Google announced plans this week to support more real money gaming (RMG) apps in its Play Store, according to the Android Developers Blog. The search giant said it plans to expand support for RMG apps starting in June 2024 in select countries, including India, Mexico, and Brazil, with more countries to follow in the future.

"We are pleased that this new approach will provide new business opportunities for developers around the world while prioritizing user safety," wrote Karan Gunheal, Google's director of global trust and safety partnerships. [This decision follows initial test pilots in India and Mexico in 2022, allowing certain types of RMG apps, including daily fantasy sports gambling apps in both countries and rummy apps in India. Until now, Google had only allowed RMG apps in the Play Store for governments with an existing regulatory framework for the use of RMG apps. In the future, Google Play will soon open the Play Store to new RMG game types and operators that are not in the existing licensing framework, but are legal. Of course, developers will need to meet all existing local guidelines in addition to Google's policies.

Google's RMG support page currently lists online casino games, sports betting, horse racing (if regulated and licensed separately from sports betting), lotteries, and daily fantasy sports as eligible game types. App developers, especially international app developers, have been lobbying Google for years to allow more types of RMG games, including online versions of local card games that are not common/old enough to be regulated.

In addition, Google is also exploring the possibility of revamping its subscription and in-app purchase service fee models. However, it did not provide specific details on what reductions developers can expect from the search giant.

"With this policy update, we will also evolve RMG's service fee model to reflect the value that Google Play provides and to preserve the Android and Play ecosystem," Gambhir wrote. We are working closely with developers to ensure that our new approach reflects the unique economics of the industry and the various developer revenue models."

Google has said it will release more details in the coming months, but has assured that these updated policies will include guardrails such as age and geographic restrictions to protect consumers.