How our gambling and spending blocks work

The gambling block

The gambling block stops card payments to gambling merchants.

Any card payment that is made to a gambling merchant is tagged with a gambling merchant category code (MCC).

When you turn the gambling block on, we will decline any transactions with a gambling MCC before they go through. This includes betting shops, online casinos and sports betting apps. It’s unlikely that a gambling transaction will go through. But, if it does, we need you to know you’ll be liable.

When you set up the gambling block we’ll ask you to set up a cooldown period. You can set your cooldown to be anything from 2 days, to 1 year.

If you decide that you do want to turn off the block, you’ll need to wait out your cooldown period before you can switch it off from the app yourself.

The spending block

The spending block stops payments to specific merchants that you select.

The spending block stops merchants on an individual basis so, if you want to block multiple merchants who provide a similar service you will need to block them separately.

If you attempt to make a card transaction to a merchant you have previously blocked, this payment will be declined.

The spending block does not have a cooldown period for removal so, if you decide you no longer want to block a merchant you can remove this yourself in the app.

The gambling and spending blocks only cover card transactions. But we can help you if you want to block other payments, such as bank transfers.