A lot of people in the online gambling community seem to think that the United States is close to legalizing and regulating online gambling. Since the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, America has had a de facto ban on online gambling. Though there is no federal law outlawing online gambling, the government has treated the activity as though it is illegal.
This week, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would repeal UIGEA and regulate and legalize online gambling in the United States. Clearing the committee, it is now set to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. The most obvious beneficiaries of a repeal of UIGEA are online casinos, online poker players, and anyone else who currently gambles at overseas online casinos. However, there is another major industry that would profit from the bill’s passage: Facebook apps.
With more than 500 million active members, Facebook is bigger than most countries, meaning they have a huge base of customers for social gaming applications. Aside from Farmville, the most popular Facebook app is Texas HoldEm Poker, a game designed by Zynga (who also makes Farmville).
Currently Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker game uses only play money. Players compete for stacks of digital cash that basically mean nothing. They are playing for fun, but many players wish they could wager and win real money. It is unknown whether Facebook would allow a gamble-for-money application, but even if the game left Facebook, the poker app would definitely still have a huge audience. Also, if they allowed real wagering, they would benefit from the rake.
Though Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker app is the most popular Facebook app for gambling, it’s not the only one. A World Series of Poker app, designed by Playdom, is also popular. Playdom was recently acquired by Disney, who may be looking to profit off of a repeal of UIGEA.
There are a large number of gambling applications out there on Facebook, MySpace, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches, Androids and more. Allowing those games to offer a real-money version of the games should increase their fan base and increase their revenue while not losing any of their current customers. For the Facebook and social gaming apps, a repeal of UIGEA can’t come soon enough.
Tags: Facebook apps, Facebook poker, Farmville, iPad poker apps, Online Casino, online gambling, online poker, social gaming apps, Zynga, Zynga Texas HoldEm Poker
