When mobile sports betting went live in Pennsylvania in May, it met an unexpected obstacle in Apple Inc.’s decision to bar gaming apps from its ubiquitous App Store.
The Silicon Valley juggernaut says it will no longer offer any app that “provides access to real money gaming, lotteries or charitable donation.” According to Apple, “This functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple”— i.e., not the standard HTML5 format.
New operators like those in Pennsylvania are completely shut out of the popular digital marketplace. Operators already in the App Store have until September 3 to reconfigure their code to comply with Apple’s native code or be ejected.
According to some estimates, that means roughly half of U.S. users will be unable to access iGaming applications through their preferred devices; though Apple and Android run neck-and-neck in terms of usage in the national marketplace, with Android getting a slight edge in terms of users, some reports indicate the typical online bettor may tend to use iOS.
So far, Apple’s decree has kept three new mobile sportsbooks in Pennsylvania from serving those customers: SugarHouse, Parx and BetRivers.
According to Phillyvoice.com, the Google Play Store doesn’t allow gambling apps either, but because Android is an open system, users can simply download the app directly from operators’ sites.
Because recoding is a cumbersome and time-consuming process, “it’s possible this gaping hole in the market extends into football season,” the hottest betting season in the United States, the website reported.
Mattias Stetz, chief operating officer at Rush Street, owner of SugarHouse, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the company is working on an “alternative solution” it can plug in if the App Store issue is not resolved, and quickly.
The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers is considering asking the American Gaming Association to intervene with Apple in the matter. And the World Lottery Association also hopes to appeal to Apple to resolve the issue. More and more, state lotteries are dependent on mobile platforms to peddle their products; in 2017, mobile lottery sales reached an estimated US$16.4 billion worldwide. According to the WLA website, “mobile gaming platforms have become vital and indispensable for state-authorized lotteries in their mission to raise funds for good causes and the benefit of society.”
