There were rumors saying that Facebook would try to dip in the pool of online gambling. Sources said that the Facebook operators have begun engaging in talks with social gaming entrepreneurs and gaming professionals in the UK, specifically Gamesys and888.
According to eGaming Review, Facebook has not released any clear plans but the topics discussed might be in par with gaming opportunities the social networking site could offer to users where gambling was legal. It wasn’t clear how this would work, but there was no reason to think that it couldn’t.
There were gambling games in Facebook that was a big hit like Zynga’s Texas Hold ‘Em, but this wasn’t real gambling, it was just a popular social gaming app with around 30 million players logging in every month. The game worked by the players having a virtual roll of a few thousand chips that the player expands by winning in games or by inviting friends to join. No real money was played unless a player chose to buy virtual chips. Zynga raked huge amounts of money on this and Facebook gets a 30 percentcut on every sale. iGaming would probably work the same as this.
The reason why Facebook would delve deeper into this business was because of the huge revenues they could possibly earn. There were 30 million Facebook users in UK alone while there were around140 million Facebook users in the USA. The potential revenue for both Facebook and iGaming companies would be enormous due to the large market automatically available for them.
Facebook users were said to be avid gamers, considering that most gaming apps created were a big hit, and that even though they complain, they were actually open to all new games and applications. According to a source, any online gaming company that does business in the Facebook space could expect to reap considerable profits. The association of online casinos to the social media giant will be one heck of a credibility boost, garnering more trust and more players where online gambling is legal.
The beginning of operating on Facebook wouldn’t be easy though as online gambling companies would need to operate in compliance with gaming commissions from wherever they were licensed. For sure, Facebook would also add its own regulations. It might be a nuisance for operators, but the result would still be in their favour as there might be players who might not feel comfortable visiting a gambling website.
As for Facebook, they still have a lot of issues that need to be sorted out such as the setting up of the revenue sharing plan with their partners, developing and launching the apps, implementing a system to keep minors from accessing online gambling services and replacing the Facebook Credits program and implementing a payment system.
All these are rumors that are yet to be verified. However the current take of Facebook in the implementation of their Credits Program and their new advertising policies (they were accepting advertising from gambling companies to states and countries where it was legal) show that they are taking a liberal approach to online gambling.
[Source: Casino Affiliate Programs]