Apple Removes 25,000 ‘Gambling’ Apps From China App Store 

Chinese officials and State Media criticize Apple for hosting gambling apps.

News has emerged this week that Apple have been forced to cull some 25,000 gambling and lottery apps from its China App Store although at the time of writing, Apple have not confirmed the number.

Apple were forced to remove the apps following an investigation by Chinese state-run broadcaster CCTV that examined the process by which Apple filters banned material on its App Store in China.

Apple were quick to remove apps without a fight, according to reports.

CCTV claimed to discover that a multitude of illegal gambling apps were available to download on China’s App Store, with many posing as official state-run lottery schemes. A previous investigation last month by CCTV accused Apple of allowing the unchecked proliferation of gambling apps to accumulate in the App Store..

While gambling is itself illegal in China, millions of citizens participate in government ran lottery programmes which are highly regulated and strictly controlled.

China is Apple’s most important market outside the US.

As well as this, China is the base for all iPhone and iPad production.

“Gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on the App Store in China,” Apple said in a statement.  “We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store.”

Apple reacted quickly to the CCTV investigations to remove the gambling apps from the App store after the CCTV progamme aired.

It is just the latest of several moves that Apple has made to Chinese regulators. Earlier this summer, it transferred control of Chinese user data to a state-owned company.