UK-based digital banking group Starling Bank announced on Thursday it has introduced a delay to its in-app gambling-block, which means that customers wanting to turn the block off will have to wait 48 hours before they may reactive spending on betting and gaming.
The digital bank reported that the feature update is supported by mental health and gambling charities. It has been designed to create what’s known as “positive friction” or a “cooling-off period” for the customer.
“Starling Bank was the first bank to introduce a gambling block in June 2018. This feature is currently being used by 17% of Starling’s retail customers, with a lot of customers opting to turn off gambling payments because they don’t gamble. When the gambling block is on, Starling cards and accounts are locked for all payments made to merchants associated with gambling or betting. Once you switch it on, the block starts preventing payments immediately, with no delay.”
Starling Bank then concluded that it will also soon be adding “Gambling” as a new spending category, instead of grouping these transactions under ‘Entertainment,’ making it far easier for people to see how much they’re spending on betting merchants.
