Is Social Betting Next Big Thing in Gambling?

Could social betting be the next phase in the increasing convergence of online gambling and social networks? The answer could be yes, if the latest news from the private investment community is any indication.

Social betting receives funding

BuddyBet, a Czech Republic-based online gambling company founded last August, this week received $3 million in funding from private investors to promote its social betting site. Its service is different from that of regular online sportsbooks, in that it allows its users to bet against each other instead of only betting against the house.

Three types of wagers are enabled on the BuddyBet site: user-to-user wagers, regular open market wagers, and external wagers in which users challenge friends, family and colleagues through their Facebook page or other social networks. Users can compete for "BuddyBucks" or just for the thrill of beating their friends.

Industry boom imminent

Social gambling in all its forms is set to be the next big thing, according to a recent study by leading research firm SuperData. Its report forecast that annual revenue from real-money social games would reach a peak of about $2.4 billion by the year 2015.

In fact, the average social gambler already spends almost double the amount of cash-free social game players, SuperData found, and that is without taking into account the previous absence of social betting and the fact that only now various states in the USA are beginning to relax their laws on online gambling.