Google Play Store to allow real-money gambling apps in 15 more countries

Real-money gambling apps on the Google Play Store are currently only allowed in the UK, Ireland, France and Brazil but starting from March 1 this year, an additional 15 countries will be added to the mix. The Play Store policy change will allow gambling apps in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

The accompanying developer note on Google’s support page specifies four gambling categories including online casino games, lotteries, sports betting and daily fantasy sports. Developers of these types of apps will have to fill out a special gambling application form and make sure their app has an International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) content rating and meets Google’s Developer Policy Center requirements.

There are also requirements to prevent underage users from accessing these apps. In the US, there are per state and per-category requirements for gambling apps which are outlined in the table below (check the source link for more details).

Requirements for US gambling apps

Another exception is that most of the newly added countries will only permit government-run lottery apps.

Source