he made a big bet. He predicted that the game would eventually be doing $1 million in revenue a month for the company. Well, the game launched in November, and now, just a little over a month later, they’re close. They’re on track to hit the number sometime within Q1 2011, Pishevar tells us.

And that’s possible because MiniTycoon Casino has already been a big hit for SGN. The game already has over 600,000 users who have collectively generated 300 billion chips. Some other quick stats: 400,000 virtual gifts have been sent. Over 8 years and 3 months is the total time spent playing the game in aggregate so far. And 76,000 friends have been “hired” in the game to staff the casinos. Business is booming.

After it launched, MiniTycoon Casino quickly shot to the top of the iPhone social gaming charts. It has since lingered in the top 40 app space, and right now it’s the 40th top free app overall in the App Store. So how does the free app make money? The virtual good model. Users buy up “Tycoins” to build up and maintain their casinos. You likely know Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille, this is the same idea — but with some really nice graphics and interactions that the iPhone and iPad allows for.

For the holidays, the game has some new holiday-themed sets as well. Because nothing says Christmas like a big snowy casino with ice floors.

MiniTycoon Casino is just the first game of the MiniTycoon brand for SGN. There will be three more coming soon, Pishevar tells us. We should expect the first early next year. Pishevar also says that he expects the holiday themes (and the holiday buying gift season) will help the Casino game break 1 million users by New Years.

You can find MiniTycoon Casino here in the App Store.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEEnDBgLhQ1ouJqJu3nfX1K_bRdQw&url=http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/22/minitycoon-casino-stats/

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