Nobody under 18 may gamble. Gambling carries a risk of debt, isolation and dependency, and the services below are free.
Where to get help
GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, free of charge, and provides information, advice and support for anyone affected by problem gambling.
The Gordon Moody Association runs residential courses for men and women with gambling problems, on 01384 241292.
Gamblers Anonymous UK runs local support groups using the twelve step approach and holds free meetings, on 0330 094 0322.
Gambling Therapy provides online and email peer groups led by trained facilitators.
Revolut's own support page also links a short self test by GamCare, which is a reasonable starting point if you are unsure whether there is a problem to address.
GamStop
Registering with GamStop blocks your access to online gambling accounts and apps, free of charge and quickly.
It covers sites licensed here, which is one of the practical reasons we list only operators holding a Great Britain licence: a registration with the national scheme does not reach a site outside it.
GamStop also allows someone close to a gambler to register, so that their own details cannot be used to gamble, and it offers a separate scheme for betting shops.
What Revolut can and cannot stop
In the app, the gambling block refuses card payments whose merchant category marks them as gambling. A new account arrives with it switched off. Once enabled it works immediately, cannot be bypassed while active, and takes up to 48 hours to remove.
Three limits are worth knowing before you rely on it. It covers card payments, so bank transfers and third party app payments fall outside it. If a merchant files its activity under a different code, the block cannot catch that payment. And the help page disclaims liability for any gambling card payment that nonetheless goes through.
A merchant block can be placed on a merchant you have paid before. Five blocks can be active at once and no more than three different merchants in a 30 day period, and Apple and Google cannot be blocked this way.
Freezing a card makes every card payment on it fail until you unfreeze it, which is blunt but immediate.
A monthly spending limit on a card declines anything above the figure you set, which is a budget rather than a block.
What looks like a control and is not
Locking online transactions in card settings leaves in-person, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments working.
Switching off contactless for the physical card also leaves both wallets working.
Neither setting reads the merchant category, so neither stops a gambling payment. The gambling block is the only control in the app that does.
The 48 hour delay is the point
Removal of the gambling block takes up to 48 hours and there is no faster route. That delay exists so that a decision taken in an evening cannot be reversed the same evening, which is the whole value of the feature. We mention it on every payment page for the same reason.
Sources
- Revolut help centre, gambling support in the UK, read 13 November 2026.
- Revolut help centre, how the gambling block works, read 13 November 2026.
- Revolut help centre, how to block and unblock a merchant, read 13 November 2026.
- Revolut help centre, card security settings, read 13 November 2026.
- Revolut help centre, freezing a card, read 13 November 2026.
- Revolut help centre, setting a monthly spending limit, read 13 November 2026.
- GamStop self exclusion scheme, read 13 November 2026.
- Gambling Commission public registers, read 13 November 2026.
18+ only.