Banbury, General Manager, Kindred

A Working Relationship

Jack Symons, CEO of Gamban, was also highly complimentary of the working relationship between the two companies. He said, “It’s a pleasure to work on enhancing self-exclusion with such a passionate and dedicated team at Kindred”.

Gamban themselves have been receiving positive reviews regarding their product’s effectiveness in blocking access to gambling websites. Once installed, the software can be used on different devices and will block over 30,000 licensed and non-licensed gambling sites. GambleAware, an independent charity who fund research, prevention, and treatment services, tested the product and found it 99 per cent effective.

The report by GambleAware acknowledges that a software only solution is unlikely to stop a determined gambler but believes it is a useful tool in a basket of measures. They point to the evidence that a potential gambler may not consider it ‘worth the effort’ to circumvent the software. This pause is often enough time for the individual to reconsider the motivation to gamble and could act as an intervention.

Lloyds Bank Stop Gambling Block Software

A worrying aspect of the GambleAware report was the variance in effectiveness between the products tested. While Gamban scored well, the lowest performer was much less successful, only stopping threats 59% of the time.