The latest company to enter the world of social online gambling (aka Facebook online casinos), is Reno-based video game developer, 3G Studios. Making an announcement this week, 3G’s CEO, James Kosta, has confirmed that 3G is in the process of hiring out contractors in India and China to further develop gambling games that can be played in both fun-money and real money online gambling modes on Facebook.

Intending to release a slot machine app in August, 3G says that U.S. residents will only be permitted to play in fun-money mode, while European players will have the option of betting real money in fashion to traditional online casinos. Of course, as regulation policies become increasingly liberalized in the States, 3G will be offering play-for-pay options to U.S. players as well.

That reality could very well happen within the next year, although it will most likely be on a State-by-State basis. First off will be Delaware (which recently became the first U.S. State to legalize online casino gambling), then Nevada (online poker), potentially followed by California and New Jersey – both of which have favorable online gambling regulations currently on the table.

The challenge for game developers like 3G, however, will be in getting through the regulatory and licensing hoops. At least this is the opinion of some industry insiders, like John Acres, who heads up the casino consultant group, Acres 4.0, and who believes that game studios like 3G are wasting time and resources. According to Acres, it’s not that the gaming studios are lacking the technological capability of developing social media casino games, it’s more about the licensing red-tape they must get through.

And who better to deal with regulatory red-tape than those companies already in possession of casino licenses? Indeed, the brick ‘n mortar giants like Caesars, International Game Technology, Bally and WMS Industries already have a step up on the competition with not only regulatory cred, but also with social casino games of their own. Caesars already has a free-to-play app on Facebook, not to mention a WSOP-branded online casino and poker room, while WMS Technologies recently launched an interactive division – Williams Interactive – culminating in its first social online casino, Jackpot Party. As for Interactive Game Technology, they were recently granted the first online gaming license by the Nevada Gaming Commission, and now own one of Facebook’s most popular apps, Double Down Casino.

But 3G Studios seems to have taken this factor into consideration, for they have already partnered up with Bally to develop online casino games in addition to their own offering. With a budget of $5 million to put into online gaming operations over the next few years, 3G Studios certainly has come out the gate as a viable contender in the social online gambling sphere. Just how well it pans out will depend on their ability to convert Facebooker’s from free-to-play to pay-to-play.

Oh, and by the way…Speaking of all these free casino games and slots you’ve been playing on Facebook. While they will still probably always be available in free mode, the developers have every intent to eventually convert you into a real money player. Even if that’s just $5 or $10 per week, you are a dollar sign and nothing more. Just keep that in mind and don’t get too caught up and addicted to playing free-to-play social casino games. Once these games become available in real-money, that could potentially prove dangerous.

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