Brazil Court Orders Apple Casino App Age Checks
A Brazilian appeals court has ordered Apple to block minors from downloading a casino-style app from the App Store and to add age verification before users can buy virtual chips with real money, giving the company five days to comply or face a daily fine.
Justice Egberto de Almeida Penido of the Sao Paulo Court of Justice's Special Chamber granted urgent relief in a civil suit targeting "Casino Roulette: Roulettist," an 18+ rated app that four child and adolescent rights groups alleged minors could download and use to buy virtual chips with real money despite its age rating.
The order requires Apple to block new downloads of the app by users registered as minors and to require age verification before any purchase of virtual chips needed to continue playing or expand the in-app experience.
The decision also bars Apple from admitting new apps with equivalent casino-style mechanics onto the App Store unless they include effective age controls, and orders the company to preserve all records related to the app and submit a technical report detailing the steps it has taken, according to the court's decision. Apple faces a daily fine of 100,000 Brazilian reais, roughly $19,500, for noncompliance.
An Interim Measure, Not A Final Judgment
The civil action was originally filed after the rights groups found the app required no age confirmation to download, place bets or buy virtual coins with real money, with the relevant screens recorded in a notarized document.
A lower court had declined to rule on the urgent request, saying the case was complex enough to need fuller analysis of its national scope and economic impact before deciding, and noting Brazil's data protection authority had not been consulted.
Penido overturned that decision on appeal, finding the evidence presented was sufficient at this stage to support the claim of an age-control failure, court records reviewed by Mac Observer show.
The ruling is an interim injunction rather than a final decision on the broader case against Apple, and it applies specifically to downloads and in-app purchases connected to the named app while the litigation continues.
Part Of A Broader Push On App Store Age Controls
The order lands months after Apple introduced its own regional age-assurance measures in Brazil, telling developers in February that it would block downloads of 18+ apps unless a user's age had been confirmed through a reasonable method, and rolling out an updated Declared Age Range API so developers can request an age category with user or parental consent.
Brazil has separately opened its iOS ecosystem to alternative app stores and payment systems this year, though this ruling concerns child protection inside Apple's own store rather than competition rules.
For online casino operators and app developers more broadly, the case signals that regulators and courts are increasingly willing to hold platform owners, not just individual publishers, responsible for age controls on real-money gambling-style apps.
