Apple has requested a "concrete reason or a legal requirement" from Indian authorities in order to remove betting or gambling apps from the App Store. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has already ordered iPhone manufacturers to take betting applications off the App Store, thus rendering them unavailable in India. Although Apple has not objected, it has informed the ministry that it cannot 'arbitrarily' remove the content.

According to Apple, it may be challenging to remove the gambling apps from India because they are legal and approved in other countries. The government has urged Apple to look at possible ways to implement the order. MeitY issued a list of 138 gaming and betting applications earlier this year that were prohibited in India. In contrast to Apple, Google has deleted these apps from the Play Store. For iOS users, the App Store still offers access gambling apps like Betway, BetNetix, and Bet Analytix that were on the list.   

The Centre announced new gaming rules earlier in April by amending the IT Rules in order to safeguard online players from dangerous substance, addiction, and forbidden activities that entail wagering or betting with real money. Following this, government representatives once more requested Apple to make sure that there were no apps that permitted betting or gambling on its App Store.

Source: Mint