Author: Renee Israel
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There is no denying the growing profitability of the online casino industry, worth an estimated $30.3 billion, and set to increase even further as more and more countries introduce regulation.
It comes as no surprise, then, that social gaming developers are falling over themselves to merge into this industry, especially since a very high percentage of their players also regularly access casino games.
A recent study by mobile analysts, Kontagent showed that out of an approximate 780 million active social games players on platforms such as Facebook, 90 million of them also played casino games.
Let's look at some other interesting points:
- Out of the top ten games on social media platforms, three of them are gambling games.
- The top five gambling games (namely Best Casino, Double Down Casino, Slotomania and Bingo Blitz) rake in a combined 11 million users every single day!
- 53% of Facebook users also play social games.
With these kinds type of facts, there is no denying that social media gaming can hugely benefit from the online gambling industry and vice versa.
Learning from One Another
Merging social gaming into the online casino games arena promises to be a lucrative move for developers, but online gambling also has a thing or two to learn from social gaming.
First of all, while gamblers play their favourite games, on average, every four days, players of social games do so every two days.
Another interesting point: 50% of casual game players are active six months down the line. Not so for gamblers, where this figure drops to 8%.
Social gaming is just that - more social - and motivates players to "join in the fun", beat their fellow players and move up the rungs of their favourite games.
Tapping into Facebook
Over 80 million users of social media play games each day, although it is clear that Facebook rules the roost when it comes to social gaming.
In 2012, the Facebook based Double Down casino game was bought by IGT for $150 million, indicating the perfect example of a merger between both worlds.
Facebook allows real money gambling games to take place on its UK platform, although it may be some time before this trend is picked up in the United States due to stringent online gambling laws.
The bottom line is that social gaming and online gambling are moving closer and closer together, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds in terms of M&A's, regulation and new brands offered to players.
Posted by Renee Israel at 09:43 on 15 October 2013
