Casino Manchester

Online social network giant Facebook is currently in the process of negotiating with a number of online gaming operators with the view to enter the UK’s real money online gambling market. Facebook has so far refused to comment on exact timeframes, but the evidence is mounting up that this looks to be a top priority for them.

The bottom line is that Facebook as a business needs to investigate the best options in which it can transform itself in a way which allows for real-money transactions. Their current model relies on the sale of Facebook Credits, which has so far proven relatively popular but the results leave much to be desired considering the size of the social network.

Facebook’s plan is allegedly to eventually offer eight individual operators a license to use the network’s API to integrate their casinos into the Facebook platform. The company has reportedly taken on a large number of new employees to work exclusively on launching their real-money platform in the United Kingdom.

The only current casino running on the Facebook platform is Zynga Casino, with Lo Toney the General Manager of the company stating that they were quite pleased with the profits they have made from their play-money poker game and see no immediate need to change the business model currently in use. Facebook themselves however have begun serious discussions with a plethora of gaming operators, consultants, affiliates, and even a number of representatives from the likes of Gamesys, PokerStars, and 888.

Real-money online casino games are expected to be available in the UK as soon as March 2012, but many details will need to be ironed out before this can go ahead. One major talking point is in regard to the commission Facebook may expect for their services, not to mention issues of age verification and payment processing. It is widely speculated that the United Kingdom will be acting as Facebook’s testing ground for real-money gaming and if successful the platform is expected to be rolled out to other countries as and when the many legal issues can be ironed out.