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Category Archives: Mobile Gaming
Bunker Mode Launches High Limit Sports Mobile App
The social sports-betting market just got a new contender. The company Bunker Mode has launched a new mobile app called High Limit Sports, available for iOS devices. An Android version is planned for later.
The game is intended for audiences interested in a purely social betting experience, with no risk of losing real money. It was developed by Greg Dirrenberger, Jason Bredice, and Matt Pangborn out of San Francisco. Check out some more details on VentureBeat.
“Our goal with High Limit Sports was to turn sports betting into a game, removing the complexity of the sports-book experience and replacing it with entertaining features that reward people for playing often,” said Dirrenberger. “We’ve created a mobile game that connects fans with their favorite team in an even deeper way while providing a great second-screen experience for tracking live sporting events.”
Ah, the second-screen experience. It’s a concept that’s been gaining ground in popular entertainment these days. A recent study found that 85 percent of tablet owners use their devices when watching TV. There is vast potential for attractive new apps to cash in on the second-screen experience. Sports-betting apps are one way, especially when you consider that Sean Ryan, the director of game partnerships at Facebook recently said that “sports fantasy apps are certainly an area that was underrepresented.” Every time someone employed by Facebook says something is underrepresented, startup folks perk up all across the Bay area like startled meerkats.
At the moment, High Limit Sports is a free-to-play title that features NFL, CFL and NCAA football. The company intends to add additional sports later, beginning with the NBA.
Is High Limit Sports late to the show? Hardly! Just because companies like RocketPlay and Pickmoto have arrived on the scene doesn’t mean that Bunker Mode’s new game has any less of a chance to take off. As Matt Pangborn said, “We may be the 10th to come out this month, but the platform we are building will be a lot different. We believe this is an underserved demographic, and we will be true to the casual sports game segment.”
Check out the game for yourself and see what High Limit Sports has to offer this emerging new market.
The Staggering Growth of Online Gambling
On this lovely Friday afternoon, Chipist is giving you some weekend homework. Your assignment is to study the numbers in the below infographic and remind yourself of exactly what kind of industry the world of online gambling represents. Created by the folks over at Poker Sites, the graphic states that in a sense, the growth of online gambling has actually surpassed social media itself.
There was a 32 percent increase in online gambling in just a single year. One year saw an entire third more people get into the game. Social media only saw a 4.5 percent growth. Now, you’ll need to take that with a grain of salt. Social media already has a titanic number of users, so a 4.5 percent yearly increase still constitutes a significant number of people. But it’s exciting to see that online gambling grew by such a huge margin as well.
The graphic also takes a look at the U.S. market. We already know the U.K. market is thriving, but we’re more interested in our own shores. Coming in at 63 percent, lottery play is the most popular online gambling activity. I’m wondering what kind of numbers we’d see if online poker was regulated by the federal government?
Click the infographic for a full view.
Click for full resolution.
Zynga Cuts 100+ Employees, Closes Boston Office
Over 100 Zynga employees just lost their jobs. The grim occasion happened during today’s highly publicized Apple event, leading to speculation that Zynga intended to hide the firings to avoid bad press.
TechCrunch confirmed that the Boston office has been shut down and two thirds of the employees in the Austin office have been let go. Additional cuts were made to the teams who manage The Ville and Bingo games on Facebook.
Justin Maxwell, a former Apple, Sony, Mint and Smule employee was first on the Twitter scene earlier today, tweeting:
Earlier in the month, Zynga reduced its earnings and revenue projections for the coming year, leading to a stock plummet. CEO Mark Pincus said that there would be “targeted cost reductions” which is just business-speak for “we’re gonna fire some folks.” Kind of like how the phrase “tactical withdrawal” means “run the hell away, right now.” As TechCrunch wrote:
“So while the pink slips may have been expected, their announcement during the Apple iPad Mini event most of the tech world was watching makes it seem like Zynga was trying to minimize the fallout of the cuts. That clearly didn’t work.”
Some have speculated that Zynga’s movements toward online gambling indicate a breathe of life in the ailing company. But as blogger Chris Grove pointed out, Pincus is likely not going to announce any kind of real-money gambling platform at tomorrow’s quarterly earnings call.
The Two-Screen Experience for Social Betting and Entertainment
The “second-screen” experience is a concept that is gaining ground in sports and entertainment. Fantasy football’s popularity has increased the usage of mobile devices and laptop computers during game day, and chances are you’ve watched a game on Monday night with friends gripping smartphones or keying laptops perched in front of them.
Matthew Cullen, president and chief business development officer of RocketPlay, the company which recently launched the sports betting Facebook game Sports Casino, feels that the two-screen experience allows fans to feel closer to the action. In an op-ed on Social Casino Intelligence, Cullen wrote that RocketPlay developed Sports Casino to offer players a “more in-depth experience when watching sports and predicting the outcomes—something beyond simply placing a single, isolated bet about the final outcome of a game.”
A recent Forrester Study found that 85 percent of tablet owners use their devices when watching TV. It’s a concept that AMC capitalized on during its latest season of Breaking Bad, and you’d better get used to hearing the term “two-screen experience” before getting your zombie-killing groove on in a new episode of The Walking Dead. As an even timelier example, news outlets are reporting on the trending topics and social media mentions that occur in real time during the Presidential debates. Perhaps during tonight’s debate, we’ll get another amusing sound-bite out of one or both of the candidates, and you’ll likely hear about it because folks will have their smartphones and tablets in their hands while watching.
It is a sound business strategy to incorporate the two-screen experience in a number of entertainment ventures, and RocketPlay’s Sports Casino is a smart choice for fantasy players looking to augment their sports-watching experience. At the moment, Sports Casino is an exclusively browser-based game, but the company is hard at work on producing a mobile app. Still, the browser experience works just fine for football fanatics. As Cullen writes:
“Given that almost every sporting event is now televised live, there is nearly an endless amount of content for sports fans to watch, enjoy, and potentially bet on. That creates limitless opportunities for Sports Casino, and we believe we have created an unrivaled second screen option for Facebook—and eventually mobile users.”
At this point, the kind of two-screen experience for which Cullen is hoping is hampered by the fact that real-money gambling has yet to come to Facebook in the U.S. As lobbyists and entrepreneurs seem to agree however, total legalization in this country is just a matter of time. Given enough time and effort, it is certainly possible that the two-screen sports betting experience will become almost as popular as watching the game itself.
Atlantic City Casinos Considering Mobile Device Gambling
Just a reminder: Internet gambling is still not legal in this country. But New Jersey isn’t really concerned with those particulars. Atlantic City casinos may soon be pushing forward with a way for patrons to gamble on their mobile devices.
The state’s Gaming Enforcement Division issued some temporary regulations on gambling on mobile devices, which went into effect last Monday.
The division’s director, David Rebuck, had this to say:
“These regulations are another example of the cooperation of all our partners and use of our own imaginations to move past the prescribed technology. Most importantly in this process was the development of regulations that provided safeguards to prevent underage gambling, and to continually ensure the integrity and security of mobile gaming in New Jersey.”
No casino in the state has yet applied to use such devices, but not out of concern for online gambling’s tenuous legality, but rather due to matters of cost. In an Associated Press article, Wayne Parry writes:
“…it would entail significant costs for casinos that might prove to be a waste if internet gambling is approved, either within New Jersey or nationwide. Several years ago, while Atlantic City was pondering changing its casino smoking laws, several casinos spent millions erecting enclosed smoking lounges that ultimately were not needed when a proposed smoking ban on the casino floor was scrapped.”
The AP article continued:
“The move to allow hand-held gambling devices is one of several expansions of gambling that New Jersey plans for Atlantic City, which is locked in fierce competition with casinos in neighboring states. In addition to its uncertain progress toward internet gambling, New Jersey also plans to offer sports betting, perhaps as soon as December.”
New Jersey Governor Christ Christie has previously expressed concerns about the constitutionality of an in-state internet gambling law. He vetoed one first attempt, arguing that the possibility of unlicensed internet gambling cafes would start appearing. (Well, Governor, if the federal government started regulating this kind of thing, that wouldn’t happen, now would it?)
Glu Mobile Arranges Partnership with Online Gambling Firm
The mobile game publisher Glu Mobile has announced a new partnership with the UK gambling firm Probability PLC. UK players have the online gambling company Betable to thank for bringing real-money Facebook gambling to its shores, and Glu Mobile is interested in tapping into the market as well.
Probability PLC will create a whole new line of mobile slot games based on existing franchises of Glu Mobile’s. According to Gamasutra, these new titles will launch in both the UK and Italy and be regulated by Probability.
In addition to the new online gambling arrangement, Glu will stay true to to their bread-and-butter customers who play their popular free-to-play mobile games. Their core business model revolves around 3d freemium titles like Indestructible, Samurai vs. Zombies, and Deer Hunter Reloaded. Personally I think it’d be great to play a mobile gambling game that featured samurai or zombies. Head over to Glu’s site to view their entire catalog.
Forbes Reports on the Link Between eSports and Online Gambling
Forbes posted an excellent article written by Alan McGlade and Corey Wade about how online gambling and eSports gaming—Starcraft, League of Legends, etc.—are proverbially joined at the hip.
“Receiving a cash prize for winning a StarCraft II competition is legal at the federal level in the United States and, depending on the structure of competition, legal in up to 48 states since it is considered a ‘game of skill’. Playing online poker for real money, a ‘game of chance’ in the eyes of the law despite the skill involved, has traditionally been illegal in North America.”
But things are changing. As California and New Jersey (and also Iowa, I think) seek to join Nevada and Delaware in allowing online gambling, companies are starting to view the explosion of eSports gaming and Facebook gaming as a sign that online gambling is next.
As Forbes reported, more 18-24 year-old males watched Major League Gaming’s Spring Championship this year than the Rose Bowl and Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker game is exploding in popularity on Facebook.
“The only thing Facebook users like almost as much as Facebook itself is a poker game app developed by Zynga that doesn’t even involve real cash.”
Zynga and other companies are making movements toward online gambling, hoping to turn those slews of pretend-money players into real-money players. With total online gambling revenues for 2011 reaching $30 billion, it’s no wonder that companies are eyeing eSports players as potential customers.
Maryland Planning New iLottery Program
Maryland is getting high tech with its state lottery program, allowing residents to make purchases online through computers and smartphones.
The move is an attempt to entice younger players to the industry, but lottery retailers in the state are frustrated at the State Lottery Agency, believing it is cutting them out of the process. Currently, retailers can only accept cash, but this new system allows for users to bypass the retailers and use debit cards to buy straight from the state.
But the State Lottery Agency says that retailers will actually benefit from the new players introduced through the online program. The state has planned marketing to encourage players to continue participating at physical locations.
Is Maryland strapped for cash? A report filed by the State Lottery Agency last December expressed a need to reach customers belonging to “ethnicities outside of the Caucasian market.” Well, that’s not very subtle, is it?
The report continued, unflinching in its brutal honesty: “An ecommerce platform featuring an emphasis on mobile commerce would help attract these growth areas, including African-American and Hispanic/Latino consumers.”
The state expects $2.2 million in revenue from online lottery sales in fiscal 2013. Last year, the lottery reported a record $1.8 billion in revenue.
Pickmoto Brings Sports Betting Back to Basics
There’s a new app called Pickmoto which aims to simplify sports betting for mobile fantasy sports leaguers. Some have complained about the stat-heavy, complicated interface that challenges the small screens of mobile phones. Enter Ben Peters, Ryan Gerard and James Wildman, who founded Pickmoto last April.
The free app debuted on iOS on August 26 and really brings sports betting down to the simplest question: Who’s going to win the game? There’s no fussing about with the individual performance of players or the point spreads, it’s just no-nonsense “this team is going to beat that team.”
At the moment, the game has been downloaded and played by a few thousand people who have made more than 80,000 picks.
“We’re not trying to replace fantasy sports,” Peters said. “We’re reinventing the experience for mobile play. If you like fantasy sports, you’ll like Pickmoto. Our game is more in sync with what sports is about. It’s less time-consuming and detail-oriented. It offers you a universal score, a total QB rating of sports IQ. More than anything, we’re building Pickmoto to usher in a new era of mobile sports gaming.”
The game uses crowdsourcing to determine a team’s “victory points.” Meaning, if a team isn’t picked to win by a lot of people, the more points that team will offer if it beats the odds and wins. Each week is a new match and you can challenge random opponents on leaderboards that sync up with Facebook and Twitter. The game has in-app purchases which you can make to acquire Gold pins which let you wager on more than one game.
Kind of makes me wonder how many victory points the Chargers are offering right now. They are 2-0 after all. Head over to the App store, download Pickmoto, and start placing your pins.
Gambling Companies Using IP Tracking of Mobile Users
Have you ever wondered how gambling companies that must adhere to geographical laws keep track of where their business is coming from? They rely on IP tracking, which isn’t very new technology, but as mobile devices continue to grow in popularity among online gamblers, companies will need to figure out the best way to track business from those customers.
Enter Locaid, a company which has just developed a new mobile tracking service that banks and companies can use. Elements of online gambling may be legal in Nevada, but even mobile users are required by law to broadcasting their signals from within the state’s borders. Locaid’s technology ensures that banks, casinos and gambling operators know from where their customers are using their services. If an IP address is revealed to be outside the law, they simply turn it off to that address.
VentureBeat has the full technical rundown of the new Locaid IP Location utility:
Locaid IP Location determines the physical location of web site visitors anywhere in the world using an IP address of the device that initiates an internet session. That address reveals data about the connection originator (such as latitude/longitude, state, zip code, and network information). If it turns up something suspicious, it needs more verification to properly identify the user. Mobile location supplements this verification effort, resulting in multisource location verification. The company makes its technology available to customers through a single applications programming interface for developers.
Locaid is a San Francisco-based company founded in 2009. Seven of the top 10 banks us Locaid, which has data on approximately 350 million devices.
