01 March 2009

Internet Gambling Taxonomy - 2009 Update

Introduction

A taxonomy provides a way to organize a number of items into groups to make them easier to talk about and compare. A taxonomy is driven by efficiency, item affinities, and logical cohesion.

A UI/IA navigational structure is a taxonomy, but focused more on customer ease-of-use. They typically make simplifications and tailor an abstract taxonomy to specific user segments.

This post is an update to the taxonomy I created a few years ago.

PvH: Player versus House betting

- Fixed odds betting
- House sets/takes risk

Purely mathematical

- with a normal distribution, sufficient volume, house actually takes no risk, no player skill required
  • Table games
    • Examples: Roulette,Craps
    • Absolutely no player skill involved, completely deterministic (unlike e.g., Blackjack)
  • Slots (pooled aspects with progressives, mentioned below)
    • Number of reels
    • Number of lines
    • Bonus rounds
  • Fixed odds lottery and other numbers games (keno)
  • Scratch cards

Skill based - mathematical

- players who understand the underlying game design and mathematics/odds can maximize their chance to win and drive down the house edge - players may quickly converge on optimal play if these factors are simple and well-known

  • Table games
    • Backjack
    • Baccarat
  • Virtual sports (e.g., some implementations of Virtual racing)
  • "Skill" games (simple games of chance with variable payout based on skill demonstrated in game)
  • Hi-lo games
  • Video poker

Skill based – environmental and variable information affect outcome; event based

  • Traditional (sports) betting
    • Format (fixed odds, american handicap, asian handicap; multi-bets, accumulator, exotic)
    • Racing vs. all other sports (racing, due to betting complexity, often treated separately)
    • In-play or before event start
  • Spread betting

PvP: Player versus Player betting

- house takes a percentage of play (a "rake")
- house takes no risk

  • Poker
  • Betting exchange
  • Spread betting exchange
  • Backgammon
  • Mahjong
  • Tournament blackjack (p2p variation)
  • Aspects of “Be the dealer” (but more like an affiliate scheme the way it was done)
  • First person shooters inside a tournament/p2p engine

PvH: Aggregate Player versus House Betting

- aka Parimutual; house takes a percentage of collective play with no risk
  • Pools betting
  • Lottery
  • Bingo
  • Progressives (typically slots, but could be applied to other types of games)

Miscellaneous

The above games can be distributed various ways. For example, Blackjack appears in:
  • Download rich client
  • Web/Flash based ("Instant" games)
  • Live casino (rich client or flash based video stream)
  • Mobile (typically a downloadable rich client)

Pending categorization

  • Deal or No Deal
  • Top trumps
  • Slot tournaments, multi-player casino tournaments
  • Who wants to be a millionaire
  • Ladbrokes' Balls

Validation / Examples

- Other organizational views as taken from well-known on-line betting sites website navigation structure

Example #1

  • Sports
  • In-play
  • Casino
    • Card games
    • Table games
    • Slot games
    • Video poker
    • Progressives
    • Games and Kino
    • Live Dealer
  • Poker
  • Games
    • Hi-lo
    • Table
    • Slots
    • Numbers and keno
    • Fixed odds
    • Deal or No Deal
    • Scratch cards
    • Top trumps
    • Sports & skill
  • Bingo

Example #2

  • Sports betting
  • Poker
  • Casino
    • Blackjack
    • Roulette
    • Table Games
    • 3 reel online slots
    • 5 reel online slots
    • Progressive jackpots
    • Video poker
    • Scratchcards
    • UK Pub slots
    • Other
  • Games
    • Multi-player
    • Numbers and keno
    • Table games
    • Virtual sports
    • Slots
    • Hi-lo and scratchcards
    • Jackpots and Quiz
  • Bingo
  • Financial bets
  • Lottos
  • Backgammon

Example #3

  • Sports
  • Games
    • Dice and numbers
    • Slot Machines
    • Table games
    • Card games (mis-labeled as "Slot Machines")
    • Virtual Sports
    • Dice Arena
  • Casino
    • Blackjack
    • Euro Roulette
    • Card games
    • Table games
    • Video poker
    • 3 reel slots
    • 5 reel slots
    • Hilo + Instant
  • Virtual Sports
  • Poker
  • Lotto
  • Live Casino
  • Bingo
  • Dice Arena

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