Online Gambling Industry Working Overtime to Address Apple Update

Mike J. DaviesBy Mike J. Davies Editor in Chief at Casinos.US Updated: 08/17/2019
Mike J. Davies Mike J. Davies Editor in Chief at Casinos.US See Full Bio

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Playtech and Pennsylvania sportsbook and casinos adjust to Apple policy update Gambling companies succeed in meeting new Apple guideline, Photo by pixabay

In June this year, US-based technology giant Apple announced its new protocol for its real money gambling app guidelines. Now, online gambling operators are adopting measures to make sure players can still gamble online with their iOS phones.

The tech giant also announced that its brand spanking new payment facility Apple Card that is on track to be released later this month, would not be utilized to buy:

  • casino gaming chips (digital or physical)
  • lottery tickets
  • racetrack wagers or
  • similar betting transactions

Apple’s new real money gambling app guideline

On 3rd June, Apple rolled out its new guidelines, which included an update that would affect legal online gambling. The company had reworked point 4.7 of their App Store Review Guideline.
A majority of online games are written in HTML5, which is a kind of coding language. Though the code operates on iPhones, it isn’t created for a specific operating system. With the new rule, Apple wants to get real money gaming apps that are predominantly coded in HTML5 to transform their apps to native iOS code.

Apple set a deadline for 3rd September 2019.

In a statement released, the company said,

HTML games distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations, and may not support 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.

The technology giant said the reason for the update was that the most suitable place for real-money gaming transactions was on the iOS platform, where the company can monitor them.

Herculean task for the gambling industry to comply with Apple’s rule

Now, the 90-day countdown for the new policy update to kick is less than a month away. According to experts, the new guideline was considered patently ridiculous, as it is next to impossible for gaming suppliers to convert their apps within the stipulated deadline.

Besides setting up new development teams and converting hundreds of game titles across many vendors, companies will have to submit their paperwork to regulators in states where they operate and will also need to acquire regulatory approval for their new platforms.

However, some gaming suppliers are proving these experts wrong.

Pennsylvania already adjust to the new guideline

Initially, the policy update was especially problematic for online gaming operators who had plans to take part in the Pennsylvania marketplace. This market was scheduled to go live a few weeks after the change at Apple was announced. Since then, gambling suppliers and their teams of developers have been been working very hard to change their gaming content to align with Apple’s new policy. Today, online sportsbooks and casinos in Pennsylvania have managed to adapt their platforms to the new Apple store guidelines.

Playtech also converts

Software developing giant Playtech, which delivers B2B igaming solutions, will be rolling out their new product line in September. The company will enhance its own native old casino app, which they have deployed for the past three years.

Peter Mares, Playtech’s Games Innovation Labs Chief Technology Officer, said that in order to succeed, they need to provide a solution that is guaranteed to help their licenses continue operating as usual. He added that they were pleased to be able to support their operator partners in their preparation with a core, native-first product line, including a selection of natively complied games and native gaming content.

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