{"id":2934,"date":"2018-10-06T00:05:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-06T00:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gambling-a-banking-app-helped-me-beat-my-addiction\/"},"modified":"2018-10-06T00:05:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-06T00:05:07","slug":"gambling-a-banking-app-helped-me-beat-my-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/gambling-a-banking-app-helped-me-beat-my-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling: ‘A banking app helped me beat my addiction’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Danny Cheetham<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n Danny says losing his mum Christine in 2015 was a key moment in him deciding to tackle his addiction
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Tens of thousands of people have signed up to a new service from two mobile-only banks designed to help problem gamblers. One former addict says this “gambling block”, available on the banks’ apps, helped him beat his addiction.<\/p>\n

“I’d be setting my alarm to wake up at 4am to do a first bet,” says Danny Cheetham, who began placing bets in his early 20s.<\/p>\n

“I’d plan my route to work so I could call in to a bookies which opened early for commuters.” <\/p>\n

Danny, who is now 29, found himself betting in bookies, on slot machines and online. He gambled a lot on football, which he doesn’t even like. <\/p>\n

He began relying on overtime from work and on payday loans. In the course of eight years, Danny, who’s from Stockport, estimates he lost more than \u00a350,000.<\/p>\n

He sunk into depression and moved in with his dad as he could not afford to pay rent.<\/p>\n

It was the death of his mum Christine in 2015 that he says was the turning point for him – but he was not able to kick his habit until he signed up to a gambling block with his bank, Monzo. The so-called challenger bank is a mobile-only version of a traditional bank.<\/p>\n

Once the block is activated by the customer, it can spot any transaction that person might try to make with bookmakers – either online or in a shop – by using merchant category codes. It instantly stops the transaction from happening, before any money has left that customer’s account. <\/p>\n

If a customer is tempted to place a bet in the heat of the moment, there is a 48-hour cooling-off period before the block is switched off. There is also a daily limit on cash withdrawals.<\/p>\n

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Gambling addiction: The facts<\/h2>\n