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Banking app Revolut has decided to block credit card payments made to gambling websites in Ireland.

The decision was taken after an inquiry showed that betting firms in the country are taking advantage of credit card payments made through contactless apps such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Revolut.

Currently, direct credit card betting is banned in Ireland under industry rules.

“Revolut is planning to block the use of credit card funds on gambling sites in Ireland, in the same way that we do in the UK,” a spokesperson for the payments firm said.

“This is in addition to the 48-hour gambling block that all users can currently activate themselves.”

Revolut, which has 1.5 million users in Ireland, can be funded through either a credit card, bank withdrawal or debit card.

It has developed technology that can identify Revolut payments drawn specifically from credit cards and stop them being used for gambling sites.

The company currently uses this system to separate debit and credit cards for gambling sites in the UK, where credit card payments are banned under penalty of fines.

The Irish Bookmakers Association, which oversees Ireland’s voluntary Safer Gambling Code, said that the betting firms had not technically broken the credit card gambling rules.

A spokesperson for Junior Justice Minister James Browne, who is overseeing the Government’s plans to introduce a gambling regulator in Ireland, said that credit card betting through apps is “outside the remit of the minister”.

He said that the matter was one for the Irish Bookmakers Association. The minister’s spokesperson added that the proposed new gambling regulator will have “discretion to prohibit the use of credit cards where it is of the opinion that the use of that form of payment contributes to problematic gambling and behaviours”.

A spokesperson for Ireland’s largest bookmaker, Paddy Power, said it was unknown how much the firm would lose as a result of the move, as the company does not know which payments from Revolut come from credit cards.

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