3G Studios are hoping to bring real money gambling and betting to the world of video games and are prepared to use a Nevada online poker licence to do so. CEO and founder James Kosta recently spoke to Card Player and revealed that his company, also responsible for PlayStation 3 version of video game Rock Band, is looking to introduce video game elements into their poker product.
“We are starting to bring traditional video game elements into something as tried and true as poker mechanics,” he said, adding that they are working on a concept entitled “Outlaw Poker” – they haven’t yet decided it will include Full Tilt board members as playable characters.
The company recently inked a deal with Eldorado Resorts, a land-based casino firm in the state, and need an “established back-end” in order to run internet poker. Kosta is hoping poker will be his back door into the gambling industry but is very real in understanding that to make it a big part of their company they will need to extend their reach beyond poker.
“If it stopped at poker it would be a flawed business model,” Kosta told Card Player. “Ultimately, if we break even on poker we would be quite happy. Even if we’re losing money with poker, our goal would be to continue to push legislation forward so that we can introduce other games.”
Further than this, Kosta is convinced that as many as a “dozen states” will pass bills in 2013 and he’s of the opinion that Nevada passing and opening up is the key to all of this.
“If we can successfully regulate and operate here in Nevada, under the laws, then we should be able to convince other states to allow us to move in,” Kosta added.
There are of course other companies, such as Virgin Gaming, that have brought an element of gambling to video games so in that sense what Kosta is doing isn’t completely unheard of. It’s just a more interesting way of doing things and it will be fascinating to see how it plays out.
