Rush Street Interactive has reportedly found a way around Apple’s recent ban on gaming apps in its App Store. The plan will allow bettors with iPhones to place bets at its PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers mobile sportsbooks based in Pennsylvania.
The sites prompt users to download GeoGuard, an app from GeoComply, which provides geolocation services to online casinos and sportsbooks. The app is available in the Apple App Store.
According to a news release from RSI, the app is “a simple and clean solution that allows patrons for the first time to wager using their iOS devices in Pennsylvania.”
After players register on their mobile devices, they’re directed to download the GeoGuard Location Validator from the App Store. That enables RSI to confirm that players are located in Pennsylvania when they access the sites through mobile browsers like Apple Safari or Google Chrome.
“We are excited to offer Apple users in Pennsylvania a way to enjoy the extremely wide range of pre-game and in-game bets from their mobile devices,” said Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive. “In fact, the platform is the only one in the state of Pennsylvania that currently enables players to bet from their iPhones and other Apple mobile devices.”
Importantly, once players complete the process, they can place mobile bets directly at RSI online gaming sites without going back to the app.
The app is not an iOS app specifically for the casinos, however, and appears to be a move to at least get some functionality on iOS devices. Apple recently released new rules that gaming sites have to rewrite their app to conform with iOS-native code, a requirement that could take many online sites months to develop and may not pass muster with gaming regulators.
Parx Casino and Hollywood Casino, which have also launched online sportsbooks in the state, still have no iOS-functional apps.
