A number of traditional game publishers have already started taking a piece of the social casino space, with Rockstar Games recently launching the Diamond Casino & Resort to the popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) online game.

Players can now gamble for rewards, whereby the new Diamond Casino includes many new structures to discover including new cars, different missions and a casino floor with slot machines, blackjack, and three-card poker. Players earn money which they can then spend within GTA.

The GTA casino membership costs around $500 and includes 5000 chips, for players to use as they wish. There are also other memberships available such as Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

All these memberships demand players to pay a different price, and in return, they receive plenty of features. Through these memberships, RockstarGames are making lots of real money, and they don’t want to lose this opportunity.

The Diamond Casino was launched in the GTA online game after an update made by Rockstar Games on 23rd July in 2019. Since then, it has received a positive response with many stating that gamers should have the freedom to choose whether they want to gamble or not, despite others being against the new update.

It seems as though other games are jumping on the social casino gaming bandwagon, with 2K Games also set to welcome a number of casino-style game mechanics to NBA 2K20. Players of the renowned basketball game will be able to unlock player cards for My Team mode, through the likes of slots and a spinning wheel.

However, Rockstar is trying to play safe with the new social casino entry, with many countries imposing a ban on such initiatives that involve real-money gambling through games.

The launch saw many players not be able to purchase chips, with bans being imposed in 50+ countries such as the likes of China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. But many fans were shocked to see Portugal on the list of banned countries. This was due to the fact that in order to offer social gaming and gambling, the organization first needs to obtain a license from the Portugal Ministry of Internal Affairs, making it a tricky add-on to offer. 

With the UK and US also looking to tighten their laws with regards to online gambling, game publishers hope for a fruitful future in this sector as most of their players hail from these locations. Online gambling has been in the limelight for several years now. Gamblers can enjoy their favourite games whether it is roulette, poker or slots, through a number of traditional online casinos, such as the likes of those found on online casino comparison websites such as Labslots. The difference here is that these go-to online gambling outlets are regulated, as opposed to the in-game gambling being offered by GTA online. 

With gamers now being able to take their interest in gambling to a new level through GTA and 2K20, Rockstar Games are experimenting with a lot of aspects to make this update as smooth as possible and attract minimum damage from imposing laws. With the right moves, this can only set to aid toward game publishers taking the limelight in the social casino gaming scene throughout the US and UK.

Real money means real business, and this is what social casinos are all about, and for many gaming lovers, this is a bold move; we are set to see a lot more online games following suit and introducing social casinos.