Banking apps that block gambling transactions are proving a hit with UK gamblers while an Australian bank has copped to knowingly boosting a problem gambler’s credit card spending limit.

The UK’s Daily Mail recently reported that over half a million Brits had taken advantage of new options to block payments to gambling sites from their bank accounts. Mobile banking outfit Monzo, which pioneered the self-exclusion scheme two years ago, reportedly has 220k customers who’ve made use of the option.

Starling Bank said 200k customers – roughly one-sixth of its total number of clients – had opted for its gambling payment blocking tool, while Lloyds had 120k users of its scheme and HSBC added another 30k to the total.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) plans to ban the use of credit cards for gambling purposes as of this April, part of the regulator’s new strategy for (a) reducing gambling-related harm, and (b) showing parliament that it’s not ‘unfit for purpose,’ as some MPs have suggested due to the UKGC’s alleged coziness with its licensees.