Are you ready for some online sports betting with no real money?
Online gamemaker RocketPlay has teamed up with Zynga to bring the first virtual sportsbook game to Facebook and Zynga.com.
Called Sports Casino, the game aims to replicate the experience of going to a sportsbook and placing bets on upcoming sporting events. Players can make wagers using virtual money on whether a given team will beat the spread. Currently, Sports Casino only allows betting on college and professional football, baseball, and international soccer. RocketPlay is planning on expanding their service to other sports, such as basketball and hockey, in the future.
The game also allows users to make proposition bets. For example, for last night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, individuals had the option of making a side bet on which quarterback would throw for more yards, Eli Manning or Tony Romo.
According to SFGate.com, RocketPlay and Zynga have a revenue-sharing deal in place, though the actual specifics have not been disclosed.
The move makes sense for Zynga, whose stock is currently selling at $2.92 per share. Sports Casino would be a real boon for the company if real money were to be involved down the line.
In fact, RocketPlay has already hinted that those are their intentions. From their press release announcing the launch of Sports Casino:
“Though the game currently uses only virtual currency, RocketPlay has developed Sports Casino to take advantage of the rising importance of real-money gambling in the social space as opportunities arise and legal restrictions are eased.”
Online sportsbook platforms appear to be the new savior of companies like Zynga and Facebook. To provide some context, an expert told Business Insider in January 2012 that Facebook could become a $100 billion business because of online gambling.
Image via Sports Casino
