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Zynga’s Real-Money Online Casino Is Now Live In The UK
- tlarkworthy 14y agodepressing news. People don't have money to waste right now.
- Pkeod 14y agoDo you "waste" money on entertainment? Should what you value be imposed on others?
- TomGullen 14y agoI'd like to know how many users are actually 'being entertained' as supposed to scratching a slight addictive itch.
- Pkeod 14y agoMost everything you do in life is chasing highs and reinforcing biological addictions or psychological habits. Going for a run? Chasing that runner's high, scratching that addiction itch. Having sex? Getting that orgasm high, scratching that addiction itch. Eating food you love? Getting that sugar high, scratching that addiction itch. Research on slot machine players: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17053337&show=abstract http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1705333... Utilitarian gamblers, in essence, are looking for something to do. Many are seniors, who are looking to kill time, reduce boredom, or simply get out of the house – and they are less motivated by financial rewards or excitement. Some enjoy people-watching as much as the actual slot play. Excitement gamblers are looking for a buzz – the thrill of winning a jackpot, relaxing and having a good time. This group doesn’t like progressive machines with bigger payouts because they don’t pay off frequently enough to provide the excitement. Multipurpose gamblers tend to be younger, less educated, have lower household income, and are less likely to be married and own a home. Their motivation is to have fun and win money, and they are attracted to themed games and other machines they consider “lucky” or fun to play. Relaxation gamblers were the most educated and well-to-do, and played slot machines for the socialization and fun. However, they also like to stay within their denomination – usually 25-cent machines or $1 machines, and often look at slot play as a way to relieve day-to-day stress.
- tlarkworthy 14y agogiven nearly every country has some form of gambling regulation, someone certainly thinks their values, with regards to gambling, should be imposed on the masses, yes. Given that Zynga has hired skinnerian behaviorists, and that they optimize their games by the effect on their bottom line (not entertainment value), I expect more than a few single mothers to spend their money on empty facebook thrills to the detriment of family life and the UK in general.
- durzagott 14y agoHow does this differ to any of the other hundreds of online casinos in the UK?
- wslh 14y agoTime to buy Zynga stocks? Who is surprised by this move? Zynga was always an unoriginal and uncreative company. This seems the smartest greedy execution in this context.
- TomGullen 14y agoBy the time you start seeing comments like this, it's generally too late and it's already built into the price. People have been speculating Zynga would do this for years now.
- nkohari 14y agoThe real question is: will they be successful at lobbying the US government to allow them to operate in the States? Buying the stock now is (in my mind) largely a bet that they will be.
- TomGullen 14y agoThe performance of the current online casino is also an important part of the equation, if it fails then going to the US probably wont be much more successful. So I think it's a gamble based on current performance and the potential of expanding to other territories. Online gambling in the US is a much tougher nut from what I've read.
- wslh 14y agoI bought the stocks before ;-) Seriously now: ZNGA is ~10% up now and although the stock price of Zynga implicitly has this information, since it is a risky stock (not Apple launching the iPhone I) there is an opportunity for buying it, even later.
- kosei 14y agoConsidering one of their most successful games has been Zynga Poker for a while, it's surprising it took this long. What they do have, however, is a very captive network audience. Assuming they have the right targeting, they should be able to run interstitials driving players from their free games (especially Zynga Poker, Zynga Slots, Zynga Slingo) over to these sites at a low cost. You don't have to agree with their creativity to see that this is a no-brainer for them.
- mootothemax 14y agoHow on earth is the FarmVille-branded page of cute-fluffy-animals-with-gambling legal, or even just acceptable? Screenshot here: http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/screen-shot-2013-04-03-at-07-35-52.png?w=640&h=471 http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/screen-s... I'm genuinely shocked.
- Pkeod 14y agoWhat's wrong with it?
- mootothemax 14y agoWhat's wrong with it? It's exploitative; the graphics appeal to small children. Encouraging those that aren't capable of understanding gambling is generally frowned upon, in the UK at least.
- jyap 14y agoFirstly, gambling is illegal for minors. Secondly, have you ever seen slot machines? Players like to pick machines they feel comfortable with. This is Zynga using their own branding to diversify into another product.
- mootothemax 14y agoFirstly, gambling is illegal for minors. You think making something illegal stops it from ever occurring? Secondly, have you ever seen slot machines? Honestly, no, although I've seen fruit machines in pubs, which I presume operate on the same principle; lots of flashing lights and characterization. I would be extremely surprised to see something branded like the FarmVille page.
- Pkeod 14y agoThere are PopCap themed slot machines already. Their characters are just as "kid friendly" in the sense that they are simple and stylized, but again PopCap's products are for adults and not kids.
- morganwilde 14y agoSo what they did was add a Zynga scheme (not much besides a few colors changed) to the partypoker.com client. How is this something that will save the company? For how long have they been talking up their real-money gambling stuff with the market eating it all up...
- TomGullen 14y agoGreat just what we need. This shows no creativity, initiative, grace or innovation. It's not addressing any lacking market demands, they are just shoulder barging their way in and taking their slice. To me this is just a cash grab. An unapologetic cash grab in the middle of a recession.
- OGinparadise 14y agoSo what? Microsoft increases Office prices, Google fills the page with even more ads, Zynga ads legal gambling.
- TomGullen 14y agoGoogle increasing the volume of ads does not exploit peoples addictions (of which a huge chunk of their revenues would derive from) Zynga releasing a skinned online casino doesn't check any of HN's boxes of values in my opinion.
- OGinparadise 14y agoLet's see: By increasing prices Microsoft exploits already hooked business, increasing their costs; Google by adding ads cuts traffic to non-paying sites (ads are on top) and causes consumers to pay more. All these have consequences and display no innovation, just opportunism. Sure gambling is a tricky moral issue but it's legal. Entire communities and even states depend on it. Why shouldn't Zynga get a cut?
- TomGullen 14y agoIt's a completely different type of exploitation to online gambling. Online gambling exploits individuals, some of whom struggle with reason and control at great expense to themselves and the people around them. The profit gained from these individuals is sometimes not proportionate to the amount of pain it inflicted. Office raising their prices mainly exploits businesses. These businesses are not buying Office based strongly off impulse and irrationality, and I'm sure a lot of these companies would not weep regrettably into their pillows after purchasing it. Their buying process is rational, and based on need. Online gambling can be entirely irrational, out of control and is never based on addressing a need. I think from a utilitarian point of view it would be quite easy to argue that online gambling causes net misery. I don't blame Zynga for taking this route, I'm not surprised. But it doesn't mean I can express my distaste for something I think is ethically questionable.
- sksksk 14y agoI used to work as a developer in the gambling industry in the UK so have a bit of experience in this field. The UK gambling industry has done a really good job of self regulating, they know that if they are too exploitative and do dirty tricks to get more money from customers, the government would step in and regulate them. We spent a lot of time building features to give customers some control. For example, users could set hard limits to stop themselves playing too much, or they could ban themselves from the site. If users were playing for too long, we'd also ban them from the site temporarily. We also implemented a lot of features which would stop them banning themselves and then rejoining using their spouses account. It'll be really interesting to see if Zynga plays by the same rules.
- TomGullen 14y agoI have no idea if the UK gambling industry has been an exemplary beacon of self regulation, but even if that is the case it is no guarantee that it will continue to be the case. You yourself say the only reason that they don't exploit their customers more and 'do dirty tricks' is because of the threat of regulation. How can we trust entities that make important decisions like these not based on actual care for the end user, but based on the threat of government regulation? (Which might actually be a good thing!) What you've told me doesn't fill me with any confidence at all. You've described to me what sounds like a delicate and potentially quite volatile situation.
- joosters 14y agoNote that the 'UK gambling industry' is rarely based in the UK and does not operate under UK rules. Zynga's site is based in Gibraltar and operates under that country's much more flexible/less customer-friendly gaming laws. The only UK thing about the casino is that they are targetting UK users.
- sksksk 14y agoGibraltar is part of the UK and it's under the same laws for the purposes of gambling. Gambling companies operate out of Gibraltar for tax reasons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_Act_2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling_Act_2005