Facebook Looks to Real-Money Gambling With 888

Facebook is about to extend its reach into the world of real-money gambling, following a its new deal with 888 Holdings to offer online, bingo, casino and slot games to users of the world's largest social network. 888 Social will join already existing social casinos such as Slotomania and Slots Farm.

Facebook and gambling

Facebook and 888 agreed to launch a real-money bingo app, to be followed shortly after by applications for casino games and other gambling-related products. They are keen to build on the success of their play-for fun Bingo Island website, which already has around 630,000 players.

The social network has been building up to this moment for quite some time. Talk of such a deal increased after the August launch of Bingo Friendzy, an app launched in conjunction with Gamesys Group that offers real-money bingo and slot products. That app is available to UK customers only.

Who can play?

The Facebook-888 joint venture will also be available to UK Facebook users at the beginning, according to 888 Chief Operating Officer Itai Frieberger. But he said that given the saturation of the UK market, the product could move pretty quickly on to other regulated territories like Italy and Spain.

Gambling regulations vary from country to country, so Facebook and 888 will no doubt move cautiously. The path toward full legalization and regulation in the United States has been developing for quite some time now, but no doubt the US market is the ultimate prize for Facebook's online gambling plans.