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International Social Games Coalition chief executive Luc Delany talks about the myth of the ‘unregulated social gambling market’
A s the chief executive of the Internation-al Social Games Coalition (ISGC), it is my role to represent the interests of the social games industry. In the various debates around social games, you will often hear about the ‘unregulated social gaming industry’ or the ‘unregulated social gambling market’. The reality is that the debate is normally referring to games that are not gambling and are in fact regulated.
Gaming is often used to describe many different types of entertainment, from legally regulated gambling involving real money games of chance, to any game played on a
console, computer or smartphone. To avoid confusion, let’s refer to real-money games of chance as gambling (I hope the editor forgives me for dropping the ‘social’ element but the crux here is about what is, or is not, gambling) and all other games as social games. Although the legal definition of gambling may vary around the world, we have understood what gambling means for thousands of years; you place a bet with the chance of winning or losing money.
In contrast, social games are played with or against other people across a range of platforms – for example in chatrooms, on mobile devices or within apps built on a social network. There is no stake placed in a social game and no fi nancial reward, therefore there should not be any ambiguity between social games and gambling games.
The ISGC does not represent the interests of gambling games (social or otherwise). We are involved in the debate on gambling because people see a social game that mimics the style of a gambling game and cry-foul. One of the accusations levelled at the social games industry is that they operate in an unregulated wild west.
Let’s be very clear here: when people say that ‘social games are unregulated’, what they mean is that social games are not regulated by gambling regulation. In fact, many laws and regulations cover social games. In the EU, as an online entertainment activity and an “information society service”, social games are covered by a fully harmonised framework of directives; E-Commerce, Consumer Rights, Data protection, E-Privacy and Unfair Commercial Practices among others.
It is proper and legitimate that new forms of entertainment are examined and monitored to ensure they are not more harmful than other forms of entertainment, but one should not confuse apples with pears. Unfortunately, we all too often see extreme responses to new forms of entertainment; books would end all original thought, TV would give us all square eyes, pinball was going to turn all youngsters into gamblers (it’s true) and video games would make us all a danger to society.
Society has determined that gambling should be regulated to a higher level than other forms of entertainment because it poses a unique set of circumstances: the opportunity or risk for people to win or lose money. Given this risk, society has determined a proportionately higher level of regulation than other forms of entertainment.
In social games, as with most other non-gambling forms of entertainment, people can spend money (spending as opposed to losing money, because there is no chance of regaining it). Of course, all forms of entertainment are designed to leave you wanting more (or it wouldn’t be very entertaining) but there is still no betting a stake or the associated loss or reward. Social games, be they bubble bursters, car racing or casino-style, are regulated in a proportionate manner.
Not only are social games an important new element of our digital economy but they are hugely popular with more than 750 million estimated daily players worldwide. As the industry continues to grow, we look forward to continuing the debate and working with all stakeholders to work together to ensure that people can continue to enjoy their favourite games.