A couple of years ago a friend of mine, who likes the odd sports wager and game of Texas Hold'em, asked me whether he should buy an iPhone or an Android. At the time I confidently told him that he should definitely buy an Android smartphone because I felt that Apple would never list gambling apps in their App Store and at the time you could download the Full Tilt Poker and Paddy Power apps from the Android Market. How things have changed. Apple have now approved the Paddy Power sports betting app, the bwin poker app and a number of casino games from 32Red. Google on the other hand have done an about turn and no longer allow any type of gambling related app into Google Play (aka Android Market). Admittedly some of the iPhone apps can only be downloaded in certain countries, but it certainly marks a change in direction for the normally cautious Apple that I could never have predicted. Surely Google will not want to give Apple the advantage here and will eventually allow certain sports betting, bingo, casino and poker apps into Google Market again? Thoughts?
I think it is unlikely because it could pose too many legal issues for Google. For example, if they added a real money poker app to Google Play and someone in the United States downloaded it and used that app to play real money poker on their phone, I think Google could be accused of facilitating real money mobile poker in the U.S. There are lots of other countries similar to the United States who have very draconian policies when it comes to online gambling so I think it would open up an ugly can of worms for Google if they ever allowed gambling apps into their app store.
Another issue for Google is the fact that there is only 1 version of the Google Play store, unlike the Apple App Store that is split up regionally into different countries. For instance, because mobile sports betting is legal in Great Britain, Apple can make specific bookmaker apps available only in the App Store in GB. iPhone owners in other countries aren't going to be able to download or install the app on their iPhones or iPads. Because there isn't a separate Google Play store for every country, it make is far more difficult for Google to limit the downloading of gambling apps to countries where there are no legal impediments to online gambling.
Most gambling apps are free to download so I don't see why Google would bother with the potential legal implications that allowing gambling apps into their app store. Sure it would be nice to have everything listed under one roof but it could open them up to litigation for very little reward.
i doubt it. if these companies were willing to give google a slice of the profits they make from these apps then i'm sure google would jump at the chance to list them. as things stand gambling apps are given away for free so google make zero revenue from them. why would they bother?
There is a related discussion here on alternatives to Google Play for real-money poker, casino and sportsbetting apps.
Google have now banned gambling and any other adult content apps from the Google Glass app store so it doesn't look like they're going to change their minds anytime soon.
It seems that Zynga have pulled the plug on social gambling in the United States. Shares in the company have nosedived as a results as many investors saw this as their only hope of success. Who exactly plays Farmville these days?
Does it really matter any more since browser-based web apps for gambling work just as well as the versions you need to download from Google Play. For instance, Carbon Poker released this US friendly poker app and Drake released these US casino games and they both play great on my Samsung Galaxy Tab and Google Nexus.
I think the growing popularity of Windows Phone devices like Nokia is forcing many online bookmakers to rethink their strategy when it comes to mobile betting. While a small number of the larger bookies could afford to develop native poker apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, most can not. I think for this reason more and more betting companies will choose to develop web-based betting apps that will work on any mobile operating system.
the variety of screensize dimensions for android devices also makes it easier for online gambling companies to develop web versions that will simply expand to fit the full display.
888, Carbon Poker and Bovada have all chosen to release poker web applications this year that don't require an install. I think this is the future of sports betting on mobile and wearable devices.
Following the failure of Google Glass, Google should probably stick to software and leave the development of wearable devices to Apple and Samsung.
In a surprise u-turn, US sports bettors can now download the both the FanDuel and DraftKings Android apps from Google Play. Both of these fantasy betting sites were available in the US iTunes App Store since 2014 so I guess Google were under pressure to add them too
under US law these fantasy betting competitions are not considered to be gambling so maybe Apple and Google were legally obliged to add them?
Most of the major U.S. friendly gambling operators like 5Dimes, BetOnline and Bovada have started accepting bitcoin. If more people switch to crypto-currency gambling, the US government will be powerless to stop it.
I am part of Kiggit. We're developing a social betting app for football fans. I wanted to see the response from Google, so I tried to upload our app to Google Play, and it was actually accepted. I took it down immediately as I was afraid it could be illegal. I am not sure if it's my obligation or Google's to not have it live. I have written a contact at Google. You can also download it here from our website: www.kiggit.com