Apple App Store gambling app rules

Apple App Store gambling app rules in brief

Apple publishes a single rulebook, the App Store Review Guidelines, that every app must pass before it appears in the store. Gambling sits in section 5.3, titled Gaming, Gambling, and Lotteries, and Apple opens it with a warning to developers: this is one of the most regulated categories in the store, so they should only include it after checking their legal obligations everywhere the app is offered, and they should expect review to take longer.

For someone holding an iPhone in the UK, those rules have three practical effects. The casino apps you can find are run by licensed businesses. They cost nothing to download. And you never pay a casino through your Apple Account balance or the card linked to it for purchases, because deposits happen inside the casino’s own cashier. Our wider guide to iPhone casino apps compares the apps that pass these checks.

Apple can change its guidelines at any time. The wording summarised here comes from the version Apple marks as last updated on 16 October 2026.

What guideline 5.3 says, clause by clause

Section 5.3 has four numbered clauses. Two are about sweepstakes and contests, which matter more to promotions than to casino games, and two shape every real-money casino app on the UK store.

Clause 5.3.4 names sports betting, poker, casino games and horse racing as examples of real money gaming, and adds lotteries. A single app that combines a sportsbook and a casino, such as the 10bet app, falls under the same clause for both parts.

Why the seller must be the company that holds the licence

A separate rule, guideline 5.1.1(ix), names gambling alongside banking, healthcare and other tightly regulated areas, and says apps in those fields should come from the business that actually provides the service, not from a lone developer. That is why the seller line on a genuine UK casino listing names a company in the operator’s group, never a private person.

The names don’t always match the brand on the icon, because large groups publish apps through a central company. The current UK listings show this clearly:

When the seller is a group or service company, the copyright line further down the listing often names the licence holder. If something still doesn’t add up, tracing a listing back to its owner is covered step by step in checking a casino app developer, and how to check a casino licence covers the Gambling Commission’s public register.

Why you can’t pay a casino with Apple’s in-app purchase

Clause 5.3.3 rules out Apple’s own payment system for topping up a real-money gaming balance. In practice, the familiar grey Apple sheet that appears when you buy extra lives in a game never appears in a casino app. Tapping Deposit opens the casino’s own cashier, run by its payment providers, and the money lands in your casino balance, not in an Apple-held credit.

Apple Pay is different, and that is where people get confused. Apple Pay is a wallet for your existing debit card, so when you choose it in a casino cashier you are paying the casino by card, confirmed with Face ID or Touch ID. Apple isn’t selling you anything. Since 14 April 2020 British rules have barred credit cards from gambling, so one sitting in Apple Wallet gets declined at the casino cashier. Our Apple Pay casino apps page explains which methods work.

• App Store purchase history: never shows casino deposits.
• Bank statement: shows a card payment to the casino or its processor.
• Casino app transaction history: shows every deposit and withdrawal in one list.
• Apple Wallet: shows Apple Pay deposits against the debit card you used.

Geo-restriction: why location matters to an iPhone casino app

Apple requires real-money gambling apps to be geo-restricted to the places where they hold licences. There are two layers to this. The first is the store itself: a UK casino app is offered on the UK storefront, so your Apple Account needs to be set to the United Kingdom to find it. The second is inside the app, where the casino checks your location before letting you play, using signals such as your IP address and, if you allow it, device geolocation.

That second layer is why you may see a location prompt when you first open a casino app, and why play can stop when you travel. Our guide to casino app location checks explains the signals, and the help page on using UK casino apps abroad covers what happens on holiday. Masking your location breaks both the casino’s terms and the purpose of Apple’s rule; see VPNs and casino apps for the consequences.

Free to download, rated 18+ and controllable with Screen Time

Clause 5.3.4 also says real-money gambling apps must be free on the App Store. You will never see a price on the Get button of a UK casino app, and a listing that asks for payment to download is a warning sign in itself.

Every UK casino listing in our partner list carries an 18+ age rating. The rating comes from the developer’s answers to Apple’s questionnaire, and it is what Screen Time uses when a parent restricts apps by age on a child’s iPhone. Set the content limit below 18+ and these apps won’t appear in search or open. The casino still runs its own age check during sign-up, because Apple’s rating is a filter rather than proof of age.

Real-money casino apps versus social casino apps

Search the App Store for slots and you will also find social casino games. These sell virtual coins through Apple’s in-app purchase, which they are allowed to do because the coins can’t be cashed out. They aren’t real-money gambling, they don’t need a Gambling Commission licence, and nothing you win in them can be withdrawn.

Demo modes in licensed apps are a third thing again: they use pretend credit but can only be opened after age verification under UK rules. Our page on free casino apps explains the difference.

How to check an iPhone casino app follows Apple’s rules

Five quick checks on the listing tell you whether an app fits Apple’s gambling rules before you tap Get.

1. Open the App Store, tap Search and type the casino’s full name rather than a generic word like slots.
2. Tap the result and check the seller name under the title; it should be the operator or its parent group.
3. Scroll to Information and confirm the price is free, the age rating is 18+ and there is no In-App Purchases line.
4. Read the copyright line and compare it with the licence holder in the casino’s website footer.
5. Search for that company or its account number on the Gambling Commission register before you install.

If any step fails, don’t install. More red flags appear in how to spot fake casino apps, and installing casino apps on iPhone covers the rest of the process.

What Apple’s rules don’t cover: the UK Gambling Commission’s part

Apple decides whether an app can be listed. It doesn’t set stake limits, check your identity or approve bonus terms. Those come from the Gambling Commission and attach to your casino account, so moving between the app and a browser changes nothing.

Our summary of UK casino app rules goes through the regulator’s side in more detail, and the matching guide to Google Play gambling app rules shows how Android’s store handles the same apps.

The same rules on iPad, Mac and Apple Vision

Guideline 5.3 applies to the whole App Store, so the same checks cover an app whether you download it on an iPhone, an iPad or another Apple device. The listings show where each casino app can run. Coral, Ladbrokes, PlayOJO and Casumo list iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision and Macs with M-series chips, although the Mac entry carries Apple’s note that the app was built for iPad and hasn’t been verified for macOS. The 10bet listing names iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision but not Mac.

Minimum software versions differ too. The Coral and Ladbrokes casino apps ask for iOS 18 or later, 10bet asks for iOS 16, and PlayOJO and Casumo ask for iOS 15. Check the Compatibility line before you rely on an older device. Larger screens are covered in our guides to iPad casino apps and casino apps on a Mac.

Licensed iPhone casino apps listed under Apple’s rules

The three apps below are published on the UK App Store by companies in their licensed groups, offered free and rated 18+. Whichever you install, the welcome terms match the desktop site. A £10 slots bet at Coral unlocks 100 spins worth 10p apiece, PlayOJO adds 80 spins (10p each, winnings paid as cash) to a qualifying first deposit from £10, and Casumo tops up half of an opening deposit of £20 or more, to a ceiling of £100, which must then be wagered 10 times within 7 days. 18+, new customers only, terms apply.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.