eGaming Review 117 | Page 8

M ONT H I N M I NUT ES MONTH IN NUMB3RS $7.4m The amount of revenue generated during the first month of regulated online gambling in New Jersey See news on p14 6 PartyPoker’s global ranking in the latest PokerScout figures See feature on p38 19% Year-on-year increase in French online sports betting GGR during 2013 See our cover feature on p24 £38.8m 32Red’s revenues for the 12 months ended 31 December 2013 See interview on p45 8 RIGHT TO REPLY REAL-MONEY GAMING IN THE US CAN WAIT DERRICK MORTON CEO, FLOWPLAY As a social casino developer, the fact that online gambling legislation isn’t moving faster doesn’t bother me a bit. I can take advantage of the high ARPUs (average revenues per user) afforded online and in the mobile game industry, without the regulatory burden. While I’m certainly intrigued by this developing market, to maximise our social gambling business I need to focus on the possibilities accessible within the next 12-18 months. There are a lot of things to envy about real-money gaming (RMG). While typical social casinos can run an ARPPU (average revenues per paying user) of more than $200 depending on the channel, an RMG online casino may be able to generate two to three times that amount, but with much higher acquisition and operational costs. Social casino customer acquisition rates generally run from $1.50-$2 on the open web and Facebook to $3-5 on mobile, depending on the operating system and amount of targeting. About 2.5% of these players convert to a paying player, making the true cost of customer acquisition $60-80. Compare this to the cost of acquiring a real-money player which is typically around $150250 depending on the type of game. Of course the numbers still work for RMG when looking at it from the cost per acquisition and lifetime value perspectives until you look at the limitations in the size of the player base. Current estimates from SuperData Research show there are 173m social gambling players versus 49m online RMG players. I fail to see how this is achievable without regulating the entire game market, which, on all platforms outside of consoles, has switched to the free-to–play model. Everyone is ‘wagering’ virtual currency. But that’s a much bigger discussion. FAMILY TREE MR GREEN Mr Green has seen a number of personnel changes in recent months, including the appointment of a new CEO and head of casino www.egrmagazine.com