Gambling and Gaming Online Merging
28 Sep 2006
Robert Kotick, Activision video gaming boss, recently spoke of the role in-video-game gambling could play in the future, explaining that it will be the 'Holy Grail' of the gambling and gaming business online. The crossover and merging of gaming and gambling, according to Kotick, could be huge as well as more extensive than at the present time.
'When you think about the Holy Grail of the video game business, organized competition for prize play and cash play is going to be the floodgate of opportunity for new audiences. And it will happen eventually, but I wouldn't expect it anytime soon,' Kotick stated. He feels that the integration between the gambling and video gaming industries is simply inevitable. Many in the gambling and gaming industries will surely agree with Kotick's statement regarding the future of these two markets.
Although there seem to be plenty of opportunities to find out how to develop prize play and cash play as a future growth opportunity, it is going to take a good amount of time before this happens, according to Kotick. A large installed base will have to be put into motion and a very different regulatory climate will have to be established. And while Activision recently tried their hands at entering the world of gambling online with a series of poker games, these were played for the love of gambling rather than actual money.
