Social Games have, for the past few years, been on the agenda of gaming regulators and governments worldwide. Questions have arisen as to whether some of these games could, at law, be deemed to constitute gambling. These concerns have been particularly amplified vis-à-vis Social Casino Games: a subset of Social Games that, true to their nomenclature, implement gambling-style components in a visual, sensory and mechanical nature – so much so, that it is at times difficult to tell Social Casino Games apart from real gambling games. The leveraging of gambling-style components for non-gambling purposes has been fittingly dubbed, ‘Gamblification’. This article shall explore the phenomenon that is Gamblification, with an aim to acquire an understanding of the legal implications borne thereby.
