iGaming Business Social Gaming and Betting Report 2016

iGaming Business is pleased to publish the Social Gaming and Sports Betting Report 2016, which looks into the evolution of the social casino vertical and assesses how the sports betting sector has moved on from its first unsuccessful forays into social media.

The report was written prior to Playtika being acquired by Shanghai Giant Network Technology Co, the Chinese consortium that paid US$4.4bn for Caesars Interactive Entertainment's social gaming division. That deal will be covered in a future addendum that will be published soon.

The acquisition did confirm how big the social gaming vertical had become in the past decade and while it may not be not at the peak it experienced around 2012-2013, the acquisition showed that social is a major, cash-generating sector.

The Social Gaming and Sports Betting Report 2016 is part of the iGB Intelligence Centre subscription 
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When it comes to volume and market share, it also means that the current major social gaming operators, the likes of Double Down, Zynga or Big Fish Games; are likely to remain the dominant players in the field for some time.

This doesn't mean smaller independent studios or start-ups can't carve a space out for themselves, but to reach the size of a Playtika in 2016 is a much tougher ask than it might have been in the past.   

Meanwhile, the dynamics fuelling the sports betting and daily fantasy sports verticals have changed dramatically in recent times, helped by the growth and ubiquity of mobile phones, wi-fi and the wider social acceptance of betting as a leisure activity.

For the betting-related networks or affiliates using social media to drive traffic to operators or to build up their businesses the focus is on generating enough traction that it produces sufficient volumes to generate margins.

No one knows for sure if they will be successful but the ideas they have come up are taken seriously by investors and operators, which might not have been the case a few years ago.  

Meanwhile DFS continues its astonishing reinvention, spurred on by DraftKings and FanDuel. The key for those two companies – and to an extent others such as Mondogoal or Oulala Games, even if much of the focus will be on the first two mentioned; will be if they can make inroads across Europe. 

The iGaming Business Social Gaming and Sports Betting Report 2016 addresses the following topics and more:

• A review of market leaders: How they came to dominate, financial performances, top verticals, key trends/challenges.
• Why social sports betting on Facebook never achieved traction, and why casino was successful.
• Sports betting in a social context: Why today's bettors expect more than a one-time transaction.
• etc.   

You can access the report and find out more about the Intelligence Centre by following this link.