In the traditional sense, casinos mean roulette, chips, and flashing neon lights; however, in the voice chat social circles, more and more young people are "gambling" for excitement in voice chat rooms in another way.
We have talked about the domestic "Love to Chat," while Hala Voice Chat is a representative product in the Asia-Africa region, with Chumba and Huuuge being two older predecessors.
💵From Chumba to Huuuge: A "Light Gambling System" Driven by Virtual Currency
To understand Hala, one must first look at its two "predecessors."
Chumba Casino is a typical representative of the "Sweepstakes" casino model.
It was the first to adopt a "dual currency system":
Players buy Gold Coins with real money, which are only for entertainment and cannot be cashed out;
At the same time, players can earn system-given Sweeps Coins through "tasks," which can be used for random draw games, and winning can be exchanged for cash or gift cards.
The loopholes in Sweepstakes allow Chumba to implement a "casino-like" model without violating U.S. gambling laws.
Huuuge Casino, on the other hand, excels in "social" aspects. Players can join virtual clubs, group "bets," and chat while playing in chat rooms.
The models of these two companies show that in social mode casinos, the core mechanism is not the odds, but to keep players "continuously involved" through social interactions—getting them addicted to the thrill of drawing.
💵The Rise of Hala: "Casino Mechanics" in Voice Chat Socializing
Under such logic, Hala and "Love to Chat" have moved "gambling games" into the voice chat social scene.
Its exterior is a voice chat social platform, but at its core, it's a real-time "casino party."
Hala's users mainly come from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market. This is a region highly dependent on online socializing, and Hala has captured this by focusing on multilingual voice rooms where players can freely join rooms to chat, sing, PK, and send gifts.
But the key is that it makes the "gift system" like a "chip system": users buy "diamonds" with cash, 12,000 diamonds for about $1.99; gifts, decorations, headgear, and special effects all require diamonds to pay; high-priced VIP (e.g., VIP2 priced at about $59.99) provides more display privileges, cool entrance effects, exclusive badges;
Diamonds can be used to participate in embedded mini-games, or directly for combo draws, just like pulling a slot machine.
This design almost replicates the feedback logic of slot machines: flashing lights, the rhythm of continuous combo rewards...
Hala has turned these elements into "lightweight entertainment," embedded in voice chat rooms or personal spaces.
With just a few clicks, users can see their diamond balance rolling, gold coins stacking up in effects, and the system will also scroll announcements on the public screen about "who won the big prize," immediately triggering onlookers and imitation effects.
The hosts can exchange some of the gifts received through "rewards" for virtual coins or even cash returns, which is a low-threshold gambling cycle.
Although Hala has not disclosed specific revenue data, based on its download volume, pricing, and industry benchmarks, a conservative estimate can be made.
Daily Active Users (DAU) about 20,000;
Monthly Active Users (MAU) about 160,000;
Conversion rate to paid users 5% (average level for social voice chat platforms);
Average monthly spending per paying user (ARPPU) $35.
Based on this calculation:
Monthly revenue ≈ 80,000 × 35 = $2.8 million;
Annual revenue ≈ $30 million.
If considering that users in the Middle East market generally have a higher willingness to pay, actual revenue could approach the $40–50 million range.
This means that—a seemingly "voice friendship app" has actually reached the revenue scale of a medium-sized gaming company.
More importantly, this voice chat payment model has a strong replicability.
Hala and domestic products like "Love to Chat" represent not just a single product, but a new business structure: a "light gambling" ecosystem supported by social relationships as the entry point and embedded games as the support.
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