Betable launches world’s first real-money gaming platform, announces top-tier investors
10 Jul 2012
“Social game developers have a big problem; existing game monetization methods yield very low per player revenue, so without millions and millions of players it is extremely difficult to build viable businesses,” said Christopher Griffin, Founder & CEO of Betable. “By partnering with Betable to enable real-money gaming, developers will see huge increases in their average revenue per user and average customer lifetime value.”
Having launched its private alpha program in March 2012, Betable is a licensed gambling operator providing a platform that enables developers to legally offer real-money gaming on any platform or device. The company streamlines years of complicated legal issues and millions of dollars of licensing fees into a simple API that anyone with basic programming skills can implement. Developers can use Betable to integrate real-money gaming quickly and easily into new or existing games.
“At Betable we’re unlocking real-money gaming for developers who can innovate in what up until now has been a massively impenetrable space,” continued Griffin. “Our partners and investors believe that Betable represents the largest opportunity for innovation and monetization for game developers in years.”
Funding
“Real-money gaming represents the rapid convergence of social games and the gambling industry, and our roster of investors with luminaries from both spaces uniquely positions Betable to capture this emerging market,” said Griffin. “The validation they bring to the opportunity and the value that they add to our business is immeasurable.”
“FF Angel invested in Betable because it substantially reduces friction between businesses and gamers in a poorly structured market, while maintaining high levels of compliance and accountability,” said Brian Singerman, a partner at Founders Fund, the firm that manages the FF Angel fund.
“We believe real-money gaming will make the social games industry more successful and has the potential to catapult games that offer it to the top of every app store on the planet,” said Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures. “While awaiting U.S. legalization of online gambling, which could take years, the overseas markets represent billions of dollars in opportunity for developers located anywhere in the world. Betable is in a great spot to help those developers participate in this emerging market.”
Investors in Betable’s seed round of funding include firms Bullpen Capital, CrunchFund, FF Angel LLC, Greylock Discovery Fund, Morado Ventures, Start Fund/DST, Tekton Ventures, True Ventures, Venture 51, and individual investors Marc Abramowitz, Scott Belsky, Reece Duca, Bjorn Evers, Auren Hoffman, Sean Knapp, Andrew Kofman, Howard Lindzon, Chris Larsen, Heather Sue Mercer, Dave Morin, Matt Ocko, Gil Penchina, Joshua Schachter, Arjun Sethi, Josh Spear, John Suliman, David Tisch, and Ray Tonsing.
Affecting Change
The topic of real-money gaming has been greatly discussed in 2012, with companies stating their intentions to offer it in their own games. On top of eliminating the barrier to entry, Betable will give partners the ability to customize their own gambling mechanics, empowering game developers to bring much needed innovation to casino-style entertainment, delivering improved experiences for consumers on every platform.
Private Beta Program
Previously in stealth, Betable has selectively partnered with more than 30 of the many developers vying for access to its private alpha program, and it will now accept a limited number of additional partners into its newly announced private beta program.
“We believe that first-movers in real-money gaming will enjoy a substantial advantage,” said Griffin. “Our goal is to partner with select groups aligned with Betable’s vision of affecting positive change in casino-style games, one of the world’s most stagnant yet profitable forms of entertainment.”