Following a deal for real-money gambling in the UK in late 2012, Glu has now partnered up with a real-money competition vendor for the US.

Online gambling is only available in three US states, but Glu says its deal with Skillz to run skill-based real-money prize competitions (which are legally different) means it can operate in 37 states.

In states where real-money competitions aren't available, players will be able to join free tournaments.

All players will have to 18 years-old or over.

Points and prizes

"The Skillz tournament platform allows us to reach a significant number of US gamers interested in competing for cash prizes in their favourite skill-based Glu games," said Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi.

"We look forward to offering an entirely new multiplayer experience to our audience in the US; an experience that we anticipate will improve user engagement, retention, and monetisation."

Hunting for whales, and bears

The first game to integrate the feature will be the Android (Google Play and Amazon Appstore) version of Deer Hunter: Reloaded.

"We make it easy to offer cash tournaments so studios like Glu can focus on creating the great games we all love to play," said Andrew Paradise, Skillz's CEO.

"Cash tournaments make games more competitive and fun for players, which typically means more users, longer sessions and better ARPDAU."

Glu expects to add the feature into other games in the second half of 2013.