iPhone Users Can Now Bet Through Big Fish Casino

iPhone users can soon gamble using real money on virtual slot machines. Big Fish Casino is offering real money betting on iPhones in the UK, since gambling is legal in the country. The new gambling application will soon be launched in AAPL (Apple Inc.) Store, in few weeks. Big Fish Casino’s London based partner, Betable Ltd., will take care of the entire betting process.

Prospective payouts

Game developers are creating digital variants of Las Vegas casinos for users of tablets and smartphones. The users of tablets and smartphones are predicted to wager around $100 billion on these devices by the year 2017, which is about $20 billion more than last year. This prospective payout has attracted Big Fish Casino and other game developers to substitute virtual money with real money in iPhone gambling applications, even though their use might be limited in the US, due to gambling restrictions.

Stiff competition among game developers

The Chief Executive Officer of Betable, Christopher Griffin, said that this was the greatest opportunity for casinos and game developers. However, Big Fish Casino might soon face stiff competition from game developers like Zynga.Inc, which is the largest creator of the social media games. Zynga.Inc said that it had plans of introducing real-money wagering by early 2013. The gambling restrictions in the US might also ease since many states like New Jersey, California and Nevada are thinking of formulating laws to make gambling legal.

Apart from Big Fish Casino, other casinos like William Hill Palace and Betfair Casino also allow gambling on iPhones. Betable is already working with other game builders to introduce real money gaming applications this year. Big Fish Casino also allows its users to wager using their credit cards.

Though Apple Store is a host to various casino applications, it is not taking any cut of the sales from gambling. Casino games will be hosted by Apple as long as they satisfy the local laws. However, in 2011, Apple did not let Big Fish operate subscription service through which iPad users could access numerous video games.