Parental Controls and Age Ratings for Social Casino Apps

The control that stops a child buying coins is purchase approval: Ask to Buy on Apple devices and purchase approvals through Google Family Link. Both send every purchase request to a parent for a yes or no. Age ratings help too, but casino-style apps can carry very different ratings on the two stores, so treat a rating as a guide, not a lock.

How do you block coin purchases on a child’s iPhone or iPad?

Apple’s controls work through Family Sharing, with the child on their own Apple Account. Apple’s parental controls guide gives these steps, using the menu labels on current software (Apple asks families to update to iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 for its newest parental controls, so labels on older versions differ):

• Ask to Buy: Settings, then Family, then your child’s name, then “Apps & Websites”, then “Restrictions”, then “Ask to Buy”, and turn on “Require Purchase Approval”.
• Content limits: Settings, then Family, then your child’s name, then “Content & Privacy Restrictions”, where you can pick the highest age rating allowed for apps.

Apple’s Ask to Buy page says the child has to ask permission to download or buy an app or make an in-app purchase, whatever the app’s age rating. Apple turns Ask to Buy on by default for children under 13, and in some regions it stays on and cannot be turned off for children under 18.

If your child borrows your own device, two more settings help. You can block in-app purchases in Screen Time (Screen Time, then “Apps & Websites”, then “App Store”, then “In-app Purchases”, set to “Blocked”), and you can require your password for every purchase by choosing “Always Require” under your name, then “Media & Purchases”, then “Password Settings”.

How do you block purchases on Android?

Google’s equivalent is purchase approvals. In the Family Link app, pick your child, then “Controls”, then “Google Play”, and under “Purchases & download approvals” tap “Require approval for” and choose “All content”, “Paid content only”, “In-app purchases only” or “Never”. The family manager can set a similar choice from the Google Play app under Settings, then Family, then “Manage family members”, then the family member and “Purchase approvals”.

Two limits to know. Approvals only cover purchases made through Google Play’s billing system, so a game that sells coins another way is not covered. And the setting applies to the child’s account, so it does nothing when a child plays on a parent’s phone signed in to the parent’s account.

That is where purchase verification comes in. In the Play Store app, go to your profile picture, then “Payments & subscriptions”, then “Purchase verification”, and choose “Always”, which asks for verification on every purchase, including inside apps. Google notes that every fingerprint or face stored on the device can verify a purchase, so if your child’s fingerprint is enrolled on your phone, it can approve purchases too.

Google Play also offers content restrictions by rating, protected by a PIN. Google says they do not stop restricted apps showing up in search results or through a direct link.

What do the age ratings on casino apps mean?

The two stores use different systems, and a casino app can land in quite different places on each.

Apple’s age rating definitions describe simulated gambling as betting without real money or currency that can be exchanged for real money, and note that ratings shown on devices running software older than iOS 26 can differ. Google’s ratings page says ratings in North and South America are maintained by the ESRB, and the ESRB ratings guide says its “Simulated Gambling” descriptor means a player can gamble without betting real cash.

One example shows the gap. On October 13, 2026, Slotomania was rated 18+ on the Canadian App Store and Teen, with Simulated Gambling and In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), on Google Play in Canada. Its own store description said the game is intended for players 21 and older. A rating describes content; it does not tell you who the publisher built the game for.

What about casino games on Facebook?

Facebook’s own minimum age is 13 in most places and 14 in Quebec, according to Meta’s help centre. That is the platform’s floor, not a rating for casino games, and a publisher’s terms can set a higher age for its own game.

Ask to Buy covers purchases from Apple and Family Link approvals cover Google Play billing, so a purchase paid through Facebook instead falls outside both. The practical controls there are the payment card and the account itself. Keep cards off a child’s account and know which games are connected to any profile they use.

If coins have already been bought, our page on refunds through the App Store and Google Play explains how to ask for the money back. For limits on your own phone, see setting your own limits, and for why these apps appeal in the first place, our guide to social casino features covers the bonuses, levels and collections that keep players coming back.