Hi everyone!

Get ready to go all in with our brand new illicit gambling operations, as today we released our next free update, called version 1.2: Gambling & Debt!

Update 1.2: Gambling & Debt

In today’s base game update, we’re adding the ability to run gambling operations. You’ll be able to take over new buildings, install attractive games of chance or skill, and deck them out with amenities to keep your marks playing longer and spending more money. And also, keep an eye on your gamblers, because if their luck runs dry and they can no longer pay off their line of credit, you’ll be able to visit them at home, and use your forceful argumentation style to parlay their debt into new opportunities for you.

Your diversification into gambling starts with territory. After gaining control of your 10th corner, you will be notified that an opportunity to set up a gambling house has opened up. You’ll need to go and start a conversation with one of your front owners, and you’ll be able to redeem a favor to gain access to gambling opportunities.



The front owner will show you nearby residential buildings that they know about, quiet places with pliable landlords, where you will be able to start a new gambling operation.



Each location varies in how many walk-in customers it attracts from the area, which determines how busy your house will get, so choose well to maximize the number of customers visiting the establishment. But you’ll also need to consider carefully the new operation’s position relative to your other illicit businesses, because gambling operations will raise heat and draw the attention of cops and rivals.

Managing your gambling house

Once you’ve paid startup costs, you’ll gain access to an empty gambling house. To avoid police attention, there can only be one in each precinct.

You’ll immediately see that operating a gambling establishment is pretty different from the alcohol-related operations that you’ve been running.



To get things going, you’ll need to hire a manager to run the joint and drop off some cash to fund the house. This cash will be used to support your gambling features. Each type of gambling house supports a different number of slots where you can add games and improvements.



As is the case with backroom operations, you’ll need the right crew skills and prerequisites to be able to install each feature and to upgrade the gambling house itself.

Features come in three varieties:

Low-stakes games (Slot machines, policy shops, bookmaking, etc.) Draw in many walk-in players from nearby houses to place occasional bets. These have small minimum/maximum bets, with infrequent payouts and longer odds (e.g. 2% chance 25:1 payout).

High stakes games (Blackjack tables, roulette wheels, poker tables, etc.) Attract nearby regulars to take a seat and play for a while. They have large minimum/maximum bets, with more frequent payouts and shorter odds (e.g. 10% of a 3:1 payout). Regular players and the debt that they accrue will become an important source of opportunity.

Improvements (Small bar, imported furnishings, employee uniforms, etc.) Improve the performance and profitability of other features.

Once you’ve installed a few features you can keep track of how your gambling houses are doing in the finances menu. In some games, gamblers play against each other and you just skim off the top. But in others, they play against the house, and you will need to be prepared with enough cash on hand to pay out if they win big.





Debt management & risk

It goes without saying that running a gambling operation is not without risks, and the fortunes of your gambling houses may change. Regulars who play at your high-stakes games might win big and you need to be ready for that - but they’re actually more likely to run out of cash, draw up a line of credit, and then proceed to gamble it away, at which point they will find themselves in debt to you.



Once they get in over their heads - such as $500 in the red - they will not be able to draw more credit without your permission. At this point, you’ll get a notification and map pin to go pay them a visit at home.



When you talk to a debtor you’ll have some choices. You can:

Demand immediate payment - Tell them that they have to pay you back immediately. They will attempt to scrounge up the cash they owe you in the next few weeks. But sometimes they won’t have enough, so then it’ll be up to you to decide how benevolent you’re feeling when that day comes, and how their friends and family will react to your decision.

Blackmail - Ask them for payment in kind. That could mean the keys to a new vehicle, access to a building, a delivery of rare resources, an introduction to someone useful or… Well, who knows what else they might try to sell you on to wriggle out of debt? They’ll have a few weeks to secure what they promised, so you’ll need to return later to collect. IMPORTANT: The options and rewards offered change, as the person gets further and further in debt. So you can leverage this to your advantage to gain ever more valuable opportunities.

Extend credit - Grant them additional credit. This can be extended to $1000 and then finally to $2000 if they get into debt again. Of course, they’ll try to press their luck and win back the debt that they owe. But honestly, they’ll just be digging the hole even deeper.

Your biggest risk with debt collection is that a debtor might panic and decide to skip town with everything they have including the money that they owe you - and the likelihood of this happening increases the further into your debt they fall! So consider how far you want to push someone and weigh the potential rewards that you might gain.

And finally, don’t forget about the cops - because they certainly won’t be forgetting about you. Like with your bootlegging and protection rackets, gambling will increase heat and when it becomes too high, the cops will raid your gambling house, confiscate the cash stored there, and smash up one of its features for good measure. So make sure that the local cop is paid off if you want to avoid this expensive inconvenience.



That’s all for today, but we’d love to hear what you think about update 1.2 now that it's live. As always you can find us on Twitter and Discord so hope to see you there!

Until next time,

Matt & Rob
SomaSim