Customers of Barclays, one of the UK’s largest banks, will have to wait 72 hours as a cooling-off period once they switch off their spending on gambling.

The feature is meant to help customers control their spending. Reportedly, the feature was used 187,000 times since the pandemic lockdown started. 

The option to block gambling was implemented in December 2018 and was used more than half a million times. According to the bank, the further delay was added based on customer feedback.

Any transactions within the 72-hour period will be declined automatically. Customers can switch off their spending not only on gambling sites but different retailers as well, such as restaurants or supermarkets.

Those who don’t want to use the cooldown option have other features at their disposal, such as setting limits on withdrawals and transactions in order to control their spending. 

Sian McIntyre, managing director at Barclays, said: “Customer feedback on our gambling control showed us there was more we could do to help and we’ve worked closely with them to design the solution.” 

GamCare CEO Anna Hemmings added: “The ability to block gambling transactions through your bank card or app is incredibly helpful to those struggling to control their gambling, and is ideally used together with other practical tools such as self-exclusion, blocking software, and specialist support and treatment around the issue.”