Balatro Creator Ensures It Can Never Be Turned Into a Real Gambling Game

Balatro's creator added a stipulation to his will to keep it from being used in real-world gambling.

By Ricky Frech

Since launching earlier this year, Balatro has become one of the biggest surprise hits of 2024. The roguelike poker-based deckbuilder became a best-seller on PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and PC platforms, and is set to launch on mobile devices eventually. However, some players also want a physical version of Balatro, which may happen at some point. One thing that won't happen is a gambling company buying the rights to Balatro and using it to promote their casino or other type of gambling. Recently, Balatro creator LocalThunk announced that he has even taken legal action to ensure that never happens.

In a new post on Twitter, LocalThunk made it clear that Balatro will never support real-world gambling. One Twitter user said, "Conspiracy theory: Balatro and its imitators are actually a psyop to get younger generations into casinos." That's largely a joke, but LocalThunk quickly responded, "From the outside this might make zero sense but I hate the thought of Balatro becoming a true gambling game so much that when I recently created my will I stipulated that the Balatro IP may never be sold or licensed to any gambling company/casino."

You don't get a much stronger stance than that from a creator. With Balatro's popularity, it wouldn't be too surprising to hear a gambling company is offering LocalThunk a substantial sum of money to license the game. Still, the developer isn't interested in moving the business model in that direction. He's so uninterested that he doesn't want those companies to think they can eventually buy the property when he dies. What makes this even more interesting is when you remember that Balatro was removed from several digital storefronts shortly after its launch because of concerns about gambling themes. That would eventually lead to Balatro's age rating going up to get it back on store shelves.

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At that time that move seemed a little overbearing and LocalThunk was quick to say that he doesn't condone gambling or believe that Balatro actually involves a form of true gambling. It's clear from his most recent statement that LocalThunk wants to keep Balatro a pure experience for everyone to play.

Balatro is available now on PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and PC platforms. LocalThunk hasn't announced a mobile release date, but it should launch relatively soon as the developer continues to improve the original version.

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