Nationwide customers hit with £351 warning | Personal Finance | Finance

Nationwide has issued a £351 warning to its millions of members as it unveiled some staggering figures from its latest research. The world’s biggest building society said it has launched a new feature across its accounts, in a bid to protect customers’ cash.

The financial provider said it found that some 11 per cent of people in the UK gamble every single day. And of those who gamble regularly, people lost £351 on average over the past twelve months.

Nationwide worryingly went on to say that some 4 per cent of people lost more than £1,000 in a single bet at some point over the last year. Of 2,000 people who gamble polled, 63 per cent place a bet at least once a week, and some 23 per cent don’t set any time or money limits.

Close to one in ten (9%) have lost money they rely on, and a fifth of people said they wouldn’t seek help if they felt their gambling was becoming problematic. Nationwide has now moved to introduce a gambling block members can use to stop themselves putting bets on.

Designed to discourage impulsive gambling, the block will remain in place for some 72 hours after it is turned off – meaning those who have installed the block will not be able to place any bets for three days after deactivating it. This, Nationwide said, is a long enough time period to cover a weekend of sport.

Almost three quarters (73%) of male respondents gamble at least once a week and 15% daily, according to the poll. This compares with 55% of female respondents on a weekly basis and 8% daily.

Men are also far more likely to lose larger amounts of money on gambling, with the biggest average loss on one bet at £265 versus £98 for women. The gender difference plays out further with average losses last year of £467 for men and £255 for women.