The Financial Post have run an article today about the growth of real-money gambling apps on iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. They've spoken to an online casino called Big Fish Casino who are currently developing a real-money slots app that they hope will be approved by Apple in the the near future. The original article can be found here but here is a quick summary of the main points Real-money betting on the iPhone is legal in the United Kingdom Casino apps replicating Las Vegas on smartphones and tablets are expected to generate approx. US $100 billion a year by 2017 Zynga are expected to introduce real money gambling in early 2013 Apple do not take a cut of gambling profits Apple only approve real-money casino apps if they comply with local laws
Apple really have one up on Google here because their App Store is broken down into different jurisdictions. They can approve gambling apps is specific countries like the U.K. or Ireland where mobile gambling is legal and restrict access to these apps in countries such as the United States. Google on the other hand only have one version of their Google Play/Android Market so they will never be able to include real-money poker, casino or sports betting apps because of the legal implications.
Yes, but you can download and install any type of gambling app on an Android handset directly from the companies website or via an independent site like getjar. Installing an apk file on an Android is really simple. A couple of my friends love playing texas hold'em on their phones and as a result they switched from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 recently because there are more mobile poker rooms available for the Android platform. Apple tend to only approve native poker apps in a handful of European countries, everyone else has to make do with the poorer web apps that are available.
I've been playing a variety of casino games on my iPhone for the past 5 years so I think this is really a non-story. Who cares about native app?
Casino gamers in the United States finally play real money slots, roulette and blackjack on their iOS device at Drake Casino. All Drake casino games are compatible with iPhone, iPad and Androids and they welcome players from the United States of America.
Do Drake also accept players from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia etc or are they purely a U.S. mobile casino?
Yes, they accept players from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, Russia, China and just about anywhere you can think of.
Hey Bubba, unfortunately none of the major US facing mobile casinos currently process Bitcoin. Even though neither the Drake iPhone Casino nor the Carbon Mobile Casino currently have a bitcoin deposit option, US real-money gamers still have a wide range of deposit options, including Amex, Visa, Mastercard and Bank Transfer to name just a few.
can you legally download casino apps from the app store on itunes if you live in places like new jersey or nevada where online gambling has been legalized?
So far I think only a limited number of online poker rooms have been granted licenses to operate in certain parts of the USA. I don't think there are any plans to legalise casinos or sports betting operations. The good news is US casino games can always join one of these bitcoin online casinos that are compatible with iOS, Windows Phone or Android devices.