In Washington State, class action lawsuits have been filed against four social gaming sites in which the operators are alleged to have violated state law by charging customers to compete in play money casino games. Those followed suit on a case against online site Big Fish Casino that had been initially dismissed back in 2015 when filed by a player, but was then overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March. Cheryl Kater, a customer of Big Fish Casino, filed a lawsuit against the social casino in 2015, claiming she paid for play money chips which, of course,…

Venture Beat – Social and mobile casino game operators are facing a shrinking market, as the number of monthly players has shrunk to 85 million from 109 million a year ago, according to market researcher SuperData Research. In response, those companies are shifting away from acquiring more players and instead are focused on making money from those that they already have. Joost van Dreunen, the chief executive of SuperData, said that the sector is entering its next stage and that casino-style game operators are positioning themselves for a mature market. Building a long-term relationship with consumers now makes more sense for…

iGaming Business – Online gaming provider Greentube is to launch its private-label social casino marketing platform in the US as part of a move to strengthen its presence in the region. Greentube Pro, a business-to-business marketing platform, will allow land-based casinos in the US to stay connected to players and for players to stay connected with the casino brand through online social casino gaming. The company described the new platform as a ‘powerful player retention and acquisition tool’ that protects the casino’s player database. Greentube said that what sets its platform apart from others is its ‘altruistic’ approach to player…

Caesars Interactive Entertainment has toppled Zynga as the No. 1 publisher of social casino games, according to a report by research firm Eilers Research. That shows that the social casino game market, which is now worth $1.2 billion worldwide, is becoming a lot more competitive thanks to growth in demand, increased startup activity, and a series of high-profile acquisitions. Caesars is one of the world’s largest legal gambling companies. It acquired Israel’s Playtika in 2011 and picked up popular social games such as Slotomania. Now, that title as well as Slotomania Adventures, Bingo Blitz (acquired with the purchase of Buffalo…

In spite of the recent layoffs, Zynga is still picking up talent in strategic areas like social casino gaming. The company bought a roughly 40-person team called Spooky Cool Labs full of real-money gaming talent. Based in Chicago, the Spooky Cool Labs team is made up of social and real money gaming veterans from companies such as Aristocrat, and slot machine makers like IGT (International Game Technology) and WMS Gaming. The company’s founder, Joe Kaminkow, was ranked as one of the 10 most influential people in the history of slots by Strictly Slots Magazine. But from Spooky Cool’s website, the…