It's a misnomer of course. You can't actually gamble (with real money) on Facebook.
But you can play games. Lots of them. Facebook is so popular, so well trafficked, that gaming operators have been flocking to get their games in front of Facebookers and take a piece of the lucrative pie. And many of these games recreate the look and feel of real money online casinos, with the major difference being they're social casino games where you'll play for virtual coins.
So if you don't gamble for real money, you may well ask how the gaming providers make profits. The answer is in a business model that's growing exponentially year on year. One where you pay to buy virtual coins which increases your bankroll in an attempt to build up a huge balance.
It works, and the reason it works is mainly in the entertainment value of the games themselves. The fun of playing and building that huge virtual bankroll. If you've ever played real money casino games, you'll know the thrills and spills you can expect to experience.
Before we look deeper at what Facebook gambling games are all about, I'll just make a mention here of one operator you should keep in mind. The name to remember is the Celebrity World casino, one which could well rise right to the top of the social casino games tree.
How Did We Get Here?
It has been ten years now since the explosion of social networking. Having started with school-reunion website Friends Reunited and then MySpace and eventually the daddy of them all Facebook, never before have so many people connected in the kind of numbers they do so now since the dawn of time.
That growth in social networking has given rise to dozens of games which show up in different guises.
It is here on Facebook such credence goes hand in hand for a phenomenal surge in social gambling. If you grew up in the sixties or seventies you might remember the widest form of gambling was doing the pools. Guessing which football matches could end in a draw; you needed eight from ten to win a fortune. If you showed sudden wealth folk would say, "He must have won the pools!"
From the 1980s it was the lottery. If you were low of cash you'd be inclined to scream "I hope my numbers come on the lottery this week."
In 2016, the time of social gambling has truly arrived. Even the US tribes are getting in on the action, with the Iowa tribe of Oklahoma setting up their own social gaming site PokerTribe.com in partnership with Universal Entertainment Group.
Facebook Gambling Game Pages
We mentioned before that there are dozens of operators offering gambling type games on Facebook. Here are a few of the best known, but one of the best I've come across of these type social gaming platforms can be found at Chumba Casino.
Zynga
Zynga is a company who has successfully launched a huge connection through games on social networking sites like Facebook. It has become the largest provider of gaming experiences on Facebook and other social networking sites. It connects you to your friends and even friends of friends via poker and casino games, role-playing games and word finding games. Zynga Poker and Zynga Bingo are extremely popular with over a million regular users who play.
If you do decide to play the Zynga Poker game called Texas Holdem then you are sure to be in very good and plentiful company. At the last count there were 60 million people on Facebook who had liked the game, and remember that Zynga Poker and Texas Holdem are not paying out real money.
KashKarnival
KK is what's known as a hybrid skill gaming operation - offering free to play skill based casino games with mobile versions that work across the full range of mobile devices.
The focus on skill gaming is paying off as game fans steadily move away from casino type games where luck is the overriding factor in winning, to games where using skill is at the core of your winning chances.
Players at KashKarnival get the chance to convert their virtual profits into prizes worth real money - stuff like fashion accessories and electronic gadgets. Free startup cash is offered on initial sign up, and players can buy additional virtual cash.
Looking at the industry of online betting it shows it has Facebook firmly in its sight now. Betfair, for example has a fan page on the social networking giant with more than 60,000 active users. Betfair is broadly speaking a UK-only site but allows betting to take place in Australia and South Africa also. It has readied itself to jump into the social networking betting structure at the first sign of being given the go-ahead.
The rise of the smart phone is also taking technology into uncharted waters. Users can download any number of apps for playing games or checking on the latest sports results to mapping the stars in the sky. Imagine an app where you can invest real money and gamble, like a slot machine or perhaps an app where you could play poker and do so interactively with others. It is likely that casino halls across Britain would slowly dwindle away to closure. But would this change our social habits? No more mixing and socializing with fellow roulette buddies and drinking at the bar between playing a round of pontoon.
More than likely this would slowly bend the whole culture of going out on the town to have a flutter. Pubs and bars in Britain are closing at the rate of two per day currently. This is largely due to the very high cost of a pint and new kid has entered the block - the coffee shop. The rise of the coffee retail outlets has seen companies like Starbucks and Costa Coffee surge while pubs are in decline. Could a similar decline be seen happening in the casino halls and the betting shops because of a trend towards online gambling on Facebook or some other social networking site?
