Skillz Platform Goes Live With Real-Money Mobile Gaming

While Nevada and New Jersey zero in on the online casino industry, Skillz, a company based out of California, is changing the mobile gaming industry. Skills, a platform for developers to place real-money gambling apps, has gone live in beta form.

The concept behind Skillz is simple, built a platform where developers can place ads for their apps that allow online gambling. The platform allows for any gambling games that will pit players against each other in games of skill. It is a development that some gamers think is way overdue.

“I play video games all the time, and there is definitely a lot of skill involved,” said gamer Brian Camp. “Me and my friends always host tournaments at my house, and this will give us an opportunity to hold these tournaments online, where we can be at different locations and still play for money.”

Many developers have already added their games to the Skillz platform. Big Sport Fishing 3D from Rocketmind, SushiChop from Rogue Rocket, and King of Defense from WSW, are just a few of the games that players can enjoy while betting real money.

The amount of the bets varies, but most games are small-money wagers. Skillz has set the platform up to accept bets of as little as 25 cents per game. Others, can bet upwards of $100 per game or tournament.

“This is going to change the way video games are played in the US,” said Analyst Tre Simpson. “Over three dozen states have laws allowing online gambling on games of skill, and that is who the developers will be targeting. There are millions of players playing billions of video games each week. It is a market that is set to explode.”

Along with the real-money online casinos that are being launched in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, the mobile gaming is contributing to a boom in online gambling. Analysts believe the Internet gaming market is biggest in the US, and foreign companies are starting to zero in on American players.

Up until recently, the federal and state governments were against any form of online gambling. That barrier began to be broken down when states started offering their lottery sales online. After that breakthrough, lawmakers began discussing the possibility of online casinos, the first of which was launched in Nevada just last week.