Gamesys abandons Facebook social gaming initiative

Industry observers were speculating this week on whether real-money and social gaming is necessarily a good mix following a surprise announcement from Gamesys that it is withdrawing its much-publicised Bingo and Slots Friendzy app from Facebook after only two years of operations.

In a communication addressed to its players, Gamesys said it was shutting down the app almost immediately, and urged players to withdraw positive balances from their accounts as soon as possible.

Gamesys subsidiary Jackpotjoy operated the app, but no explanation for the decision to withdraw it was given, and there has been little if any indication in recent media and other industry reports that anything was amiss.

Ironically, news of the Bingo and Slots Friendzy shutdown comes in the same week that Bwin.Party’s social gaming subsidiary Win Interactive announced the launch of a real-money version of its Teddy Pets slot across Bwin.party sites (see previous report).

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