Paddy Power launches Facebook sports betting app

Irish land and online bookie group Paddy Power, which boasts a Facebook membership of 1.7 million users, has launched its much-awaited mobile sports betting app for real money action on the social gaming site – a first for the social gaming enterprise.

The Paddy Power In Play app has been thoroughly beta-tested by UK punters since July this year and enables UK users to bet on a variety of sports and markets with real money rather than online credit, while also engaging with other users.

Paddy Power produced the app in-house and a spokesperson from the company said that the company would adhere to “robust” age verification procedures.

There are already a number of gambling apps on Facebook such as Bingo Friendzy and IGT‘s DoubleDownCasino, but Paddy Power’s will be the first to offer bets on sporting events.

Social media pundits say that the medium is a potent vehicle for generating interest in sporting events, pointing out that there is intense interaction between users on social sites which can be harnessed by gambling companies in terms of discussing events and teams, increasing brand awareness and assessing public preference trends to ensure engagement in the right areas.

Earlier this year a spokesman for Gamcare said that the organisation was confident that PaddyPower’s approach would be responsible.

“It is great to be able to work with operators like Paddy Power on these sites, because it does minimize the damage that gambling can cause,” Gamcare’s Joel O’Connor said, adding that it important that credible operators work with the charity to make sure there are key safeguards against problem gambling in place.

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