• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 14, 2010

Online gambling company 888 Holdings on Monday agreed to buy social gaming studio Mytopia for a base payment of $18 million.

Along with developed top Facebook games like "Bingo Island 2" and "Pacific Poker," Mytopia develops games for mobile platforms, including Andorid and the iPhone.

The acquisition will form the "cornerstone" of 888 Holdings' social gaming and mobile strategy, according to Gigi Levy, CEO of 888 Holdings.

The deal "builds on our aim of providing a variety of entertainment destinations," said Levy. "Improvements in mobile technology now mean more people are comfortable using applications on the move, and we expect significant growth in this area."

In addition, "the acquisition extends 888's reach and market share in the fast growing social networks and smart mobile devices, such as iPhone and Android-powered handsets," Levy said.

Through 2011, the price could reach $48 million if Mytopia meets certain milestones "connected to the mobile and social networking games," according to the company.

With the deal, 888 Holdings is getting the games development studio, specializing in cross-platform social games for smartphones, mobile handsets and social networks; a library of games; a real-time multiplayer mobile Poker application available for various platforms; a technology platform for hosting and operating real-time social games on social networks and mobile; and a software license for Particle Code, a cross-platform application development framework for mobile devices and tablets.

Casual games are serious business these days. For one, they are believed to be largely responsible for continued traffic gains at Facebook. Over the past year, traffic to the social network increased 185% compared to the same week last year. As a result, Facebook surpassed Google in terms of overall traffic for the week ending March 13, according to Hitwise.

Perhaps in response, Google in April announced the acquisition of an Israeli startup named Labpixies, which develops casual games for both the Web and mobile devices. Terms of the deal were not released, but an Israeli news source reported that Google paid $25 million for the company.

Backed by SK Telecom Ventures and Benhamou Global Ventures, Mytopia was owned by Real Dice Inc.