Cashbacks and stickers do not violate any Playstore policies, but gambling platforms do, Google clarified on Sunday, this following a blog post by payments platform Paytm. Google had on Friday taken down Paytm from its platform as it was using the payments app to promote Paytm First Games, which has a daily fantasy sports aspect to it, and was thus violating Google’s policy.

“Offering cashbacks and vouchers alone do not constitute a violation of our Google Play gambling policies. Last week we reiterated our Play Store gambling policies. Our policies don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting, including daily fantasy sports in India. We enforce our policies very thoughtfully to provide a safe and secure experience for consumers, while also giving developers the platform and tools they need to build sustainable businesses. In the case of repeated policy violations, we may take serious action, which may include terminating Google Play Developer accounts. Our policies are enforced on all developers consistently," a Google spokesperson said.

The Indian fintech unicorn had written in a blog post earlier today, that the Paytm Cricket League campaign did not violate the Play Store policies. “We maintain that our cashback campaign was within the guidelines, as well as all laws of the land. We did not break any rules and there was no violation. It is not related to gambling in any manner whatsoever."

Paytm also insinuated that Google was not applying the same policies to the Google Pay app, which is running a Tez Shots campaign around the Indian Premier League (IPL). The campaign requires users to score runs by making payments through the app and rewards them for their scores.

The difference between Tez Shots and Paytm Cricket League appears to be that the latter allowed users to collect player stickers, which would result in rewards, in the form of cashbacks. This is what seems to have violated Google Play’s gambling policies as they are, at the very least, very similar to fantasy sports.