Real-money internet gambling not a threat to social gamers

A study carried out by Harvest Research, commissioned by the International Social Games Association (ISGA) has generated some interesting facts regarding the relationship between real-money online gambling and social gaming, revealing that the former has little influence on the latter in respect to any subsequent problem gambling issues that may arise.

Luc Delaney, the chief executive of ISGA, says that the Harvest study demonstrated that there is no link between social casino games and real-money gambling and that the two practices are entirely separate, with very different audiences and player demographics.

The findings may give online casino marketers pause for thought as they seek to leverage social games interest into real-money wagering at online casino sites, although empirical evidence has previously suggested that conversion rates from social gaming may be small, and the amount spent per player relatively low, but are based on massive volume.

The Harvest survey undertook a review of existing academic literature and data surrounding social games, along with an independent survey of consumer behaviour and perceptions across Australia, the UK, France and the US.

Researchers reported that the social gaming industry should reach US$7 billion in revenues by 2015, with an estimated 34 percent of the total Internet population already playing social games.

Demographic data examined by Harvest showed that the average player is 40 years old, supporting ISGA’s perspective based on its own data, which showed that the vast majority of social gamers are aged over 18 years.

Harvest’s study is titled “A New Industry’s Profile – Digital + Social + Game = Diģsogames.”  It was undertaken by a research group composed of academics from the University of Sydney and peer-reviewed by academics from the London Business School.

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