Ireland’s Allied Irish Bank Introduces Voluntary Gambling Block for Cards

Ireland’s Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has announced that it has introduced a voluntary feature allowing customers to block all gambling activity with both its credit and debit cards.

Speaking of the feature, AIB Managing Director Retail Banking, Geraldine Casey said:

The financial services industry has a role to play in supporting customers as they combat any gambling difficulties they may have, and it’s important AIB does what we can to help them stop the harm.

AIB is not the first financial provider to take action to protect problem gamblers. In 2022, Revolut banned transactions to gambling websites in Ireland. The ban was introduced as it was discovered that gamblers were first transferring funds from credit cards to their Revolut accounts before depositing into online gambling accounts.

Ireland’s Gambling Problem

Its annual report revealed that of the 5,213 people admitted throughout 2023, 1,042 were admitted primarily for gambling addiction.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) reported that in 2023 as many as 1 in 30 adults in Ireland were suffering from the harms of problem gambling or around 130,000. This was a tenfold increase on the number recorded in 2019.

Olivia Richardson

Olivia has worked as an editor and writer for major brands across multiple niches. She now focuses on the iGaming and sports betting industries.