Completing The Circle: The Convergence of Gambling and Gaming

This paper examines an innovation by the game industry that makes it possible to earn credits for gift cards while playing video games. This turns video gaming into something like an indirect form of gambling. One spends money to win awards through gift cards. It is indirect because the player spends money on one or more game software applicationss, and then uses a different software application to collect the rewards. For this paper we downloaded one of these payment application and several games to examine how much money one can earn, incentives to spend money, and the potential risk of these applications. Additional issues related to gambling content and advertising in these software applications are also discussed. It is argued that governments regulators need to examine this type of scheme to determine if it is gambling and if regulations are needed to protect consumers, especially youth, and to monitor the integrity of the game.