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Poker News

Apple Takes a Bite Out Online Poker Apps with New Rules

Written By: Maya Michaels | June 19, 2019 | Posted In Poker News

Policy change on Apple Store could profoundly affect online poker in times when accessing as many potential poker users as possible is a must.

On 3 June, Apple released App Store Review Guidelines that can seriously threaten online poker apps and make it more difficult for online gambling operators to court iOS users. This is a real game-changer for developers and puts another perspective and clarification why Pennsylvania apps are slow to release for Apple users.

“Guideline 4.7. HTML5 games distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations, and may not support digital commerce. This functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple” the document says.

The change in policy basically means that all apps that engage in monetary transactions must be written in code native to the iOS system.

The guideline affects all new apps while the existing ones must follow the guideline by 3 September, 2019. If developers don’t completely change the codes in the due time, their apps will be removed from the App Store. This is a massive demand from the App Store since codes are not so easily changed and developers have to completely rewrite the entire documents.

The short period of time for developers to redo their codes for existing apps is not close enough to achieve solid, working apps so for some it would be easier to shut them down.

Targeting HTML5 games has been in the air for some time since Apple had trouble policing illegal gambling apps in many jurisdictions for some time. Meanwhile, online casinos and sportsbooks can take a huge leap forward if they are a stand-alone programs. Those who are not, must speed up their pace to meet the deadline and the start of the NFL season on 5 September.

Many are throwing sticks and stones at Apple commenting they are scrutinizing those who work hard and rely on their intellectual property to provide for their families, and even trying to monopolize under the law. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.

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