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Gambling is now practiced using new technologies, in various spaces and places, and features in a range of social surroundings. Therefore, research is needed to inform appropriate gambling harm reduction strategies that can respond to this complex domain. Besides these, Blackjack is also among most social gambling games. So, if you are looking for an exciting game to make new friends at, then, Blackjack is a great choice for you! Social Gambling Games – Play Roulette and Have Much Fun. And finally – roulette! Roulette has always been one of the most social gambling games at live casinos. Social gambling is not allowed in New York, by law. A single line was added to existing gaming laws in the 1990s that explicitly outlawed the practice of hosting private games of chance and skill in a home or business, even with a legitimate relationship between all players or in cases where a game without house odds is played and the host isn.
Social gambling has been around as long as the Internet. While real-money gambling was cutting its teeth as Windows 2000 users struggled to get past the 56k modem speeds, fun-play casino games jostled for space alongside some of the first online poker games.
In fact, some of the ‘boom’ generation of online poker players took to Texas Hold’em via a fun play-money client on Yahoo (you remember them, don’t you?) before transferring their skills to the swathe of new real-money sites.
Meanwhile, with the rise of Facebook, Zynga Poker – and more recently, Bingo Friendzy – have taken the explosion in ‘social gaming’ and tried to tap into real-money gambling for over-18s. More recently, play-money versions of top slots can be enjoyed on apps like MyVegas and JackpotJoy.
But where does the social element stop and the gambling begin? And with the lines being blurred ever more, is the notion of gambling in the traditional sense changing too? Is social gambling helping to reduce the “vilification” of gambling and if you sit at your computer for 12 hours pestering friends with your latest achievement on Farm-bloody-ville, are you a gambler in disguise?
A Crush On Candy Crush
Players on social apps like Candy Crush Saga (Facebook’s most popular social game of last year) can play for free but to get past the initial levels they must purchase more levels or scrounge extra lives from FB friends.
But the aims are the same: to spend as much time playing as possible and to ‘achieve’ as much as you can. And those achievements and missions can be shared with friends on social media.
Online gambling firms are starting to cotton on. Online poker site PartyPoker introduced ‘Achievements’ in their recent poker site revamp which sees players awarded shields and merits for reaching certain milestones (knocking out 10 players, hitting pocket aces, etc).
An online casino, Casumo, operates a similar awards scheme, and the redesigned lobby (as with Party) is entirely geared at a young, web-savvy player who interacts well with easy-on-the-eye graphics and quick links.
Dr. Mark Griffiths is Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University’s International Gaming Research Unit. He noticed a gradual ‘blurring of the lines’ back in 1991 when describing video games as a form of gambling, with much raising of eyebrows from the industry.
“What I was trying to argue was that there was very little difference between the behaviour and the psychology of people playing video games and those playing slot machines,” he told us.
“[The only difference was that] slot machine people were playing for money and video games players were playing for points. In effect, slot machine gamblers were using money as a way of ‘keeping score’, even though the games involved money.
“Every hardcore fruit machine player that I knew in my research in the late 1980s was saying, ‘we know that we’re going to lose every penny in the long run, what we’re trying to do is maximise play on this machine'”.
Slots players’ philosophy, Dr. Griffiths argued, was to stay on machines as long as possible for the least amount of outlay possible; an identical approach to video games players.
“People obviously have to pay upfront to buy credit on [new] social games, whether you’re playing Texas Hold’Em poker or Slotomania [a free-to-play slots app on Facebook],” he adds.
“You’re still buying virtual currency, but while you’re not actually losing any money, the behavioural and psychological principles involved that keep you gambling again and again are very much there.
“That’s why on games like Slotomania, for instance, you win back more than 100% of what you’ve put in. [If] you thought that happened in real life you’d be gambling all the time.”
Skewing the Odds
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In a recent interview with online slots site VegasSlotsOnline.com, game mathematician Diane Gruber highlighted the fact that social slots are able to skew the odds in favour of the player to give them bigger wins.
“You can completely control the player experience,” she says.
“You can make their luck run in streaks, you can give them volatility like a rollercoaster, you can change the RTP (Return to Player percentage) so they win all month and go broke on payday.”
Dr. Griffiths says that the behavioural and social conditioning of social slots and gaming is no different to real-money gambling, apart from the fact you’re not “risking” real money:
“At some later point, players can think, ‘God, if I’d played this for money I could’ve won this. There’s always that possibility that people will think that by playing for real money they’ll be getting those odds that they were getting in those social gambling events. And, of course, that’s not the case at all.”
Best canadian online casino payouts no deposit. The Addiction of Social Gaming
In fact, there are certainly signs that addiction in youngsters on so-called “freemium” games, which start off free but require investment down the line to progress, has led to high-profile stories in the media about kids racking up huge bills on their parents’ credit cards.
In 2013, two boys managed to spend over £3,000 buying virtual animals on a popular social game. All that was needed was a simple, easy-to-remember password. Only when the boys’ Dad – an English rugby player – got a bill from iTunes did he realise what had happened.
“In my years of work on technological addiction I say that with a lot of forms of technology people can basically spend hours and hours on this because of psychological techniques used when people are playing,” says Dr. Griffiths.
“People don’t have to lose money…I can tell you now if you’re an online poker player and you may be winning on the whole, if you’re spending maybe 14 hours a day doing that then that, in and of itself, is problematic.
“It’s not just about money loss. The time loss can be equally important in terms of the negative impact on somebody’s life.”
The Monetisation of Social Gaming
Over the past few years, every firm with a popular social game, whether it’s Chumba World, Zynga Poker or Candy Crush Saga, has attempted to monetise their games.
Chumba World, the crowd-funded game from Aussie start-up, Virtual Gaming Worlds, recalls popular ‘sim’ games from the early ’90s like The Sims or Theme Park.
In the game, you build and manage virtual casinos, with games like roulette and blackjack incorporated.
Despite having troubles with their Kickstarter funding, Chumba Casino is now available to over-18s play casino games for real money via Facebook. The social casino bases its games on sweepstakes in order to pay out real cash winnings.
Social Gaming and Regulation
Interestingly, despite games like Chumba World being developed Down Under, under the Australian Interactive Gambling Act 2001 both social gambling involving purchases and real-money online gambling are prohibited.
Similarly, the new Nevada online gambling licenses, introduced recently to oversee a new wave of poker sites, govern social gambling too. No such distinctions are yet in place in the UK.
“In terms of social gambling at the moment, [because] you’re not playing for money the Gambling Commission will say that [it] doesn’t necessarily need to be regulated,” says Dr. Griffiths.
“I don’t think we have hard enough empirical or scientific evidence to show that it needs to be regulated [but] it’s an issue that’s on my radar, on other people’s radar and the Gambling Commission has kept it under review.
“Of course, what we’re seeing is lots of blurred lines between gambling gaming, social gambling, and social gaming.”
Blurred Lines
Of course, where social gambling pioneers fail is when they try to monetise their games in the wrong way.
Zynga Poker, the social online poker operator who boast more players than any real-money site, attempted a doomed move into real-money poker.
Despite moving into real-money games in 2013, the firm’s downloadable client, ZyngaPlusPoker, was shut down in the UK earlier this year. For now, the flirtation with traditional real-cash gambling is over.
“I think [the industry] thought there was a new breed of gambler out there that would just gamble via social network sites. To me that looks as if that just hasn’t happened,” says Dr. Griffiths.
“Those people who are gamblers and want to gamble still will gamble on those sites. Those people that are playing gambling-type games without the risk of actually spending anything are still playing those games and there doesn’t seem to be this group in the middle that both like playing those social games and are prepared to spend lots of money on it.”
It seems that the distinction between online gambling for money, social gambling that requires time and money to progress will continue to blur even more as the web-literate youngsters come of age and gambling online becomes ever more acceptable.
Casino rewards bonus paradise casino bonus. In the next article, we’ll look at how online slots tap into brand recognition and nostalgia to create a warm, cosy place that we can all disappear into – and lose our hard-earned cash.
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The UK government is mulling a review of the regulations on fixed odds betting terminals commonly found in pubs and betting shops, in order to reduce the risk of problem gambling developing.
Based on a report from the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, this would see the maximum stake gamblers can bet on the machines reduced from £300 a minute to between £2 and £50.
Given that the Gambling Commission, the industry regulator, found 43% of people who use the machines are either problem or at-risk gamblers, some such as opposition Labour MP Tom Watson, have described this as “a squandered opportunity”. Critics believe the proposals don’t go far enough to protect people from fixed odds betting terminals, sometimes described as “the crack cocaine of gambling” due to their addictive nature.
Harmful gambling can have crippling financial and social effects on the gambler, their friends and family. In the first national study of the social impact of harmful gambling in Ireland, we examined how it affected recovering gamblers, their families and friends. We also heard stories from counsellors and those who provide services to help gamblers. Talking to people from all walks of life, from different age groups and different economic backgrounds, we found that a common theme was the devastating social effects gambling had on people’s lives.
In particular, we learned that gamblers were often exposed to gambling at an early age, for example by collecting betting proceeds for a family member, or watching adults place bets. This then led them to participate in gambling before the legal age of 18.
Gamblers reported gambling in secret, isolating themselves from family and friends to feed their addiction. As relationships deteriorated, the gambler’s behaviour would only be discovered when they were no longer able to maintain a double life, such as failing to intercept unpaid bills that had been part of trying to maintain a facade of normality. The availability of technologies, such as smartphones, means that it’s possible to conceal a secret gambling habit for years, before financial and emotional crises reach breaking point.
For young people, such technology exacerbates the potential harm of gambling. The participants in our studies frequently spoke of their concern for young people and their risk of addiction due to the availability of gambling apps and websites easily accessible from their smartphones. And while there is supposedly agreement not to offer fixed odds betting terminals in Ireland, some gamblers reported that they had got themselves into trouble using them.
Gambling as a public health issue
The social harms that stem from addictive gambling are not only for the gambler. For example, the wives of gamblers in our study reported how they could sense there was a problem, but believed they were struggling with marital issues, rather than the fallout from gambling addiction. Parents and children of gamblers reported that they could no longer trust the gambler, that they could no longer leave money unattended, and that the gambler had become someone they did not recognise or understand.
In Ireland, the legislation around regulating gambling is outdated. The regulations that might mitigate harms for the individual and for society have not been introduced, and – with support from the Irish Research Council and Ireland’s Department of Social Protection and Department of Justice and Equality – our research sought to provide the evidence base to help draw up the necessary social policies.
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The government indicated its intention to move forward with legislation in early 2017, and my research and its follow-up study should inform politicians how to address the social harms of gambling – the costs of which the Institute of Public Health in Ireland has estimated to be greater than government revenue from gambling taxes.
Listen to what gamblers say they need
The participants interviewed said there is a need for open discussion about gambling and the risk it can pose to individuals and their families. Gambling addiction carries with it significant social stigma, shame and isolation – talking openly about its effects can change how we approach this issue.
Interviewees suggested a variety of measures government could take, including regulations that would protect the most vulnerable to gambling addiction, and particularly in regulating how technology now enables secretive gambling. They also identified the need for support that would help prevent and address the harmful effects of gambling addiction.
While there are addiction treatment centres around the country which include services to address harmful gambling, there is little help for those affected by a partner’s or family member’s gambling. The RISE Foundation is a notable exception, providing treatment for the families of those affected by a variety of addictions. But it is based in Dublin only, and family members may no longer have the financial resources to access treatment and support there.
There is an urgent need for a unified, transparent approach to tackling gambling’s harms in Ireland – a national strategy that encompasses public and private sector organisations, similar to those that target alcohol and drug addiction. The UK has the Gambling Commission and NHS support and advice; Ireland has nothing comparable.
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Despite the lack of progress from government on the issue there have been benefits to this research: uncovering the extent of gambling’s social harms has helped to get people talking about gambling. For example, in September 2017 the European United Left/Nordic Green Left European Parliamentary Group sponsored a one day conference in Dublin to direct the spotlight on the subject and emphasise the need for updated legislation.
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Within the Republic, Problem Gambling Ireland recently opened its doors to lobby against the spread of harmful gambling and to provide referral services to those affected by gambling. These may seem like small steps, but it is small steps that lead the charge for change.