As someone who loves to play free games on the social networking site Facebook a recent debate regarding the site and responsible gambling caught my attention. For a little while now there have been rumours that the UK Gambling Commission were to investigate the rise in social gaming and whether it should be regulated in the same way as the gambling industry (Daily Mail article).
These rumours were quickly quashed according to eGaming review (Gambling Commission Dismisses Social Regulation Rumours) but it got me thinking about my journey into Facebook gaming and how things quickly changed for me.
When I first ventured into Facebook gaming it was Bingo Blitz that drew me in. As a bingo player the lure of a free game was a temptation I could not resist but it soon became apparent that in order to succeed in completing “Cities” and earning achievements you had to have a bottomless pit of credits. Whilst the game does offer free credits daily (higher amounts for those players with a large number of team mates) these are quickly spent and you have to wait a number of hours to claim more freebies.
In the chat rooms there were often numerous players complaining about lost credits, games freezing etc. and I could never quite get my head about the number of “moaning Minnie’s” in the room and often could be found telling them to “stop moaning, the game was free”. Although I was aware that credits could be purchased, I didn’t ever think that I would ever feel the need to spend real money for no financial reward. However, within a couple of months I had purchased credits for Bingo Blitz with real cash and it was then I realised what a slippery slope this could be for others.
Buying Facebook credits is done by either using PayPal or debit cards and once you have completed one transaction these details are stored – much like at a pay to play bingo site. Should you then choose to buy more credits, its just one click and more money is spent.
At pay to play sites all are bound by law to offer a Responsible Gambling option whereby you can either set your own depositing limits by filling in an online form or by emailing the site requesting that these limits be set as per your instructions. The same cannot be said of Facebook gaming, the only limitation is the size of your bank balance!
All too often it’s easy to become addicted to a game and with Facebook the emphasis is on beating your team mates (friends) or having the highest score etc. and for those of us who are competitive, it’s all too easy to click and buy more credits.
For this reason I truly believe that Facebook should be governed by the same law as the pay to play sites and whilst the UK Gambling Commission are “monitoring” things, more and more players, some under the age of 18, continue to spend money on Facebook.
Remember, the same rules apply for Facebook as they do with any form of gambling, never spend more than you can afford to lose. The main difference being that at the moment you have to regulate your own spending habits but could we see this change in the not too distant future?
Footnote: Whilst I have used Bingo Blitz as an example there are far too many other games available on Facebook to mention each individually that offer you the option to buy extra credits, coins or whatever currency is used to continue play.
