Casino News Updates: Google Play Store Allowing Illegal Gambling?
This week’s casino news starts off with a story about Google being taken to court. They could be facing a huge fine as they’ve been allowing illegal casino gaming in their Play Store.
Google Play Store Gambling Lawsuits
Google has found themselves in some hot water of late as a string of lawsuits is alleging that they are not only allowing illegal casino-style gaming to users via their Android platform, they’re also profiting off of it. The lawsuits have now been combined into one proceeding and will be sent to the Northern District of California.
What the lawsuits allege is that Google is being fairly lax with their Play Store regulations, which is allowing all sorts of various casino apps to slip through the cracks. While they’ve cracked down on “real money” casino apps, developers have found a way around it: build an app that allows people to game with “coins”, which are then bought for and paid with real money. Google is now only allowing these apps through but collecting 30% of all revenue generated from these in-app sales.
This is likely to result in a mild slap on the wrist but we’ll have to stay tuned to see if Google is actually hit with any serious penalties.
Gambling Representatives Must Convince Texas Republicans
Gambling bills in Texas have fallen short and now the focus shifts to the next two years. Proponents of expanded gambling and sports betting will have to work even harder these next few years to change some minds. While a bill was created this year and there was some optimism, it eventually died on the committee table. Gov. Dan Patrick had basically pushed expanded gambling aside earlier in the year by saying it was “not even an issue that would see the light of day this session.”
Patrick ended up going further into detail about how he wasn’t a fan of how each of the bills were worded and laid out.
The reality is that we’re going to some the lobbying ramp up over the next couple of years to change some minds on the Republican site. The late Sheldon Adelson was a big proponent of helping bring gaming to Texas and he was a big-time Republican. His former company is going to spend a lot of money in the coming years to sway some minds, so that they can be first in line when the state does open it’s doors to gaming.
Louisiana House Has Approved Sports Betting; Could Start In Fall
While nearby Texas scuffles, it seems like sports betting could be making its way to Louisiana. They are now one step closer as Senate Bill 247 has passed the vote in the Louisiana House by a wide 78-15 margin. That wasn’t all that happened, though, as House bill 697 was able to pass as well. That is the bill that was supposed to set up all of the taxes and fees for expanded gambling.
If everything continues to go as expected, we could see bettors place wagers on all types of sporting events in either a casino or on their cellphones. The governor will have to sign each of the bills to officially make them into law, but the process wouldn’t even be done there.
The Gaming Control Board will have to then do their part in the bill and begin to take applications and create rules. The executive director at the Louisiana Casino Association, Wade Duty, claims that everything should be coming together pretty fast. It is expected that we could see expanded gambling hit Louisiana by Fall of 2021.