Social gaming market worth $17.4bn by 2019

International market research company Research and Markets has reported that the global market for social gaming could be worth as much as $17.4 billion by 2019.

Driven by continuous growth in sales of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, the firm said the social gaming market would expand at a compound annual growth rate of 16.1% during the forecast period from 2013 to 2019.

The report stated that social network users spent more than 50% of their time on social games, with game developers having picked up on this trend and now attempting to tap into the social media market.

The study also said that an average 200 million active users play games online and expects this figure to increase with each passing year.

Research and Markets also forecast that the number of active users is likely to grow from approximately 200 million in 2012 to double that amount by 2019.

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Gambling’s Next Generation: Facebook Users?

On Superbowl weekend, a look at how social gamers increasingly leap to online betting.

Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for gambling in Canada and the United States — more than $100 million is expected to be bet legally in Las Vegas alone.

More than 100 million people will tune in to the Fox broadcast. They will be certain to discuss the $4 million-for-30-seconds TV ads, the Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ halftime show and, of course, the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos on their smartphone or tablet via social media.

At the British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s second annual responsible gambling convention last week, delegates heard how the two worlds are colliding. Research from a prominent Wall Street investment house suggests that converting social gamers into online gamblers is the key growth opportunity for the industry.

But a leading Canadian gambling addiction researcher is concerned that there will be casualties in the rush to migrate Facebook users, particularly the young and social media savvy, to digital bookies.

„There is a growing convergence between traditional gambling (real money casinos), online gambling (real money online casinos) and social gaming (virtual games played predominantly through Facebook),“ said a Nov. 14, 2012 Morgan Stanley Blue Paper. „Social gaming companies such as Zynga are increasingly expanding into social gambling games, with poker and slot machines consistently ranking among the most popular. Similarly, online gambling operators such as bwin.party are expanding into social gambling.“

Morgan Stanley estimated 170 million people play social gaming apps — triple the number of people who gamble for real money online. At $1.7 billion, social gaming is worth a fraction of the estimated $35-billion online gambling industry, which relies heavily on revenue from sports and casino games.

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ZYNGA TEST BITCOIN PAYMENT OPTION

BETCOIN TO SUPPORT MORE VIRTUAL CURRENCIES

Social gaming developers Zynga have announced that they will begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for virtual goods in select game titles on the Zynga.com website. Zynga announced the move on Friday in a post on Reddit, saying it had hooked up with Bitcoin payment processor BitPay in “conducting a Bitcoin test.” For the moment, the Bitcoin payment option is available only for web-based players of Farmville 2, CastleVille, ChefVille, CoasterVille, Hidden Chronicles, Hidden Shadowsand CityVille on Zynga.com.

Zynga stated that it had launched the test “in response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity around the world” and was actively seeking player feedback on the new option. There’s no indication if and when the test might be expanded to include mobile versions of Zynga titles or Zynga’s popular poker product.

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SOCIAL GAMBLING CONFERENCE TAKEAWAYS

Socialize gambling style games so they appeal to the social gamer

“Gamifying” casino games is where a lot of the innovation and investment is happening right now and its for good reason- gambling style games produce the most amount of revenue and social gaming companies want a piece of the pie.

Socialize a real money experience for the real money player

Social retention hooks or “social rewards” are a great way to increase player loyalty.

LatAm & Asia (Brazil & China) are where it’s at

Despite popular belief, Latin America and Asia, especially Brazil and China, are the geographical regions with the real growth and opportunity in social gaming, not the US.

2014 to be the year of social betting

When I think of social gaming I think of people playing Candy Crush, I don’t think of people betting on sports.  However, fantasy football and peer-to-peer betting is all about social and mobile, so it really is a natural fit.

Lack of regulation->More innovation

We’ve heard it before and we heard it again at the Social Gambling Conference- too much regulation stifles innovation.

Social Gaming and Virtual Currency

The online gambling industry’s interest in Bitcoin (and vice versa) has already been piqued, but it seems to me that the social gaming world is even a better fit for Bitcoin and virtual currencies in general.

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