Guess it's one of those 3rd screen things, sit back, watch the game, and make bets on your ipad. Not sure it's safe for the pocketbook, or the ipad if you spill beer on it.
Given that most estimates of mobile app growth (that I recall) are well in excess of 100%, does 94% growth (lagging the overall market) in any way constitute "exploding"?
Sponsored by... Betable? Never heard of them before. Interesting site. It's like a license in search of a casino, instead of the other way around.<p>They did get it right, though... the gambling model is FAR more profitable than any other gaming revenue model out there. The question (I guess) is whether their dev market understands what they're actually offering and how hard it is to achieve. My feeling is that the UK has made acquiring a gaming license so effortless, and game developers are so locked into the current in-world rev and/or app-based models, that no one's paying much attention to this. There have been a few stand-out articles on the subject, like this one from Bruce Everiss, a probable basis for their service:
<a href="http://www.bruceongames.com/2011/01/28/gambling-as-a-video-game-business-model/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bruceongames.com/2011/01/28/gambling-as-a-video-g...</a>
but basically it's been ignored. And will continue to be ignored as long as the market becomes more fractured, and the largest segments outlaw anything of the kind, and Silicon Valley continues to treat gambling as a toxic form of revenue.<p>Nonetheless, I think there are serious issues with Betable's business model, not the least of which is that they have no way to certify what the games tying into their API are actually DOING, or whether they're fair. That lack of auditing in itself seems to pretty much explode any reason to acquire a legal license in the first place. What's the license actually get you, then, if not auditing and regulation? An ability to take payments for gambling? How is it legal, if it's not audited? How do they guarantee on behalf of the government that the sites they're putting under their license are running fair and legitimate games?<p>Again, this is basically a license in search of a new kind of casino. But why wouldn't a new kind of casino, or gaming site utilizing that model, just take Bitcoin or Linden dollars? Why bother with all this licensing at all, especially if it's just window dressing?