Published
Legal & Regulatory

Apple and Google remove illegal gambling apps

Apple and Google have removed a number of apps from their stores, after judging them to be illegal gambling apps disguised as non-gambling products.

Apple

According to Trend Micro research, the Asian-facing gambling apps were masquerading as legal apps focusing on subjects such as wine, travel or weather, in an attempt to bypass local government regulations and app store policies.

Hundreds of the apps were found on the iOS App Store and Google Play, with some ranked in the top 100 of the App Store and rated more than 100,000 times.

The apps were able to avoid detection because their descriptions were inconsistent with their content and their gambling features were intentionally hidden during reviews.

Apple and Google have since removed all located apps.

The apps were highly downloaded in China, in which state media has been critical of internet and phone gambling over the past few months, while government efforts to remove illegal online gambling gangs has resulted in a high number of arrests.

Last year, in a similar story, Apple removed thousands of illegal lottery apps from its China store, to comply with tightening regulation and criticism from state media.


Asia News Sponsor
Premium+ Connections
Premium

1xBet Partners

 
Premium

Sport Generate

 
Premium

Galaxsys

 
Premium

Digitain

 
Premium

PIN-UP Partners

 
 
Premium

GammaStack

 
Premium

Imagine Live

 
Premium

Lynon

 
Premium

RISK

 
Premium Connections
Consultancy

SCCG Management

Executive Profiles
Zeal Network SE

Stefan Tweraser

VIP Play

Les Ottolenghi

Scientific Games

Keshav Pitani

Social & App

Spribe CEO exclusive: Simplicity is the foundation

Spribe CEO David Natroshvili speaks to Gambling Insider abou...

Redefining iGaming: A history of crash games

Crash games is a growing vertical that has taken gambling by...

A certain something: What makes crash games special?

Crash games. They’re simple, they’re easy to learn and,...

Smarter innovation to shape the future

Spribe CCO Giorgi Tsutskiridze discusses the past, present a...

Facing Facts: The corner of quarterly contemplation

With Q1 reports out across the industry, Gambling Insider co...

Taking Stock: A guide to key stock prices across the industry

Gambling Insider tracks prices from some of the industry’s...

15 years of Gambling Insider: From the Founders

Over the last 15 years, Gambling Insider magazine has interv...

15 years of Gambling Insider: The Awards over time

Global Gaming Awards Event Manager Mariya Savova gives us he...