LocalThunk has written his game into his will to ensure that casinos cannot get their hands on it even after his death.

LocalThunk, the creator of Balatro, is determined that his game never finds its way into gambling companies or casinos. He has even written it into his will.

LocalThunk responded to a tweet that (I assume jokingly), theorised that Balatro’s poker theme was “actually a [psyop] to get younger generations in casinos,” and expressed how not he doesn't want that to happen. "This might seem absurd, but I am so opposed to the idea of Balatro being a gambling game that I included a clause in my will that stipulated that I would never sell or license the Balatro IP to any gambling company/Casino.

This makes more sense to me than you might think, especially when you consider some of the unfortunate incidents that Balatro has experienced since its launch. The game was pulled from sale in certain parts of the world in March. This was due to a sudden age rating change, from 3+ to 18. According to publisher Playstack this was "due a mistaken belief" that the game "contains prominent gaming imagery and material that informs about gambling".

LocalThunk has been clear since Balatro was released that he does not condone any gambling. He told our features producer Chris Livingston this in January and after the delisting scandal, he clarified further on Twitter: "I don't condone (staking) anything personally valuable on an unknown event nor do I think that Balatro includes gambling." I added RNG and risk/reward mechanics to Balatro but these are core mechanics for the genre as a whole. The developer even admitted to Chris that he does not play poker or care about it.

LocalThunk made a good decision by protecting the integrity of a product they spent a lot of effort and time creating. It's frustrating that he has to even consider it, because anyone who has spent any time with Balatro can probably see that its design is at odds with gambling. It's possible that it wouldn't have mattered to any opportunist betting agents. It's better to be safe than sorry.