what’s going on here?: key stakeholder perspectives on...
TRANSCRIPT
What’s going on here?: Key Stakeholder
perspectives on social casino gambling games
Jennifer Reynolds, PhD
Research Chair on Gambling
Concordia University
June 28, 2018
What is a game?
Source: Jesper Juul (2013)
Gaming vs gambling -
Dichotomous rhetoric
✤ Addictive
✤ Problematic
✤ Excessive
✤ Compulsive
✤ Absorbing
✤ Engrossing
✤ Immersive
✤ Flow (in the Zone)
Gambling games
Three components:
Consideration
Chance
Prize
*What constitutes these individual elements is up for
jurisdictional interpretation and debate!
Games which are
based on gambling-
like activities
(e.g. poker, casino,
bingo or betting)
played on social
networking sites
Source: Morgan Stanley (2012)
Social casino gambling
Free-to-play (F2P) business model
Players can play the core game for free, but have the option
to buy virtual goods (e.g., additional chips and virtual gifts)
when desired
Generates revenue in-game sales of virtual goods, mobile
game download fees, and advertising
Concerns:
Issues such as aggressive monetization, poor game design,
and the ability of users to pay-to-win
Marketing to vulnerable populations, such as children and
adolescents
Top 10 social casino titles
Rank Title Category Publisher Revenue
1 Slotomania Slots Playtika $122
2 Doubledown Casino DoubleD Games $66
3 Heart of Vegas Slots Product Madness $55
4 House of Fun Slots Playtika $54
5 Jackpot Party Casino Slots SciGames $49
6 Big Fish Casino Casino Big Fish $44
7 Caesars Casino Slots Playtika $41
8 Bingo Blitz Bingo Playtika $38
9 Texas Hold’em Poker Poker Zynga $36
10 Huuuge Casino Casino Huuuge Games $33
2Q17 - $ in millions
Source: Eilers & Krejcik (2017)
What we know
Fluidity in youth social casino gameplay (Reynolds, 2016)
Social casino games can serve as a “poker training
ground” for youth to migrate play over to real-money (Gupta,
2013; Reynolds, 2016)
Youth who make in-game micro-transactions are 8xs more
likely to transition to real-money gambling (Kim et al. 2014)
Motivations: enjoyment, desire to make money,
excitement, social connection, relaxation, escape daily
problems, to feel older (Derevensky, 2012; Reynolds, 2016)
Game developers activity design the game to be more
“sticky”/ “engaging” (Reynolds, 2016)
Causes for concern
Unregulated
Low barrier to entry (age 13)
Creating a new generation of customers
Unethical game design elements that shape
the terrain
Lack of understanding ‘beyond the individual’
Predicative personalization technology/social
data optimization (i.e. Big Data)
Game industry (designer) perspectives
“Dirty Secret”
Key Informant Perspectives
Legal-base frame
“The biggest risk to the
industry is trying to
argue that there’s no
value for the currency
outside of the game,
because as soon as you
attribute value to it, it
becomes gambling,
under the traditional
definition”
Experiential-based frame
“Rather than trying to define “Is it? Is it not?” it’s basically
looking at what the nature is-the sum of it’s parts and what it
does….For me, it’s more important that we look at the
components of what it is, and what we think it might do to
those who play it, as well as the people who are attracted to
that. And of course, in what way, if at all, is it different from
traditional forms of gambling.”
“The end process is similar in the brain- which is just, I’m
winning or losing and I’m getting the same sort of adrenaline
rush”
Implications
Confusion
Industry tensions
Stigma
“I would say it’s [gambling] sort of a dirty secret. In
game studies, no one talks about gambling…it almost
never comes up and I think part of it is because in game
studies, early on, tried to distance itself from all of the
talk of violence and effects and addiction, and so with
gambling it was just like “never mind”, “stay over there.”
Regulation
“If you look up the definition of “what’s a prize?” it’s
something in money or money’s worth. For example,
when you say “money out,” the fact that something sits-
you’ve won something by you can only access it by
playing again-probably still qualifies as money out.
Other countries look at this and they say “Well no, if
you’ve actually spent money because you want to
acquire something that has an aspirational value either
from you or your peer group, then we have to be slightly
objective about it in saying, “you wouldn’t have spent
the money had that carrot not been at the end of it,”
whatever that carrot is.
15
Games are a sociocultural phenomenon and therefore, they
should be defined and redefined in a hermeneutic circle that
enhances our understanding of them. This process of
redefining will tell us valuable things about the discourse of
games at any given moment. It will also highlight some
aspects of games, some of which may not previously have
been discussed, therefore providing more things for scholars
to study. This may provide a way out of the established
discourses that have become so self-evident that we are no
longer to see them clearly.
- (Stenros and Waern, 2011; as cited in Arjoranta, 2014, para. 68).
Recent class-action lawsuits
Concluding thoughts…
Gaming and gambling are
converging, despite regulatory
issues
Social casino games challenge our
current understanding of gambling
Beyond ‘Loot Boxes’
Spectrum model is the first step to
integrating youths’ lived experiences
into the emerging scholarship
Seeking to dissolve the dualism
that currently exists between
gaming and gambling
The Case of Candy Cigarettes
A history of candy cigarette use has
been shown to be associated with
higher levels of current or even smoking
amongst adults (Klein et al. 2007)
WHO Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control (2003) recommended
to prohibit the production & sale of
candy and toy products as they appeal
to minors.
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
suggests children should not use candy
cigarettes because of the way they
promote social acceptability of tobacco
to children.
“ I started playing poker when I first got onto Facebook, which was in ninth grade. I
remember thinking ‘Hey, I could probably play with all sorts of people’, and I’m not
betting real money”
~ Chung
Thank you!
Jennifer Reynolds, PhD
The Research Chair on Gambling
Concordia University
Twitter: Dosha00
References
Arjoranta, J. (2014). Game definitions: A Wittgensteinian approach. Game Studies, 14(1), 1–12.
Gupta, R., Derevensky, J., & Wohl, M. (2013). A qualitative examination of online gambling culture among
college students: Factors influencing participation, maintenance, and cessation. In International Conference on
Gambling and Risk Taking.
Kim, H. S., Wohl, M. J. A., Salmon, M. M., Gupta, R., & Derevensky, J. (2014). Do social casino gamers
migrate to online gambling? An assessment of migration rate and potential predictors. Journal of Gambling
Studies, 31(4), 1819–1831. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-014-9511-0
Klein, J., Thomas, R., & Sutter, E. (2007). History of childhood candy cigarette use is associated with tobacco
smoking by adults. Preventive Medicine, 45, 26–30. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2007.04.006
Morgan Stanley Research. (2012). Social gambling: Click here to play [Blue paper]. London, England: Morgan
Stanley.
Reynolds, J. (2016). Youth, Poker and Facebook: Another Case of Candy Cigarettes? University of Toronto.
Retrieved from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/73145
Lehdonvirta, V. (2010). Online spaces have material culture: Goodbye to digital post-materialism and hello to
virtual consumption. Media, Culture & Society, 32, 883–882.
Lehdonvirta, V., Wilska, T.-A., & Johnson, M. (2009). Virtual consumerism: Case Habbo Hotel. Information,
Communication & Society, 12, 1059–1079. doi:10.1080/13691180802587813
World Health Organization (2003). World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
World Health Assembly Resolution, vol. 56.1, Geneva, Switzerland
Financial Disclosure statement
PhD funded by the Ontario Problem Gambling
Reseach Centre (OPGRC)
Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et la
culture (FRQ-SC) funded Postdoctoral Fellow
No financial interests related to gambling research,
education or practice