Guide
What a gambling app asks for and why
First launch, and the prompts start stacking. Location, notifications, camera, sometimes contacts. Two of those are load-bearing and the rest are optional, so it helps to know which is which before your thumb gets into a rhythm of tapping allow.
Location is the one you cannot skip
Ontario-licensed apps have to confirm you are physically inside the province. That is a licence condition rather than a marketing preference, and declining the permission ends the session before it starts.
Set it to 'while using the app' instead of 'always'. Leave precise location on, because a coarse fix cannot resolve a provincial border, and a failed geolocation check reads to the operator as an attempt to play from outside the market.
VPNs break this in the wrong direction. A blocked or spoofed check can flag an account for review, and reviews land on the withdrawal, never on the deposit.
Camera, and where your ID actually goes
Camera access exists for identity verification. You photograph a licence or passport plus a proof of address, and the app passes it to a third-party verification provider rather than keeping it in the app itself.
Grant the permission for the upload and revoke it afterwards if that sits better with you. Verification is normally a one-time event; if a re-check is needed months later, the app will simply ask again.
Do it on day one. Verification requested after a withdrawal is the single most common reason a four-tap cashout turns into a week of emails.
The prompts you can refuse outright
Contacts has no function in a gambling app beyond referral marketing. Decline it. Nothing breaks, nothing degrades, no feature disappears.
Photo library access is only needed if you upload ID from your camera roll rather than shooting it live. On iOS, choose 'selected photos' and hand over the two files instead of the whole library.
Notifications are a real decision rather than a yes or no. Allow them, then open the app's own settings and keep withdrawal and bet-settled alerts while switching promotional pushes off. Most apps separate the two categories. A few do not, and that refusal tells you plenty about the operator.
Ad identifiers and the tracking prompt
On iOS the app tracking prompt is separate from every other permission and grants nothing until you answer it. Decline. Gambling brands are heavy buyers of retargeting, and that identifier is what makes their ads follow you into unrelated apps for the next three months.
On Android, reset your advertising ID after installing anything new, or delete it entirely. Neither action affects gameplay, deposits or withdrawals in any way.
Account-level analytics carry on regardless. The operator can see your session lengths, stake sizes and time-of-day pattern because it holds the account, and that is what feeds the reactivation emails when you stop logging in.
Storage is a permission too
Install sizes in our index run from 38MB at ToonieBet to 181MB at Sports Interaction, averaging near 110MB. Cached assets push those numbers up over a month of regular play.
If space is tight, the light end is genuine: 43MB at BetMGM Casino, 48MB at Royal Vegas, 51MB at Spin Casino and Zodiac Casino, 60MB at Yukon Gold Casino.
Clearing an app's cache does not log you out on most builds and is considerably faster than deleting and reinstalling the whole thing.
A five-minute lockdown
Location while using, precise on. Camera allowed for the ID upload, then switched off. Contacts denied. Photos limited to selected files. Tracking declined. Notifications on, promotional pushes off inside the app's own settings.
Then set a deposit limit on the same settings screen, because privacy hygiene and money hygiene live about one tap apart and you are already there.
Minimum age is 19 in Ontario, 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, and 19 in the rest of the country. ConnexOntario is free and confidential at 1-866-531-2600.
Questions this one gets
Why does a casino app need my location?
Ontario licensing requires the operator to confirm you are physically in the province at the time of play, so declining ends the session. Set it to 'while using the app' with precise location left on, since a coarse fix cannot resolve a provincial border. A blocked or spoofed check can flag the account, and that flag surfaces at withdrawal.
Which permissions can I safely refuse?
Contacts, always. Photo library access, if you shoot your ID with the camera instead of uploading from the roll. App tracking on iOS, which only feeds retargeting. Notifications are worth allowing and then trimming inside the app's settings, keeping withdrawal and bet-settled alerts while turning promotional pushes off. None of those refusals affect deposits, play or payouts.
What happens to the ID document I upload?
It goes to a third-party verification provider contracted by the operator, which checks the document and returns a pass or fail. The operator keeps a record that you were verified, and retention periods appear in its published terms and privacy policy. Do this on day one, because verification requested after a withdrawal is what turns a four-tap cashout into a week.
How much storage should a gambling app take?
Around 110MB on average across the apps we track, ranging from 38MB at ToonieBet to 181MB at Sports Interaction, plus cached assets that grow with use. If space is tight, BetMGM Casino at 43MB, Royal Vegas at 48MB and Spin Casino at 51MB sit at the light end. Clearing the cache usually will not log you out.