The Social Gambling Long Term Bet

By now you’ve probably heard of social networking and social gaming. Facebook, the reigning king of social networking, is going public soon.

If you’ve been on Facebook, you’ve probably seen your friends play games like CityVille and CastleVille, two of the most popular social games made by social gaming publisher Zynga. Over 200 million people play Zynga’s (ZNGA, NASDAQ since December) Facebook games every month.

Zynga Poker is the world’s largest poker game with more than 7 million people playing every day and over 30 million each month. A Zynga spokesperson was recently quoted as saying, “We know from listening to our players that there’s an interest in the real money gambling market. We’re in active conversations with potential partners to better understand and explore this new opportunity.”

Social gambling could be the next big thing in online gambling. Players login and enter a themed casino lobby and can join tables or walk around and watch others play. A leaderboard shows players where the action is. Players socialize and build social networks while gambling. Good social gambling brands will be packed with real players (each with a customized avatar) with all of the excitement of a real life casino.

In the past few years, gaming and social networking have merged to create social gaming. Gambling is now poised to merge with social gaming. Who will end up with the royal flush of social gambling – a social gaming brand or an online gambling brand? Expect a lot of innovation and news this year. Social gambling is something to watch in 2012 and in the coming years.

Since this article was written, Facebook went public – to not so good results. In fact, it was the worst popular IPO in years and won’t be quickly forgotten. In the past month, Facebook is having somewhat of a comeback.

How did they do it? They reported excellent earnings – including a huge jump in mobile ad sales. The mobile ad sales increase is what excited Wall Street. Will it last? Who knows, but signs are good. Mobile ads are tough – it’s not easy to convince someone to click on an ad on a tiny screen. When’s the last time you reacted to a mobile ad? Perhaps never.

The worse the US and world economy gets, the more likely governments are to change and reform gambling laws. After US elections, expect more changes in the laws. Social gambling is more accepted than ever.

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