Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2015 28 Online Gaming Leading by Example B y any measure you care to mention, the social casino games market continues to impress. The marketplace—which is perhaps best defined as social and mobile networks offering free-to-play casino- style games in which no actual real-money wagering takes place but profit can be produced by players purchasing game add-ons and advantages—has grown to become a worldwide industry that currently generates annual revenue in the $2.5 billion to $3 billion range, according to statistics supplied by various research firms. One of these companies, SuperData Research, estimates that consumer spend on casino-style social games will reach the $4.2 billion mark by the end of 2016. Reportedly, 800 million individual users currently participate in some form of social casino gaming each month, with the lion’s share of play coming from the 21-34 and 34-54 year old age groups. Sporting these types of numbers, it would seem natural for land- based casino operators of all shapes and sizes to want in on the Two land-based casino operators describe their evolving social casino strategies, and what others can learn from their experiences By Paul Doocey The World Series of Poker and Slotomania are two of the social gaming products offered by Playtika , a division of Caesars Interactive Entertainment. action; after all, what property couldn’t use a boost in revenue and patronage from a growing pool of younger players? Yet despite this potential, a large number of U.S.-based casino operations remain mostly on the sideline when it comes to creating a social presence to exploit social games play. Some dip their toes into the marketplace by offering their websites up to third-party social casino providers such as