Betcade to launch Android RMG app store next year
Industry’s first dedicated gambling app store for the Android platform is expected to be rolled out in July 2016
A new Android app store focused on offering real-money gambling apps is set to launch next year as a workaround for Googleâs ongoing ban on gambling apps in the Play store.
Betcade will go live next July and will offer gaming apps for download on Android through a UI modelled on Appleâs App Store and the Google Play store.
âPeople overwhelmingly prefer mobile apps over the browser experience: the time spent in apps now surpasses the time spent in browsers,â David Chang, Betcade founder and CEO, said.
âHowever, there is currently no efficient mechanism in place for discovery or distribution for real money apps the way that there is for every other app category,â he added.
Chang said Betcade would âstreamline the download, install and updating of apps and remove payment frictionâ on Android devices.
While there are a number of alternative Android app stores which permit gambling apps, operators have tended to be put off by their low visibility.
One of the most popular, GetJar, boasts around 3m app downloads a day, compared to the estimated 70m app downloads made each day from the Play store.
Although Android continues to hold a dominant market share even in strong Apple territories like the UK, most operators have tended to focus on their iOS apps because of the greater ease with which they can roll them out to users, and the tendency of Apple users to be higher spenders.