Google Play is making an effort to clean up its services, and one of the casualties is mobile casino apps, which have essentially been banned.
Google sent an email earlier this week to Android app developers outlining changes to Google’s hate speech section, illegal activity section, and gambling policy.
Google Play will no longer allow “content or services that facilitate online gambling, including but not limited to online casinos, sports betting and lotteries, or games of skill” if they give players the ability to win real cash prizes through game play.
The revision follows a similar change from Apple’s App Store. Apple, and its iPhone partnership, however, have not banned real-cash betting apps.
Application developers have been given 30 days to revise their apps or they will be removed and banned from the Google Play store.
The biggest changes, however, involve in-app advertising and the policy on how users can make payments for paid apps. Android has long been plagued by misleading copycat apps, pop-ups and fake reviews along with other annoyances.
