In a nod to the booming popularity of playing casino game on a smartphone, Playstudios, a mobile and social game developer in Burlingame, has raised $20 million from investors.
Playstudios makes free apps for gaming enthusiasts who want to access a Vegas casino floor on a smartphone; its line of myVegas games include blackjack for mobile, and slot machines to play on a smartphone as well as Facebook. The company joins a growing global market for social casino game apps that is expected to reach $2.7 billion by the end of the year, or a 35 percent year-over-year increase, according to market research firm Eilers Research. Facebook and mobile will each account for about half of industry revenues, and revenue from mobile games is expected to trump console sales in 2015, according to researchers.
Palo Alto-based Jafco Ventures led the round, which is Playstudios largest yet.
Playstudios games are available from the Apple, Google and Amazon app stores. Since Playstudios launched in 2011, its games have had more than 18 million downloads and over 1.25 million daily active users.
