myVegas is a game being rolled out by Playstudios, helmed by former Wynn Las Vegas president Andrew Pascal. Through apps on like Facebook, the games will have the look and feel of real gambling, but no money will be changing hands. The Wall Street Journal explains how the company plans to make money:
The games are free within daily virtual-chip limits. Heavy users—generally between 3% and 5% of users—pay money to buy more chips, which allow them to play more. And those fees can translate into significant revenue.
myVegas isn’t the first to try and capitalize on, why don’t I just say it, people ADDICTED TO GAMBLING. Playtika and Double Down have similar ventures already up and running on Facebook. myVegas is being tested now in the Philippines, and will debut in the states this summer. All three companies are being financed, in whole or partially, by big-name casino enterprises like MGM and Caesars. No longer will the desperation of bleary-eyed gamblers walking around like zombies on the Vegas strip because they just lost the next two house payments be confined to Nevada. Nope. Now you can whiff that despair in your neighborhood, in the office, and of course wherever you like to log on to Facebook.