The announcement by Facebook late last year that the social networking giant is considering real money gaming excited the whole gaming industry. Facebook has 900 million regular users, and the prospect of reaching such a large audience has poker and bingo operators salivating. The move could change the face of online gaming permanently. Several gaming companies, like BingoHouse, have already invested big bucks to prepare for real money gambling on Facebook. Caesar's Entertainment and International Gaming Technologies have spent $700 million to acquire social gaming companies. IGT purchased Double Down for $500 and Caesar's has purchased Playtika the company behind Slotomania for $170 million. There are legal hurdles for Facebook to overcome and every country has its own set of online gaming laws that could affect real money gaming on Facebook.
Gaming experts say the UK and Europe are likely starting points for Facebook's real money gambling. The UK has one of the best regulatory environments for gaming companies, and has a thriving online gaming market. The UK may be the first country to see real money gaming on Facebook. Industry rumors say that UK gaming giant 888 Holdings is already negotiating with Facebook to make social gaming a reality in the UK. The UK has one of the largest and most active online bingo markets in the world and most experts believe that UK residents will embrace social gaming with a passion. In other European nations the regulatory issues could hinder the growth of real money social gaming. Although countries like France and Denmark have liberalized their laws Germany and Spain are fighting online gaming.
The Asian-Pacific iGaming market gaming market remains relatively untapped. While Facebook is extremely popular in countries such as Indonesia, it is struggling in in large markets including Japan and South Korea. In China Facebook is blocked by the government.
In the United States experts are debating whether it is better to have state-by-state legalization of online gaming or whether federal regulation is more desirable. If individual states legalize online gaming and poker limiting the games to residents could be problematic for Facebook. The most popular game on Facebook is Zynga's Texas Hold'em poker game, which has millions of regular players. Zynga has expressed an interest in acquiring a land based casino. Right now real money gambling on Facebook is limited. Most major gaming companies have seen the potential of Facebook and are making moves to take advantage of social gaming once all of the legal and technical issues have been ironed out.