RocketPlay launches social sportsbook on Zynga platform

Social sports betting operator RocketPlay has announced the launch of its Sports Casino app on Zynga’s dot.com as part of a partnership which also sees the game published on the Facebook platform.

The app, which has been launched to coincide with the beginning of the US sporting season, allows players to place virtual bets using real-time odds on a number of sports including American football, baseball and European football, as well as playing casino side-games such as video poker, slots and blackjack.

“Sports Casino delivers an authentic virtual sports-betting experience to social gaming and sports fans,” said RocketPlay CEO, Mani Honigstein. “We’re thrilled to launch with Zynga’s support, a company that has set the social gaming benchmark and will help us bring a great game to a wide range of players.”

In a release issued today the company also revealed that the game has been designed to be optimized for real-money gambling, allowing it to take advantage of the potential opening up of the Facebook platform to egaming operators following Gamesys’ real-money Bingo Friendzy launch last month, or Zynga’s plans to launch a real-money gambling offering in Q1 2013, hiring former 888 executive Maytal Ginzburg Olsha to head up the project.

The operator is one of the first to become a publishing partner of Zynga, which announced that it would open up its dot.com platform to developers in March this year. Companies which have their games launched on the platform also have the product launched on Facebook as part of the deal.

RocketPlay will further enhance the app over the coming months with odds offered on more sports including basketball and ice hockey.

This article originally appeared in eGaming Review’s sister publication Social Casino Intelligence. Read parts one and two of SCi’s analysis piece looking at the challenges of creating a social sportsbook offering.