From March 1, Australians will be able to access gambling apps from Google Play. This story has had minimal play in Australia. Kotaku covers it.
As spotted by 9to5Google, Google has announced a change that would permit certain real money gambling apps to be downloaded directly from the Google Play store. Gambling apps have been usable by Australian Android users before, but you’ve had to download them as separate APK files, not directly through the user store.
From March 1 this year, that policy will change. “We allow real-money gambling apps, ads related to real-money gambling, and daily fantasy sports apps that meet certain requirements,” a new policy on Google’s support page says.
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Given how much Australians historically love to bet, this is a huge change. Android devices account for just under half of all mobile devices in Australia, although exactly how much depends on what chart you look at.
What is means is easier access to gambling apps through the Google Play platform and that means more opportunities for gamblers to access the products they gamble through.
All of this provides more options. Whereas for decades lottery outlets were the publicly available place for non betting gambling, today there are many more options and, from March 1, options increase.
Another day another challenge to lottery income.
you can sideload them on android now. Have been able too for years. Wont make any impact as far as i am concerned
Anything that lets people bet online could potentially hurt my over the counter sales. But I know I cant stop it so I have to rely less on gambling money.