Balatro suffers yet another age rating fiasco, this time on YouTube

UPDATE 08/04/25: YouTube has confirmed that Balatro videos should not be age-restricted.

"Videos featuring Balatro gameplay should not be age-restricted. We're fixing the issue and conducting a platform-wide review," reads a statement to Eurogamer from a YouTube spokesperson.

Additionally, YouTube stated it takes time to get enforcement right after a policy update, but Balatro videos will still be restricted if they contain other violations of the gambling policy or other Community Guidelines.

YouTube responded directly to LocalThunk on social media, thanking him for flagging the issue.

ORIGINAL STORY 07/04/25:Videos of Balatro on YouTube are being age-restricted to 18+, as the developer's rating battles continue.

On 19th March, YouTube updated its community guidelines to list gambling content, including "depictions of promotions of online casino sites or apps", as age-restricted content.

However, as YouTuber Balatro University has discovered (watch below), YouTube's restrictions are proving inconsistent. As such, some videos are being restricted while others are not - as an example, the YouTuber has 606 videos of which 119 are age-restricted; of these, 30 appeals were submitted of which 24 were then rejected.

"If YouTube wants to age-restrict gambling content, I think that's a really positive change," said Balatro University. "But YouTube really needs to make up its mind: is Balatro content gambling content?"

Balatro's solo developer LocalThunk shared the video, adding: "Good thing we are protecting children from knowing what a 4 of a kind is and letting them watch CS case opening videos instead."

Apparently Balatro videos are being rated 18+ on @YouTube now for gambling

Good thing we are protecting children from knowing what a 4 of a kind is and letting them watch CS case opening videos instead

The drama follows the news from February that the Balatro developer won a formal appeal to reclassify the poker-themed roguelite as PEGI 12.

That appeal arrived a year after a fiasco where the game was pulled from sale in some countries due to a "mistaken belief that the game 'contains prominent gambling imagery and materials that instructs about gambling'", as per publisher Playstack's statement at the time.

"The Complaints Board concluded that, although the game explains the various hands of poker, the roguelike deck-building game contained mitigating fantastical elements that warranted a PEGI 12 rating," reads PEGI's statement on the new classification.

Still, the game passed 5m copies sold at the start of the year, following multiple award wins.

Last month at the Game Developer Conference, LocalThunk was able to anonymously play Balatro on the show floor and impress onlookers with his skills, without anyone recognising him.