Downloading slots from Google play? You might be fooled

Google play

There is not much good about gambling. I know it, you know it and indeed the almighty Google knows it. If you are an online casino and try to push your app through the app store, you will most likely not be able to (some exceptions with strict rules apply). But if you are a player, then let’s do an experiment. Put into Google Play search the phrase 20p roulette and go through the results. Besides the mentioned 20p roulette, you will find hundreds of roulette games and at the end also other casino games. But guess what… I am 99.9% sure you will not find any app that will actually pay whatever you win (if you win indeed).

Any of the roulette or slot games have actually not much to do with gambling. Sure, you can spin the slot reels, you can spin the roulette reel, you can win some virtual coins, you can lose them all. And guess what! You can buy virtual coins to play the 20p roulette.

What happens if you win?

Let’s say that against all odds you want a significant amount in 20p roulette. Let’s say you increased the virtual coin balance from 10 coins to 100k. In a regular casino, you would be eligible to withdraw the money to your account. Now the question is:

How to transfer virtual coins into real money?

You might already sense the answer, but let us look at other games. What about a comparison with a real time strategy. There are thousands of them and many are really good. As you play you are improving your armour, you are upgrading your weapons, skills and you are using virtual money (if you can call it money) for this purpose.

As you play, you are being rewarded with virtual coins as well. Now imagine that one of the treasures you are being rewarded with is a treasure box worth 1000 dollars. You feel the temptation to stop the game and transfer the virtual funds into real ones.

Do you think you will succeed? Of course not. Virtual coins are only for buying the artefacts within the game and the request would be denied. Do you see a similarity with 20p roulette or social gambling in general? I guess you do and there is quite a lot in common. Now you might argue that online casino and social gambling are different. Incore they are but let’s examine the financial consequences. There are reports that show significant financial impacts when playing for virtual money. You don’t have to be the bad bad gambling operator to have bad impacts on the society. Do you need a better proof?

Do you remember chasing Pokemons?

Pokemon Go was making 10 millions per day. Do you still call gambling the worst thing in the world? If yes, at least you have to admit that there is not a clear line between good and bad. There is not much good about gambling, but is there more good in other games? If we start a debate, we realise that other segments of the gaming industry might have really bad impacts. And talking about money. In 2019, the world’s number 1 operator earned almost a billion USD, which was around 27 million per day, but this number is a rare thing. Most of the operators make about 10-30 million per year which is 10-36 times less. I guess we need some discussion about the topic since not only gambling requires more control.