Associate Publisher’s note: Degree 53, a UK-based mobile app developer and tech agency, is claiming that Google has sent an email around to gambling app developers that signals a policy change in the United Kingdom, France, and Republic of Ireland, allowing real money gambling on the Google Play app store starting August, 2017. Apple already allows such apps. Degree 53 has created apps such as the Betfred Mobile Sportsbook, which you notably must download through your web browser rather than Google Play. Google has not publicly made an announcement nor have we seen a copy of the claimed email so we are unsure of its truth. But, considering the developer has high-profile clients like Betfred and has other apps published in Google Play, we feel it would be an odd thing to lie about and Google would not take kindly to it. An excerpt of the blog post and a link to the full post are below:
Google has finally announced that it’s now allowing real money gambling apps into its Google Play store. This is a huge change for gaming operators, so let’s take a look at what is on the cards for them.
Since its early days, Google has been against publishing gambling apps on its store, including sports betting, casino and slots, as it couldn’t ensure age restriction on its apps. The only way operators could distribute them was via their own or third-party channels. However, this has been more challenging compared to hosting apps on the Apple App Store.
Not only is it harder for Android users to find relevant gaming apps, it is also costly for operators to promote and maintain them. For example, we’ve had to create a library that automatically checks if a new version is available, downloads it and starts the install process for the user to run through. As a result, operators and affiliates have underinvested in Android apps, focusing more on the iOS products, offering apps of a lesser quality for a large number of their customers.
