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Revolut Ireland is ‘planning to block the use of credit card funds’ on gambling sites as it has done in the UK.
Fintech company Revolut is planning on blocking credit card payments to gambling websites in Ireland, following a similar move in the UK two years ago.
Users can already turn on a gambling block feature in their app, which automatically blocks card payments to gambling operators including betting shops, online casinos or sports betting apps. But further measures are on the cards.
“In addition to the 48-hour gambling block that all users can currently activate themselves, Revolut is already planning to block the use of credit card funds on gambling sites in Ireland, in the same way that we do in the UK,” a spokesperson for Revolut told SiliconRepublic.com.
It is not yet clear when the company will roll out the measure.
The news was first reported by the Irish Independent. It followed an investigation by the publication focusing on how betting companies were profiting in Ireland from credit card payments made through contactless apps such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Revolut.
In April 2020, Revolut warned its UK customers that they would not be able to use Revolut cards for any online or offline gambling payments following a review of online gambling in the country.
The UK Gambling Commission ruled that betting companies could not accept credit cards or payments made by credit card through an e-wallet.
Neil McArthur, chief executive of the Gambling Commission at the time, said that credit card gambling can lead to “significant financial harm” and the aim of the ban was to “minimise the risks of harm to consumers from gambling with money they do not have”.
Revolut has 1.5m users in Ireland, after reaching 1m users in May 2020. There are no laws in the country that require online payment companies to block credit card payments to betting companies, however direct credit card payments are banned under industry rules.
Online betting is a huge source of income for Irish-based gambling companies. More than 40pc of Irish people gamble on a monthly basis or more often and the Irish are the fourth-biggest gamblers in the EU, according to industry figures.
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