You won’t be seeing the Balatro IP used by casinos or gambling companies - the developer has forbidden it in his will
Despite all predictions, the house has lost this one
My own experience with gambling doesn't extend much beyond the single time I won a few dollars at a Vegas slot machine then refused to play again so I could claim that I'd "beaten Vegas." My own very petty victory as the ultimate gambler aside, it's by and large an industry built on preying on the vulnerable, so it's no surprise that Balatro developer LocalThunk is so dead against ever seeing his poker puzzler used for evil that he's made a specific stipulation in his will.
"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," Twxngled LocalThunk recently, in response to a jokey "conspiracy theory" post by another user that Balatro was secretly a psyop to get kids into casinos.
Back in March, Balatro was temporarily taken down from digital console storefronts after European ratings board PEGI changed the age rating from 3+ to 18+ after deciding the game encouraged gambling with "prominent imagery".
"I still believe that the rating is unwarranted, but there is some grey area for interpretation from PEGI and at this point it is what it is," LocalThunk said in a Reddit AMA at the time. "I think the one thing I am most disappointed by is the fact that other games with actual gambling mechanics aren't rated the same way because of their appearance/theme."
One reply to LocalThunk's tweet about the will was from Purple Moss Collectors, the developers of the upcoming Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, who asked LocalThunk to pass on the wording used so they could do the same. I've already seen D&DG described as "Balatro but Blackjack" which is understandable at this point, and there's a good chance this was one of the Balatro "imitators" referenced in the original tweet LocalThunk responded to. As LocalThunk has pointed out, though, D&DG went public before Balatro - an early version has been kicking around on Itch for over a year now. Either way, it's a lovely show of support.
"It reels you back in not to exploit psychological weakness, but to celebrate the inherent joy of learning, mastering and beating a system gamed around impossible odds," wrote Katharine (RPS in peace) in her Balatro review. And nothing could sum up the fundamental difference at the heart of games like this to actual gambling better, I think, even if PEGI bizarrely disagree.