Apple Restores William Hill, Ladbrokes Gambling Apps

A shocking removal from Apple's App Store last Friday of apps belonging to prominent operators such as William Hill and Ladbrokes has been corrected and is now over.

Admin Error

The pulling of a host of prominent real money gambling apps from the Apple App Store was attributed to an “admin error” and has now been fully rectified, according to eGaming Review.

The reason for the removal was due to confusion arising from Apple's request for gaming operators to provide proof of their UK gambling licenses.

Sportsbook Apps Were Removed

The error was specifically attributed to an “admin error” affecting a number of operators, including Coral, Paddy Power and Betfred in addition to Ladbrokes and William Hill, whose sportsbook apps were all subject to the temporary removal, and now expected to be restored within 24 hours.

A change in the UK regulatory framework issue November 1 requiring all UK serving operators to possess a licence from the Gambling Commission in order to accept stakes precipitated the app omissions: after a meeting with the UK Gambling Commission, Apple gave operators a three-week window in which to provide details of their licences.

The deadline expired Friday morning, with all operators featuring gaming apps in the Apple store fully compliant. The so-called “admin error” arose from Apple's misapplication of licensing language requirements to individual apps instead of the operators' entire portfolios. Said portfolios of course include an array of online games and products at the operator websites as well, with app offerings representing a relatively small portion of the entire array of each company's product portfolio.

Revenues over Preemptive Corporate Protection

This is not the first time Apple has omitted offerings in deference to App Store policies over regulatory interpretation. With the reinstatement set to be completed ahead of weekend football fixtures, Apple corporate policy and compliance measures have clearly been sublimated to the sustenance of the huge revenues being garnered from the public whom prominent gaming operators featuring products within Apple App stores serve.