California’s tribal gaming operators are increasingly discovering the direct and indirect benefits of launching online free-play social casinos.
Last week brought the debut of Best Bet Casino, a new social gaming app from the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians’ Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula. The site currently offers slots, blackjack, bingo and video poker, while a keno product is promised shortly.
The app, which was developed in partnership with Delaware North’s Ruby Seven Studios, has been in development since the parties signed their deal in February but Pechanga’s chief marketing officer Lee Torres told the Press Enterprise that the parties “spent a lot of time making sure the experience was right.”
Further north, the Pala Band of Mission Indians’ Pala Casino Spa and Resort outside San Diego has just announced the launch of its MyPalaCasino free-play product. The Pala interactive product currently offers slots, blackjack, roulette, video poker, Texas Hold’em and collectible puzzle games via web, mobile and Facebook.
Pala Casino’s CEO Bill Bembenek said the free-play product would help reach Californians and residents of other states “who may not have experienced everything that our resort has to offer.”
As with other casino operators’ social gaming products, MyPalaCasino is tied in to the property’s Pala Privileges rewards program, allowing online players to earn points redeemable for real-world goods and services at the land-based casino.
Pala Interactive CEO Jim Ryan celebrated Pala Casino becoming the first B2B customer to launch “our next generation of online social casino solutions.” Ryan said Pala Interactive aimed to become the first B2B social casino provider to offer virtual sports.
Commercial land-based casinos have been quick to embrace the social gaming phenomenon and California’s tribal casinos are no different. GAN supplies the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians with its Simulated Gaming product while the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio inked a social casino deal with Scientific Games’ Play4Fun Network. Now if only they could find a way to embrace real-money online poker…
