Gamblers can't have a mortgage.

This has been going on for years, since stricter rules around mortgages were introduced after the financial crisis. In the good old days before that, "pro gamblers" could even self certify income if they put down a large deposit.

Anyone with a bit of sense is going to make sure that that the bank statements that they give to the lender aren't showing any frivolous spending.

The denial of objective truth, War (including propaganda), Manipulation of language ('Newspeak')

and the surveillance society. These are the main ideas in '1984'.

In '1984'  authoritarian regimes rule, using those things to control the population.

That is so in China, North Korea and Russia . In the West it's corporations.

Separate bank account only for betting purposes.

'some banks' is accurate. I applied direct and they didn't even ask for bank statements. Broker is the best option as they will know which lenders are sensitive to certain spending patterns, and which ones aren't interested.

But many people would apply for a mortgage from the bank where they have their main account so the bank can see every transaction they have made. I agree that it makes sense to use a different account for betting but how many people realise that this is going on? Is it legal to single out "gamblers"? I'm sure they exclude share traders as most of them probably pay the bank to keep their shares in a nominee account as I do. I am not likely to ever need a mortgage or bank loan so it does not affect me but I am angered by the way in which gamblers are being treated like drug addicts.

I'm against the direction of travel of financial intrusion as you know. This is not legislation or implied legislation via qunago (yet!). It's more about the free market and lenders profiling the type of customers they want. As I say, some lenders don't even want bank statements. Others want to pry into the detailed activity to assess risk. In the same way as some would not touch adverse risk, or benefit income. This is where brokers come in as a good one will match your profile to a bank that likes to lend to people like you. This is a far better system than blanket criteria.

Agree entirely Cider. They are too lazy to judge individuals properly-just look for a few arbitrary black marks.

If you check your official registered credit reports you`ll all be in for a surprise.