Australian bank bans credit card-based gambling and lottery transactions

One of Australia’s largest banking firms has said it will ban all gambling and lottery-based transactions on its credit cards from 1 July.

Under the new rules, any transactions classified under the current merchant category codes (MCC) as gambling will be blocked by Macquarie when the cardholder attempts to make payments.

However, the bank has said in some instances this may prove to be unenforceable, particularly where the merchant involved is categorised under another code .i.e. lottery tickets from a newsagent.

Explaining this to its customers, Macquarie said in these instances customers would be responsible for these transactions and all related charges on the affected credit card.

The Australian Banking Association has introduced new banking codes for its members, aiming to ensure that they adhere to higher ethical, fair and responsible standards when dealing with customers suffering from any form of mental or physical impairment.

The changes will affect all its members from 1 July.

Macquarie is the first bank to launch such measures, however in the UK bans and consumer-led controls on gambling transactions have been adopted by challenger banks including Monzo, Starling and Cashplus.

Barclays introduced technology to allow customers to ‘turn off’ gambling spending in December.