Numerous Apps Caught up in Apple's New App Store Review Policy to Ban Gambling-Related Apps

Thursday August 9, 2018 5:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
In an attempt to crack down on gambling-related apps in the App Store, Apple has today implemented a new App Review policy for individual developers, but many apps that are being banned as a result appear to have very little to do with gambling at all.



Apple has been providing affected developers with the following reason for their app's removal from the App Store:
In order to reduce fraudulent activity on the App Store and comply with government requests to address illegal online gambling activity, we are no longer allowing gambling apps submitted by individual developers. The includes both real money gambling apps as well as apps that simulate a gambling experience.

As a result, this app has been removed from the App Store. While you can no longer distribute gambling apps from this account, you may continue to submit and distribute other types of apps to the App Store.
Apple finishes by saying that "only verified accounts from incorporated business entities may submit gambling apps for distribution on the App Store", and advises developers to visit the Enrollment page to learn more about enrolling an organization in the Apple Developer Program.


The reason that apps unrelated to gambling are being removed appears to be because the ban currently applies to any apps that allow users "unrestricted web access".

When developers submit their app to the App Store, a section called "Rating" asks them to rate their app's content based on a chart and identify how frequently the content appears.

The content marker "Unrestricted web access" in this section applies when a user can access any URL by opening a browser window from within the submitted app.

Ticking it automatically slaps the app with a 17+ age rating if it makes it to the App Store, because it gives users of the app the potential ability to circumvent parental controls.

However, on the face of it, Apple's gambling-related ban today looks to have overreached significantly in this regard. We've asked Apple for comment and will update this post if we hear more.

Tag: App Store
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pete2106
19 months ago
They really should implement some sort of policy on how often full screen video ads can be played in apps.
Rating: 13 Votes
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vicviper789
19 months ago
horray for forced group think. Anyone else uncomfortable with the amount of censorship on the app store?
Rating: 11 Votes
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macsrcool1234
19 months ago
after all this time, apple remains incompetent when maintaining their own app store.
Rating: 11 Votes
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5hugknight
19 months ago
Well if gambling is a problem, then I wonder when all the stock trading apps will get banned...
Rating: 8 Votes
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Xenc
19 months ago
I can understand why unvetted browser access is now restricted, as it would defeat the purpose of parental controls and Screen Time, but removing them under the guise of "gambling" is nonsensical.
Rating: 6 Votes
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TimmeyCook
19 months ago

Have Apple announced that they are "eradicating gambling apps"? They're still in the App Store submission guidelines: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#gaming-gambling-and-lotteries


Apple:

Apps that offer real money gaming (e.g. sports betting, poker, casino games, horse racing) or lotteries must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the App is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store.
Rating: 5 Votes
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christarp
19 months ago

after all this time, apple remains incompetent when maintaining their own app store.

Sorry but apple is one of the best in class in this regard. This will be handled fairly quickly I'm sure.

You should really check out the sorry state of steam.
Rating: 5 Votes
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BMcCoy
19 months ago
What I inferred from reading the story is that some apps are being disallowed for permitting “unrestricted web access”, but the reason coming through to the developer is under the broader term “gambling/fraudulent activity” which is confusing to the developers, as the apps mentioned are not gambling apps.

Therefore it is a problem of the categorisation of the app rejection, and will probably be fixed by Apple by tweaking their rejection email to more accurately categorise the reason for rejection.

Perhaps there has been a modification to the gambling app requirements recently, which has led to some confusion, and this cross-categorisation error.

That’s what I understood this was referring to. Could be wrong though....!
Rating: 4 Votes
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Inkling
19 months ago

I can understand why unvetted browser access is now restricted, as it would defeat the purpose of parental controls and Screen Time, but removing them under the guise of "gambling" is nonsensical.


You are right. The fix should be to not allow children under parental controls to access those apps not to make it impossible for adults to buy them.
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Still weird that they would automate this removal simply by going by one of the rating options which had been set for years.


Yes, and by telling you to remove that self-imposed rating option, they're encouraging your to not be fully candid about your app.
Rating: 3 Votes
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sirdir
19 months ago
While I appreciate their 'privacy mattery' stance, they get more and more like big brother.
Rating: 3 Votes

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