Thursday, December 19, 2013

Social gambling


Social gaming and gambling are beginning to merge into a very interesting new category. Gamblification: social games have the reach, gambling has the money. Social games reach out to 500 million active players a month, while the online gambling industry is estimated at a mind blowing $30.3 billion.

The stakes for mastering the business and technology of successful mobile social gambling are very attractive. By 2015, the social gambling market is predicted to grow to $2.5 billion and the mobile app market is predicted to top $38 billion. The global total spend on virtual goods is expected to reach $4.1 billion by 2016.

Many casino and card games make use of a human’s gambling instincts to lure people into deep engagement. Although real money is used to purchase chips to be used in these games, the chips are not redeemable for money. However, some social games provide venues where in-system virtual currencies can be exchanged or raffled for virtual goods. In 2012, gambling equipment company IGT bought Double Down—a designer for Facebook casino games—for $500 million.

This is certainly a growing area to watch and I hope that my company Forever|NOT the relationship betting app successfully makes a mark in this segment.

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