Before the emergence of social media, gambling practices have remained largely the same over the years. Gamblers would visit a casino or a betting shop and purchase a bucket of poker chips before partaking in a myriad of betting games and machines like slot machines, card games, etc. However, when you take modern gambling into the online sphere, the dynamics of interaction between players change.
For social media sites like Facebook and Slotomania, many gambling enthusiasts are able to participate in their favorite gambling games without having to leave the comfort of their homes. Moreover, the types of gambling games available online are definitely not limited by physical constraints — with companies having the capacity to add new games to these websites easily and consistently. Additionally, users are able to earn points, compete and ultimately earn rewards. This has resulted in the phenomenon of social gambling where socializing has taken on a new reiteration in this digital space. According to the Gambling Commission, the convergence of traditional gambling and social gaming is because of the proliferation of social media usage and companies channeling more investments into the gaming industry. Thus, the amalgamation of these factors has led to this completely novel form of entertainment and social interaction in gambling today
Rewarding Free-to-plays
You’ll notice that a lot of these online gambling games are promoted as free-to-play. This means that no real cash is involved and players normally deal with in-game currency instead. It’s a play-and-get-rewards system where players will be correspondingly awarded based on their commitment to the game — which basically translates to the number of hours clocked into it. But how exactly do these players become so dedicated to it? Well, this can all be accounted for by user behavior.
The massive allure of gambling to the common folk comes from the appeal of huge jackpots and victories at slot machines and card games. It’s typically motivated by the delicate probability of wins and losses; it’s a huge risk to take. The adrenaline of luck and the unknown is enough to thrill them. Some players also simply participate in social gaming as a way to pass time. This is prevalent for older age groups (like housewives and pensioners) because they have a lot of spare time in their waking hours. The convenience of such gaming apps thus makes it much more appealing to such demographics.
This is what sets apart the real pros from the casual players. A real gambling pro is motivated by precise calculations and predicting the right course of moves to take in order to secure a win; and what better way to hone these skills than through online social gaming?
Since online gambling doesn’t require real money, it removes the stress of any real monetary losses and allows them to fully channel their focus into practicing their strategies and then subsequently applying the successful ones into real-life gambling. They get to refine their skills at essentially zero cost. Moreover, the significantly ‘low barriers to entry’ make the games easy to integrate into. Any in-game boosts you purchase with in-game currency are considerably low investments compared to betting real money in real casino settings. Furthermore, you can accumulate the in-game chips and coins and save them longer for timely uses as compared to traditional casinos with higher table limits.
All in all, these factors have made social media a commendable opponent when it comes to tackling the gambling industry by force.
How Facebook and Slotomania took the gambling scene by storm
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’d know that social media sites like Facebook are littered with tons of social gaming apps. They’re practically all over the site, insofar as ads on Facebook even advertising for the gambling apps themselves. According to recent business surveys conducted, about 61% of all social gaming gamblers use Facebook. However, online gambling did not gain traction as quickly as everyone thought.
Apparently, Facebook first launched a beta version of social gaming apps in 2011 under its Facebook Credits feature. Through this feature, Facebook users are able to use the credits to purchase in-game goods and boosts to further their gaming progress. One good example would be Zynga Poker.
Zynga Poker
The predecessor of the current kingpins in online social gaming was Zynga. Zynga was famous for being one of the pioneers in this domain of social games, with Zynga Poker being one of the notable ones.
Players were given access to leader boards where they could check and compare their progress with other players — specifically in the Texas Hold’em game. This boosted the competitive desire in many online players vying for top positions on the scoreboard. This phenomenon of friendly competition paved the way for more companies capitalizing on casino-themed games via social media platforms. In 2014, Zynga offered real money for online poker to its Facebook users in the UK. This solidified their position on the interwebs and allowed for the introduction of even more social gambling apps like Slotomania.
Slotomania & Facebook Instant Gaming
Slotomania is a free Facebook game under Playtika LTD that’s available across all mobile devices. Additionally, they give out complimentary 20,000 coins for all newly-registered users which can be used for in-game perks. Moreover, to ensure gamer loyalty, they would offer extra coins for every completed level along with a coin-sharing system and free spins to earn more coins.
In conjunction with this, a new feature called Instant Games was launched by Facebook’s messenger app in 2016. Players could now challenge their friends in instant HTML games without downloading them. Think of it as a game library/manager for all of your favorite games where you can access them anytime, anywhere.
If it weren’t for these novel online gaming ideas revolutionizing the social gaming world, Facebook wouldn’t have been able to monopolize this industry so easily. These games have enabled Facebook to expand its outreach like no other. Rather than a simple social media site for users to connect with one another, Facebook’s successful traction has solidified its presence as a formidable force in the online casual gaming industry.
Where would Social Gambling Lead us?
In spite of all the doubts and controversies that Facebook may face, this social media giant is staying put. User engagement on the platform remains high with its active number of users seen rising daily. According to industry filings, Facebook has registered an increase in record revenues by up to 49% and accumulated 2.13 million active monthly users in 2018 alone. The appeal of actions generating rewards through these social gambling apps makes Facebook highly attractive to its users, thereby establishing consumer loyalty to this platform. Additionally, the incessant notifications and reminders sent to users to get back into playing the games work like a charm — it fuels the gaming addiction seamlessly.
Conclusion
As the advent of globalization continues to promote interconnectivity in our fast-developing world, there’s no stopping the hold of technology on consumers. More and more people are going to get a personal mobile device with our current generation of youngsters forefronting this new wave of tech-savvy members of society. It’s inevitable that people would keep using social media platforms and thus, it’s inevitable that social media monoliths like Facebook will continue to capitalize and improve their stronghold in this field. If you’re someone who enjoys online gambling games or is looking to try your hand at them for the first time, we’d recommend giving poker a go. But before you start choosing the games to play, be sure to read online reviews to get a better idea of what to expect. For instance, Josh recommends these websites for online poker so head there if you’re interested to find out more!