Facebook venturing into online gambling

[The Buzz]

The Financial Times is reporting that Facebook will allow U.K. users 18 and older to play bingo online for cash prizes.

“Gambling is very popular and well regulated in the UK . . . for millions of bingo users it’s already a social experience [so] it makes sense [for us] to offer that as well,” said Julien Codorniou, Facebook’s head of gaming for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Full story here: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2b0dc...44feab49a.html

Is this a good move for Facebook? And what does it mean for affiliates?

[vinism]

Another story from the BBC here. Gamesys, the company runs Jackpotjoy, is operating the room on Facebook.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19162971

[the_soc]

I may be missing something, but I still don't get the social-network-and-gambling business model: I find facebook pretty slow and clunky; what added value do they offer when gambling on their platform rather than on some 'standalone' brand?

Multiplayer games (with chat) are common at independent gaming sites, so what is/would facebook be offering me? ...and why shouldn't I just gamble at a regular place in one window/tab and chat with facebook friends in another?

[TheBoyMitchell]

I would think the main thing that you can do when playing on FB would be to tell your mates and get them to join you.

As it stands at the moment there isnt a single method (as far as I am aware) that lets you tell your mates when you are playing and where you are outside phoning them up and telling them.

You could be playing at Gala for example, but your mate might be playing at Hills. Facebook allows you to choose to tell your bingo friend(zy) where you are and what you are doing. I would imagine that FB will also offer a member get member scheme to recruit your friends to the hall.

Finally, I think that this model will only work for bingo as it is the most socially acceptable form on gambling (I think). People in the UK go to play offline Bingo in groups of friends. This is not the same for the poker, slots or casino player. For them, these are still things you do in the privacy of your own company.

[Elisha]

I think it is going to change the way bingo business is right now any which ways bingo applications are growing exponentially on facebook ..

Now its time for all big operators to start application on fb.

[MontyBa]

I would think the main thing that you can do when playing on FB would be to tell your mates and get them to join you.

As it stands at the moment there isnt a single method (as far as I am aware) that lets you tell your mates when you are playing and where you are outside phoning them up and telling them.

You could be playing at Gala for example, but your mate might be playing at Hills. Facebook allows you to choose to tell your bingo friend(zy) where you are and what you are doing. I would imagine that FB will also offer a member get member scheme to recruit your friends to the hall.

Finally, I think that this model will only work for bingo as it is the most socially acceptable form on gambling (I think). People in the UK go to play offline Bingo in groups of friends. This is not the same for the poker, slots or casino player. For them, these are still things you do in the privacy of your own company.

Spot on, I couldn't agree more

[Renee]

I think the biggest thing is age verification... You don't have to send in proof of your age for facebook so I imagine there will be a lot of underage gamblers.

[boczom1]

I may be missing something, but I still don't get the social-network-and-gambling business model: I find facebook pretty slow and clunky; what added value do they offer when gambling on their platform rather than on some 'standalone' brand?

part of it is probably for their sneaky data mining capabilities.

now they'll be able to profile everybody's gambling mentality.

[p.arena]

It may end up introducing more players who hadn't thought of playing bingo online before. Though I wonder if this would pave the way for them to introduce the other major betting products at some point too.

If Facebook are softening their stance on gambling and the bingo turns out to be successful, maybe poker/slots/casino games will be next?

[Maria F]

I think they will be successful, because so far millions of people have trusted facebook and showed their intimate details and private information, so I am sure whatever they do people will follow.

[Golan.WingateAff]

I may be missing something, but I still don't get the social-network-and-gambling business model: I find facebook pretty slow and clunky; what added value do they offer when gambling on their platform rather than on some 'standalone' brand?

I believe this change will be ground-breaking, the potential is absolutely crazy.
and I do believe that some peoples view on things related to online (or offline for that matter) gambling is to do it in private, like Mitchell said "in the privacy of your own company"
but that is not the case with every gambler.. some of them like to show off their skills and achievements and people who tend to do so usually attract other people to criticize it (doesn't really matter if good or bad, publicity is still publicity), I think that is why Facebook is so big.. the sharing of content process.
it's a new day for social gambling and the gaming experience in general.
quite surprised they didn't get to this sooner and I do hope they will find a way to control minors from joining these apps.
there's already a group formed on facebook against this Bingo, I only agree with them on terms of the graphics that the bingo chose to present their brand, too appealing for minors..

[PioneerRalph]

I reckon it's a really interesting time for the operators on FB at the moment as well, i think a lot of them will be doing flash games etc to build up a community....

[Gregory.Weiner]

This will definitely turn out successful, FB is just too popular. And when it does, who knows what they'll be up to next. One can't have too much profit.

[WSAChris]

I heard about this, with their user reach it will most definitely be a successful endeavour.

[PioneerRalph]

i think the most interesting one is casino which isn't really a community type endeavor, whereas sports, bingo and poker all have that vital community element which will make success on FB easy

[promoguide]

Seems to be that FB is doing everything and anything they can to try raise their share prices. The IPO was overpriced and share prices have been dropping rapidly. In addition, once the hype cooled down advertisers understood that the ROI on FB advertising is nowhere near what can be achieved on google adwords and are cutting budgets as well.
As people here already said, bingo is definitely one of the more social types on gambling and having bingo on the FB platform can definitely be successful in the short term. In the long run, I think that this and other revenue driving based features introduced in the future will drive people away from FB into the arms of the next internet giant to come along.

[joshef]

Online sports betting and casino gambling has gain so much popularity that every online businessmen wants to make money through it. Facebook is a top most social networking site and there are millions of users all over the world. But the issue in facebook online gambling is related to the age verification.

[semka]

Playing your favorite bingo game will be something to awe about. I think this will popularize bingo gaming online and more people who were not reach before will be playing now. This will also makes things easy since one will only have one account to log into. You will have your social circles and gambling circle in one account

[DavidB]

I think the biggest thing is age verification... You don't have to send in proof of your age for facebook so I imagine there will be a lot of underage gamblers.

I don't think it will be a problem at all. The site will just be integrated on facebook, but KYC should be performed right away. Unless they give free bonuses. I find it funny everyone is going on about social marketing more than ever, purely because facebook makes no money at all, and are looking for new ventures as their shares are dying completely.

A big non happening for me.

David.

[G_F_Brown]

I think it's still a bit early to say but my initial reaction to this is the problem of converting players, who are used to free play games on Facebook, to real money players. There have been a number of successful Facebook bingo apps that have tried to move across to a pay to play product and the players have not followed them. So whether Facebook users are interested in parting with real cash remains to be seen.