Nearly half of social casino players in the US spend real money on their pretend games, according to a new study.
Market researchers Newzoo’s latest survey of US social gamers found that 46% of social casino players had dug into their non-virtual wallets to play games in the past six months. Zynga’s Hit It Rich! Slots title ranked highest in the share of gamers who were willing to dig deep to keep playing.
In age and gender terms, men accounted for 59% of the monetized social casino market. One-third of males between the ages of 21 and 35 years were found to be social casino spenders, compared to 22% of females in the same age bracket. Males aged 36 to 50 ranked third at 20%, followed by 16% of females in the same bracket, while males and females aged 10 to 20 years scored just 6% and 3% respectively.
Social casino gamers patronize an average of 5.6 different franchises and Infiapps’ Slot Bonanza was deemed the most engaging social casino title. In terms of time spent playing a single social casino franchise, 2.5 hours per week was the average of the 17 franchises studied. Some 25% of players dedicated two to five hours per week to a single title, while 21% played less than one hour and just 5% reported playing a single title for 15 hours or more.
Churchill Downs Inc’s Big Fish Casino was deemed the social casino app most likely to be played along with others and was also dubbed the least challenging social casino app. DoubleU Casino players were most likely to agree that their game was too damn hard.
SCIENTIFIC GAMES LAUNCH NEW SOCIAL CASINO BRAND
Gaming technology supplier Scientific Games has launched a new social casino brand, which will feature content from its Bally, Williams Interactive and Shuffle Master divisions.
Hot Shot Casino made its debut on Facebook this week with a mobile launch planned for later this year. The Hot Shot Casino mobile app will coexist alongside Sci-Games other new brand, Quick Hit Slots, which includes the company’s popular Jackpot Party and Gold Fish apps.
Sci-Games social gaming VP Aaron Schurmann said Hot Shot Casino was “extremely accessible to players, with a great number of slots open and without unlocking restrictions.” Hot Shot currently features a variety of branded slots, with table games to be added “shortly.”
