Feb18
Social Casino Applications in App Store to Come With a 17+ Age Limit Disclaimer
August 24, 2019 Andrej Vidovic
Tech world’s leviathan, Apple, is in the middle of a general overhaul of its App Store, particularly concerning gambling related apps – and one of the new measures will be the addition of 17+ age rating for all social casino apps in all regions.
These changes have been implemented already, and have been effective since August 20th on international level.
Simulated Gambling is Still Gambling
Apple deems these apps that of the “simulated gaming” kind…
…saying that they are, effectively, gambling experiences with no real-money wagering, such as slot games in free play mode. Each app will have to be reviewed by the Game Rating and istration Committee which will grant them a Rating Classification Number.
One slight omission from the general rule will be South Korea, with whose government Apple has agreed to raise the age limit bar to nineteen years, even though apps with simulated gambling belongs under 17-plus subcategory in the Store.
Chinese Withdrawal
Exactly a year ago…
…Apple has answered the request by China to remove access to approximately 4,000 gambling apps by cutting them from the country.
Chinese TV broadcaster accused Apple of hosting illegal and fake lottery ticket apps. While tech giant denied these allegations, they have formed a partnership with Chinese government to reinforce efforts in accessing online content in a country that represents their biggest market outside of the US.
IOS Compliance Change
But the biggest alteration to date has taken place in June this year…
…when Apple announced that it will only allow gambling apps native to iOS to be hosted in the App Store. The deadline for operators to find a way and comply with this requirement is September 3rd.
According to the June 3rd update of their guidelines:
“Guideline 4.7. HTML5 games distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations, and may not digital commerce. This functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple. This guideline is now enforced for new apps. Existing apps must follow this guideline by September 3, 2019.”
Playtech Already Adheres
Even though these expectations are generally deemed unrealistic by gaming operators…
…Playtech has managed to secure their spot in App Store by deploying their native-first product line to address these changes.
Chief Technology Officer at Playtech, Peter Mares, has said that the company has been in the game for a very long time and understand that in order to succeed, they need to provide a solution that is guaranteed to help our licensees continue operating as usual.
“To this end, we’re pleased to be able to our customers in their preparation with a core, native-first product line, including a selection of fully native gaming content and natively compiled games.”
Source:
“Apple to impose 17+ age limit for social casino apps”, igamingbusiness.com, August 21, 2019.
Leave a Reply
Related News
One comment on this page:
Latest Casino News
Related News
More complex times require harsher measures. There are more and more illegal operators and more and more gambling-related issues, so this is a way to go.