888 Holdings to Take Down Facebook-Based Magic888 Casino

The Chief Operating Officer of 888Holdings, Itai Frieberger, said the Facebook-based casino operation has had very marginal results. According to COO Frieberger, the imminent imposition of the Point of Consumption Tax (POCT) would only make running Magic888 even tougher for the company.

Apparently, Magic888 failed to go far from where it first started last March 2014. However, the same decision does not apply to 888’s Bingo Appy, which also runs at the social network site as a real-money bingo option. The 888 COO said that the social network-based bingo platform has demonstrated a stronger performance since launching in December 2012.

It is quite interesting though that Gamesys was the first to pull out its real money Bingo and Slots Friendzy from Facebook two months ago. That is considering that it was “the toast of the town” when it first came out in Facebook and was ahead of 888’s Bingo Appy. After notifying users to withdraw the remaining funds from their Bingo and Slots Friendzy account, Gamesys did not offer any explanation about its decision to pull its real money bingo games out of the social network site.

Actually, the notable success of Gamesys’ social casino gaming venture spurred other betting and gaming operators to launch similar products at Facebook. 888 Holdings had followed suit by launching Bingo Appy and Magic888, while Zynga proceeded with the launch of its real money Zynga Poker. Paddy Power on the other hand, launched a sports betting app that enables FB users to engage in social interaction when placing bets.

Yet the most successful FB casino gaming offers are IGT’s DoubleDown Casino and Caesars Interactive’s Slotomania and other social casino games, which do not directly deal with real money betting. The two companies operate profitably from offering games that do not require placing real money bets but only virtual coins that players purchase with real money. After all, money flows into the social casinos in a one-way traffic, as virtual winnings cannot be cashed out with real money.

IGT took a closer look at the demographics of social casino players by conducting a survey, and found out that more than a third of those that engage in DoubleDown’s social poker games are women. Perhaps it is not so much as the idea of reaping real cash rewards that makes social casino games tick, but more on being able to brag about their ability to win in games of skill, especially among female players. One of the most popular features of social casino games is the capability to brag about one’s latest gaming feat across his or her social circle, which includes family members, friends, co-workers, and even employers.

Whereas playing with real money casino games in a social network site is not something that a player would like to spread around; not even if a player wins big. Any information related to their real money gambling activity is something that most players would prefer not to have on their FB wall or timeline.