Balatro is certainly habit-forming, but there’s nothing to be won or lost, other than time, by playing it. While the game has you using standard playing cards and poker hands as part of its base mechanics, it does not have in-app purchases, loot boxes, or any kind of online play or enticement to gambling, beyond the basics of risk and reward.
Yet many YouTube creators have had their Balatro videos set to the traffic-dropping “Age-restricted” status, allegedly due to “depictions or promotions of casino websites or apps,” with little recourse for appeal.
The Balatro University channel detailed YouTube’s recent concerns about “online gambling” in a video posted last weekend. Under policies that took effect March 19, YouTube no longer allows any reference to gambling sites or applications “not certified by Google.” Additionally, content with “online gambling content”—”excluding online sports betting and depictions of in-person gambling”—cannot be seen by anyone signed out of YouTube or registered as under 18 years old.
