Starling Bank has rolled out a delay function to its in-app gambling block, to help those customers that need support managing spending on betting and gaming services.

This will mean those wanting to turn the block off will have to wait 48 hours before they can reactivate spending on these services.

The feature update, supported by mental health and gambling charities, has been designed to create what’s known as ‘positive friction’ or a ‘cooling-off period’ for the customer.

The digital challenger first introduced a gambling block feature in June 2018, with 17 per cent of retail customers opting to turn off gambling payments because they don’t gamble.

When the gambling block is on, Starling cards and accounts are locked for all payments made to merchants associated with gambling or betting, with the blocks being effective immediately.

Starling will also soon be adding gambling as a new spending category, instead of grouping these transactions under entertainment, making it far easier for people to see how much they’re spending on betting merchants.

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