Not upheld: failure to prevent gambling transactions / lack of account monitoring for problem gambling complaint against Revolut Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained that Revolut failed to prevent his gambling transactions after he relapsed into problem gambling following receipt of scam-related text messages. Over a month, he gambled through his Revolut account causing financial difficulty. Revolut declined to uphold the complaint, arguing it had no responsibility for the scam messages and no cause to intervene. The ombudsman found that Revolut had no evidence of Mr S's gambling problem, Mr S had not disclosed it beforehand, and the payments were to legitimate merchants at levels where intervention would not typically be expected. Accordingly, the complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

Under Payment Services Regulations, Revolut is expected to process authorised payments. Banks are not generally expected to monitor accounts for gambling transactions unless they are aware of a problem or the customer discloses it. Mr S did not inform Revolut of his gambling problem beforehand. Although the spending represented an unusual increase, the payments were to legitimate merchants and below the frequency and amount threshold where intervention would be expected. Without evidence that Revolut was aware or should have been aware of the gambling problem, the firm cannot be fairly said to have acted unfairly or caused Mr S to lose out.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website