The Musings of ‘Evil Bastards’: Perspectives from Social Casino Game Professionals

Technology has blurred the lines between gambling and gaming. While the convergence can be witnessed on many different levels, social casino games on social networking sites and mobile apps illustrate just one example. Much of what we currently know about social casino games focuses on player behaviour, with little understanding about this genre from the perspective of social game professionals. This paper aims to fill the gap in our understanding of social casino games through interviews with the professionals who design them. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 professionals from the social casino games industry. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings illustrate tensions that exist between the two fields of gambling and gaming; however, both are trying to separate themselves from the stigmatized ‘dirty secret’ that is gambling. Further, as a result of social casino games residing, for the most part, in an unregulated ‘grey area,’ findings illustrate the ethical struggle felt by social casino game professionals. This convergence has significant consequences, not only for players, but for game developers, designers, and researchers, and highlights the importance of game designer education.

Motives for playing social casino games and the transition from gaming to gambling (or vice versa): social casino game play as harm reduction?

Social casino games (i.e., online, free to play casino-like games) share many similar visual, auditory and structural game mechanics as gambling games. Given the similarities between the two activities, it is not uncommon for people to migrate from social casino gaming to gambling or vice versa. In the current work, we investigated whether motives for playing social casino games may play a role in the transition from gaming to gambling. We also assessed whether motives for playing social casino games as a way to reduce gambling cravings was predictive of self-reported changes in gambling behaviour 30 days later and whether this relationship was dependent on the activity first played. In a community sample of people who gamble and play social casino games (N=228), those who played social casino games before beginning to gamble were more likely to report playing social casino games for social motives, or as a way to reduce gambling-related cravings, than people who gambled before playing social casino games. Additionally, we found that using social casino games as a tool to moderate gambling cravings was associated with self-reported decreases in gambling behaviour one-month later, but only among those who played social casino games before beginning to gamble. Results suggest that what game was played first (social casino games or gambling games) matters, especially for the clinical utility of social casino games as a harm reduction strategy.Résumé Les jeux de casino sociaux (qui sont offerts gratuitement en ligne) partagent avec les jeux de hasard un grand nombre de caractéristiques visuelles, auditives et structurelles définissant la mécanique de jeu. Vu les ressemblances entre ces deux types de jeux, il n’est pas inhabituel pour les joueurs de passer de l’un à l’autre et inversement. Nous avons cherché à savoir trois choses : premièrement, si les raisons qui motivent la pratique des jeux de casino sociaux influent sur la transition vers les jeux de hasard; deuxièmement, si ces motivations peuvent, en tant que moyen de réduire l’envie de jouer, être un prédicteur de changements de comportement au bout de 30 jours; et troisièmement, si ce lien dépend de l’activité adoptée en premier. Notre échantillon recruté dans la collectivité comptait des adeptes des deux types de jeux (N=228). Ceux qui s’adonnaient aux jeux de casino avant d’adopter les jeux de hasard ont été plus nombreux que ceux qui avaient fait l’inverse à évoquer des motivations sociales ou la recherche d’un moyen de tempérer leur envie de jouer. Le recours aux jeux de casino dans un but de modération est associé à une diminution de la fréquence de jeu un mois plus tard, mais seulement chez les personnes qui s’adonnaient aux jeux de casino avant de passer aux jeux de hasard. Selon nos résultats, l’activité pratiquée en premier joue bel et bien un rôle, en particulier en ce qui touche l’utilité des jeux de casino sociaux en tant que stratégie de réduction des risques.

When Games and Gambling Collide: Modern Examples and Controversies

The intersection of gaming and gambling has a long lineage. In recent years this process has amplified, arguably accelerated by developing technological infrastructures which facilitate rapid payment purchases and online and real-time systems which allow companies to communicate directly with users and users to communicate with each other. This chapter traces key issues relating to some notable recent examples of the gaming/gambling intersection. It includes controversies about the status of social casino games and loot boxes; the development and expansion of daily fantasy sports markets; the betting and wagering of skins won or bought through digital games, and; rising opportunities to bet on esports. Each exemplifies how these activities are products of a unique set of social and economic circumstances, how corporations are diversifying and becoming part of a more complex gaming/gambling ecosystem and using data to drive growth, all of which raise particular issues for consumer protection.

Gambling and Gaming in an Ontario Sample of Youth and Parents

Despite the convergence of the gambling and gaming worlds, the majority of studies of gambling behaviour are void of gaming behaviour and vice versa. Further, many studies examine specific age ranges rather than covering the entire span of adolescence and young adulthood. The current study improves our knowledge of gambling and gaming behaviours, as well as their convergence, by examining young people aged 8 to 24 and parents of children 8 to 17 years in Ontario. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed on a survey of 2,651 Ontarians (678 adolescents, 973 young adults, and 1,000 parents who reported on themselves and their child). Young people and parents are engaging in games that combine gambling and gaming at substantial rates and frequencies, and playing these games is associated with a higher level of risk. In this sample, playing video games for money and social casino games were associated with a higher level of gambling problems among adolescents (p < .001, p =.001), young adults (p < .001, p < .001), and parents (p < .001, p < .001). Further, parent reports of their own and their child’s gambling (p < .001), social casino play (p < .001), and gambling concerns were linked (p < .001). In summary, we found that playing games that combine gambling and gaming was associated with increased risk across youth age groups. Parents who reported gambling, social casino play, and gambling concerns also tended to report these behaviours among and concerns for their children.Résumé Malgré la convergence entre les univers des jeux de hasard et des jeux vidéo, la majorité des études sur le comportement des joueurs excluent l’une ou l’autre activité. De plus, elles se limitent à une tranche d’âge précise plutôt que de couvrir la période entière de l’adolescence et de la jeune vie adulte. Notre enquête ajoute aux connaissances sur les habitudes en matière de jeux de hasard et de jeux vidéo et la convergence entre ces activités. Elle a été menée en Ontario auprès de jeunes âgés de huit à 24 ans et de parents d’enfants âgés de huit à 17 ans. 2651 Ontariens (678 adolescents, 973 jeunes adultes et 1000 parents répondant en leur propre nom et en celui de leur enfant) ont répondu à un questionnaire dont les résultats ont fait l’objet d’une analyse descriptive et bivariée. Un grand nombre de jeunes et de parents combinent fréquemment jeux de hasard et jeux vidéo, une activité liée à un niveau de risque élevé. Dans notre échantillon, la pratique des jeux vidéo pour de l’argent et des jeux de casino est associée à un risque élevé de problèmes de jeu chez l’adolescent (p < .001, p =.001), le jeune adulte (p < .001, p < .001) et les parents (p < .001, p < .001). De plus, un lien a été établi entre les habitudes de jeu déclarées par les parents à propos d’eux-mêmes et de leurs enfants (p < .001), les jeux de casino (p < .001) et les problèmes de jeu (p < .001). La pratique combinée des jeux de hasard et des jeux vidéo est associée à une augmentation du risque dans tous les groupes d’âge. Ainsi, les comportements et les problèmes de jeu observés chez les parents tendent à se refléter chez leurs enfants.

Social Casinos: Winning Isn't Everything

Are players who win more likely to be loyal to social casino games, and better customers for the social casino industry? In this research, we investigate the relationship between social casino player success and customer loyalty. We make a case that winning is not a good predictor of customer loyalty for social casino games. Our proposed theoretical model integrates loyalty and spend level with a player’s perceived level of gaming success. The unexpected diminished role of winning as a contributing factor to loyalty challenges the traditional view of thinking that success in a gambling environment is necessary to ensure valuable ongoing customer relationships. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The rise of social casino games: Changes in the size and composition of the Android social casino market from 2012-2020, availability to children, and predictions for future growth

Social casino games are video games that consist of simulations of gambling products and activities. Players of social casino games may pay money to gamble. However, they are unable to ‘cash out’ their winnings, allowing these games to be commonly regulated as video games rather than gambling products.There is concern that exposure to social casino games may lead to problem gambling. However, key questions regarding the past and future growth in prevalence of social casino games remain unanswered. Furthermore, it is unclear how much innovation in terms of products on the market have occurred in recent years, and how available these products are to children. The practical importance of the relationship between social casino play and gambling is therefore unclear.In order to address this, we analysed the monthly estimated installs of all social casino games (n=2344) on Android phones from March 2012 to February 2020. Results suggested that social casino games increased in prevalence from 33.30 million estimated installs in 2012 to 1.39 billion in 2020, projected to increase to 1.73 - 2.03 billion by February 2022. This expansion appears linked to a related expansion of mobile phone gaming. Indeed, analysis of the entire Android gaming market (n=75168) indicated that the prevalence of social casino games relative to the overall market diminished during the period under test from 2.54% of all game installs to 1.56%, and projected that this metric is unlikely to rise importantly in future.Analysis suggests a high level of churn and innovation in the social casino game market, with new products continually emerging and old ones being constantly retired: For example, of the 1166 social casino games available in February 2020, only 47 were on the market in 2012. Finally, an analysis of the age ratings of social casino games currently available to download on Android reveals a market overwhelmingly available to children: Of the 1132 games whose ratings were extracted, 1107 (97.7%) bore an age rating of 12+ or younger.When taken together, these results suggest that social casino games constitute a dynamic genre of gambling-like products that are experiencing continual and important growth, are forecasted to continue growing, and are highly available to children.

Gambling on Big Data: Designing Risk in Social Casino Games

Since 2007, a surge of new gambling opportunities, often referred to as social casino gaming, has emerged on social media platforms and mobile apps. At the present time, the social casino gaming industry is unregulated and challenges our conventional understanding of gambling and risk. Currently, the minimum age requirement to create a profile on Facebook and engage in social casino games is 13 years of age. The emergence of this new gambling frontier, and its low barrier to entry, inevitably adds a new layer of risk and raises several ethical considerations for public health and risk regulation professionals, particularly to developers’ use of game mechanics and advanced data analytics. Using findings from a virtual ethnographic case study focusing on Zynga Poker (ZP), this article will call attention to potential ethical and risk concerns about game mechanics and the use of big data to personalise players’ gameplay to optimise player engagement and monetisation.

Fishing for whales: a segmentation model for social casinos

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new customer segmentation model for the social casino industry. The key contribution of this model is the introduction of original psychographic/taste data, including a player emotions scale. Design/methodology/approach The data for this research are based on player feedback from 22 countries, with evaluations of the top 100 social casino titles (apps). The new segmentation model splits the industry into distinct customer groups based on spending patterns, behavioral dimensions and attitudinal dimensions. Findings The results provide insight into game mechanics, social dynamics, player emotions, spend, price sensitivity, loyalty and other elements that impact monetization. Critical behaviors and preferences of social casino players that will help companies better understand and connect with their target customers are described. Originality/value This is the first study to develop a rigorous segmentation model of social casino games based on behavioral and psychographic data.