Happy New Year everyone! Just three hours into 2025, I received an email from Google Play Support with the following subject line:
Action Required: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies (Luck be a Landlord)
Nothing has changed with Luck be a Landlord in the past few months,
Its a themed slot machine with fictionalised in game currency.
Defeat your landlord in this slot machine roguelike deckbuilder!
If rated today Australia would give it R18+, but it was reviewed before last years changes so it has been grandfathered in at M with the description “Simulated Gambling”.
I would just like to add that Australia has the world’s worst gambling IIRC. Our govt is happy to fuck over peoples lives and take money from gambling but a videogame loosely related is a serious issue in need of stopping.
It is hard to see how the slot machine in LBALL can be gambling when you are guaranteed to profit on every spin (unless you’ve intentionally designed a machine where you can win nothing, but that seems like your fault). Gambling involves risking a stake, but in almost every configuration of the machine that you’ll encounter during normal play there is no risk, you are guaranteed to make more than it costs to spin. The challenge is to make enough to stay ahead of the landlord.
Simulated Gambling:
Interactive activity within a game that:
a) resembles or functions like a real world age restricted betting or gambling service; and
b) does not provide rewards that can be redeemed for real world currency or traded to other players in-game for real world currency.
Note: For example, interactive activity within games that resembles or functions like real world commercial casinos, slot machines, lotteries, sports betting services or other betting services will be simulated gambling.
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Its a themed slot machine with fictionalised in game currency.
If rated today Australia would give it R18+, but it was reviewed before last years changes so it has been grandfathered in at M with the description “Simulated Gambling”.
https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/media-and-news/news/new-classifications-for-gambling-content-video-games
Simulated gambling seems to have been grouped in as an adjacent issue as some jurisdictions regulate loot boxes.
Balatro is in a similar position in Australia where it is PG on the play store, M on switch and would be R18+ if reviewed today.
I would just like to add that Australia has the world’s worst gambling IIRC. Our govt is happy to fuck over peoples lives and take money from gambling but a videogame loosely related is a serious issue in need of stopping.
It is hard to see how the slot machine in LBALL can be gambling when you are guaranteed to profit on every spin (unless you’ve intentionally designed a machine where you can win nothing, but that seems like your fault). Gambling involves risking a stake, but in almost every configuration of the machine that you’ll encounter during normal play there is no risk, you are guaranteed to make more than it costs to spin. The challenge is to make enough to stay ahead of the landlord.
https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2023L01424/asmade/text
As far as Australia is concerned the mere appearance of a slot machine is enough, it doesn’t need to function like one.
The more I hear about regulations in Australia, the more certain I am that their leaders lack the ability to distinguish nuance in any capacity.
Otoh, maybe it’s the rest of us who are out of touch and need to do more to protect the children.
We are talking about the country who’s leaders tried to ban flat chested women from porn because they “look too much like children”.