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Ralph Topping, chief executive of William Hill Plc., used his personal blog to call for online social gaming to be regulated. Topping said the London-based firm has adopted a "watching brief" stance when it comes to social gaming. "Social gaming is no longer the next big thing for gambling, it is already a very big thing," Topping wrote. "Over one billion dollars has already been spent by 'traditional' gambling companies alone in mergers and acquisitions and hundred of millions of dollars in revenue is already being generated."

Operators traditionally associated with online casino sites, including Europe's largest operator, Bwin.Party, as well as leading casino software developer Playtech, have expressed an interest in expanding into the social media arena. Conversely, leading lights of social gaming, Zynga, who created Farmville and Cityville, are looking to expand into the gambling sector. Zynga recently appointed two lobbyists to their ranks, Justin McCarthy and Jeffrey Peck, known for their support of the legalisation and regulation of online casino gaming in the United States

Strip casino giant MGM Resorts International isn't planning to open more multibillion-dollar integrated casino-resort complexes anytime soon. Instead, MGM Resorts will in June launch myVegas, a free-to-play social gaming casino where only virtual money is bet to win only virtual prizes. Think of Farmville meets Bellagio.

Related Articles Will Facebook and Zynga Embarrass Analysts? New Stock Coverage: Facebook Makes Enemies, Fair Weather Acquaintances, and Best Friends Forever Amarin Corporation and Ericsson Among Most Active Stocks in Pre-Market Today on the Nasdaq More by Inspin.com Winning More NFL Bets in 2012 Delaware Moving Closer to Legalized Online Gambling? 9 Basketball Betting Tips That Can Increase Your Winning Percentage 2-3% What's the Buzz? 30 top traders on these stocks and more      ZNGA   5.02  (+1.41%)       WYNN   96.75  (-3.87%)  With the legalization of online gambling activities quickly sweeping through the nation, some of the top sportsbooks and the leading play-for-free poker companies could be in positions to make a move into the real money sweepstakes. Zynga (ZNGA), which runs a very popular brand of free poker over social networks, has seen its poker brand grow by leaps and bounds over the last year. It's no coincidence that over that same time, various scandals surrounding UltimateBet and Full Tilt Poker have reduced the number of options for players to play paid poker. Many of those people have turned to Zynga to get their fix. Read more: http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/sports-business/articles/ZNGA-zynga-onling-gambling-social-media/7/12/2012/id/42334#ixzz20SepThWh

Boosted by growth in the UK and other key markets, mobile gambling is going to devour a bigger slice of the gambling pie by 2017 According to a new report from Juniper Research the value of mobile gambling could reach $100 billion by 2017. Growth will largely be fuelled by an expansion in mobile lottery games in certain international markets and an increase in sports betting and social gaming in the UK. http://www.jackpotcity.co.uk/mobile-casino/ already offers a mobile site complete with all its casino games. It is looking to make its mobile play even more socially minded in the future as are other major players in the gaming industry. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/05/4884031/mobile-gambling-predicted-to-reach.html#storylink=cpy

In April, Wynn was in talks with Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), the world's largest social gaming developer, to form a strategic online partnership. (See our previous post: Wynn Takes Hard Look At Online Gambling Market With Zynga) Speculation is rife that Wynn is interested in partnering with Zynga for this project. Zynga enjoys a dominating position in the social gaming industry and has about 232 million average monthly active users across 166 countries.

"Social game developers have all the ingredients that the gambling guys are missing," Mr Griffin said. "They have good user experiences. They have a huge install base of a billion players, but they don't have access to monetisation." Betable has not announced any specific contracts, but said the platform could be used by the popular Facebook or social games like Zynga's Farmville.

"Social gaming giant Zynga has announced it will move into real-money online gambling in early 2013. Electronic Arts has a big stake in casual social casino games such as Lucky Gem Casino Slots, and it has a relationship with the World Series of Poker TV series."

"Although social gaming juggernaut Zynga was reportedly 'leading the race' in a bidding war for online poker provider Ongame Network just a few months ago, Amaya Gaming Group has ended up winning it. The Montreal, Canada-headquartered gaming company this morning announced that it has acquired Ongame from Internet gambling powerhouse Bwin.party for 25 million euros (just south of $32.2 million)."

Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)'s attempts to enter real-money gambling may be held back by US laws, which favor existing casinos, according to Bloomberg. So far, 3 US states, including New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, have passed laws that will allow online gambling games to be played on their territories, but it looks like the conditions will benefit casinos which dominate the gambling scene. This could create problems for the social gaming giant, which is looking to reduce its dependence on its current business model, including bolstering growth and business transactions by offering real-money games. At present, Zynga (ZNGA) has employed a 'free to play' business model, which was started by multiplayer online games like Jagex Games Studio' RuneScape. It allow players to play games free of cost but with the choice to spend real money on virtual items or other in-game advantages. These in-games purchases are called "micro-transactions".

Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Tony Reidy said Glenorchy had a higher proportion of poker machines per head of population compared with more affluent areas. "Poker machines in Tasmania are concentrated in lower-income communities," Mr Reidy said.