In some respects, the mobile game industry has struggled to get to grips with gambling.

Partly that’s because of legislation - at least in terms of real-money gambling. But partly that’s because even what’s referred to as ‘social casino’ seems more about bringing land-based casino brands into mobile than creating something new.

One of the few companies to overcome this situation, however, is Big Fish Games, which has happily converted its female-focused casual gaming audience to players of Big Fish Casino, which is one of the top grossing mobile games in the US.

Bigger spin

Indeed, so important is the game that Big Fish is keen to talk up the addition of a new feature to the title, which contains different types of gambling - including slots, craps, blackjack, Texas Hold 'em poker, video poker and roulette.

But it’s slots where the money is to be made and that’s why Big Fish is so excited about the introduction of Luxury Slots.

This marks a new design of slot machines within Big Fish Casino, which have an auto-spin function and what the company describes in flowery prose as “rich graphics, fiery animations and a full-screen interface that supports up to 25 lines of winning combinations”.

Bigger jackpot

The first slots within Big Fish Casino to use the new design are called Phoenix Rising, which are currently out on the iOS version of the game, but will be rolled out to Android, Amazon, PC and Facebook versions in due course.

“76% of our players play slots,” said Carey DiJulio, VP and GM of Big Fish’s Casino operations.

“The creation of Luxury Slots is in direct response to meeting the demands of our avid slot audience and the rapidly growing market.”

And it’s that final description that’s the real jackpot. The mobile social casino sector was worth around $650 million in 2013, something that those in the sector hope will rise by 68 percent in 2014.