While social casino games are all the rage, the next wave to hit Facebook screens appears to be social sports betting apps. Berlin-based social betting outfit Crowdpark, which already has a casino app and its ‘create your own prop bet’ BetTyccon app, is launching 90Live, a dedicated football (soccer, for you North American hooligans) betting app. Debuting right before the Euro 2012 kickoff? What are the odds? Oh, it’s intentional? (Never mind.) Users of 90Live can even place live in-play bets, but remember, kids, it’s all for virtual money.
Not to be outdone, SK Planet has announced the launch of BettingSTAR, a Facebook app dedicated to virtual betting on not just European football, but Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association games. The absence of the bet-phobic National Football League from BettingSTAR’s list is predictable, but the company says it has plans to add other sports, including “American football.” Apparently, one doesn’t dare even mention the NFL and betting in the same breath, lest an apparition resembling Commissioner Roger Goodell suddenly appear overhead, raining sharpened Lombardi trophies down on one’s head.