15 More Countries to Start Offering Real Money Gambling Apps on the Google Play Store

Google LLC, the American multinational technology giant is updating its policies to expand the number of countries and jurisdictions that can host real money gambling apps on the Google Play Store. With the new change in policy, 15 more countries will be added to the list starting 1st March, exactly one month from now.

Currently, Google allows only four countries; the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Brazil, to offer real money gambling applications for the Android operating system from its Play Store. Owing to the policy update, the United States, Sweden, Spain, Romania, Norway, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Colombia, Canada, Belgium, and Australia will be free to publish real money gambling applications for their respective populations.

Part of the official policy update release from Google reads;

Quote

We’re expanding and clarifying our Real-Money Gambling, Games, and Contests policy. We allow real-money gambling apps, ads related to real-money gambling, and daily fantasy sports apps that meet certain requirements…

…For all other locations, we don't allow content or services that facilitate online gambling, including, but not limited to, online casinos, sports betting and lotteries, and games of skill that offer prizes of cash or other real-world value.

Jurisdictional Restrictions Are Still in Play

As expected, every country or jurisdiction will still have to abide by a specific set of limitations depending on the type of gambling that is legally allowed by the law of the land. Thus, some regions will be allowed to have a full slate of gambling apps ranging from lotteries to online casino games as well as sports betting and daily fantasy sports, whereas others will have a more limited menu of apps at their disposal on the Google Play Store.

Additionally, when it comes to the USA, it doesn’t mean that real money gambling applications will be allowed for every single state. The availability of gambling apps in every state will depend on whether the state has legalized gambling, and what kind of gambling has been allowed by state regulations. Some of the state-by-state limitations for the USA that Google highlighted in its new Play Store policy updates are as follows;

• Online Casino Games: Apps will only be permitted in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. However, for Nevada, only online poker will be allowed.
• Sports Betting: For this category, apps will be accepted in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Besides, for Washington DC, Oregon, and Montana, operators run by the government are the only ones whose apps will be allowed.
• Lotteries: Applications by state-run operators or those that have been contracted/permitted by the state will be permitted in Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
• Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): This will vary from state to state depending on whether the state recognizes and regulates the activity as a form of gambling. On top of that, all DFS applications published in the USA will be subjected to an extra set of requirements.

Gambling Apps Developers to Abide by Strict Requirements

It’s vital to understand that Google’s policy change doesn’t automatically guarantee that any developer can now publish a poker or slot machine application on the Play Store. Already, the tech giant has a strict policy that takes gambling app developers through a thorough application and approval process before the app can be published – this part of the equation will stay the same.

Thus, gambling app developers will still be required to have a valid gambling license per regulations of the jurisdiction within which the application will be published and use. Similarly, the app is also required to be compliant with all the gambling-related laws and industry standards that are enforced in each region of distribution.

Google also requires that the apps should be given an Adult Only rating and an underage gambling prevention system to prevent youngsters (under the age of 18 or 21 depending on the jurisdiction) from gambling. The applications must also have location detection mechanisms to prevent users from unauthorized regions from accessing the gambling services illegally.   

While this is a welcome change from Google, it’s worth pointing out that Android users have still been legally accessing and installing gambling applications on their mobile devices via a sideloading option. Essentially, gambling platforms have been giving Android users the option of downloading the .apk file directly to their devices and installing the apps after disabling in-device security features that restrict app installations from third parties.

Apple device users on the flip side have always been permitted to download and install gambling applications right from the App Store to their devices for the longest time!