Santander has been instructed to reimburse a customer who lost a significant portion of a £25,000 payout from the sale of a property due to gambling. The customer, known only as Mr R, received the cash from the house sale on July 18, 2025. Within a month, he had spent around £16,000 on gambling.

Mr R contacted the bank on Aug 15, 2025 to disclose his addiction, but his accounts were not fully blocked for a further six weeks, by which time he had gambled most of the proceeds.

He later took his case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which ordered Santander to repay him some of his losses as well as £500 in compensation.

In a written decision, the ombudsman said: “Mr R had expressly told the advisers he was experiencing financial harm and mental health problems from compulsive spending, and asked for help.

“In my view a reasonable response would have been to make it clear that only an online block would have prevented the transactions he was undertaking.”

It added: “None of the evidence we’ve been sent by Santander and Mr R shows that once the correct blocks were put on the account, he gambled again.”

Under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consumer duty, firms have a responsibility to take extra care in cases where a customer is considered vulnerable. The FCA’s guidance refers to providing gambling blockers as an example of good practice.

In Mr R’s case, he had gambling blocks on his account, but he was able to bypass the controls by making payments to an overseas casino.

Six days after his first call to Santander, the bank blocked online transactions from Mr R’s main bank account. However, he was able to continue gambling by transferring money to his top-up card account, which had not been blocked. Controls were not imposed on this account until Oct 1, 2025.

In submissions to the FOS, Santander argued that the onus was on Mr R to put the necessary gambling blocks on. However, the ombudsman said that the bank had the ability to apply the restrictions for him.

Santander was ordered to refund all of Mr R’s gambling losses incurred from when he first notified the bank of his addiction until Sept 17, 2025, when he referred his complaint to the FOS, plus interest of 8pc.

Raminta Diliso, of gambling support charity GamCare, said: “Sudden access to a large sum of money, such as proceeds from a house sale, can increase the urge to gamble for people already struggling to control their gambling.

“We would encourage anyone concerned about their gambling to activate gambling blocks through their bank.