There are many individuals that feel as though when it comes to gambling, users should be gambling with money that is actually “theirs”. Of course, if someone is gambling with a credit card – there are many that might consider this a risky proposition, and a symptom of unhealthy gambling behavior.
It appears as though the U.K. government seems to agree with this perspective, or at least the culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, does. Specifically, he seems to want to penalize gambling operators that refuse to recognize that there are those out there that might not be gambling in a “healthy” manner. He stated: “Gambling operators must step in and act when people are showing signs of risky gambling. Their licences are at risk if they do not.”
Specific Concerns
While the information is not yet confirmed, it is thought that as much as 20% of deposits made to gambling firms are actually made with credit cards, rather than actually made with money that the consumers have. There will be a Gambling Commission review to confirm actual numbers launched next month.
While some might argue that this only proves that the majority of individuals do not use credit cards for gambling deposits – it still means that a substantial amount of gambling deposits are made with money that gamblers don’t have. This is something that the Labour Party has addressed before, as it claimed last year that it planned on banning the practice, since it affects billions of pounds in bets per year.
Open Conversation
There has been a lot of praise surrounding the potential ban on credit cards, because many feel as though credit cards are harmful to those who have a gambling addiction issue. UK’s most prominent gambling problem authority, GambleAware, has backed the measure.
It should be noted that some of the nation’s most prominent financial institutions, such as Barclays, Lloyds, and Santander, already allow individuals to “block themselves” from using their credit cards to deposit to gambling sites.
