If you think of BitShares as a free economic zone then you should look at what has historically worked to bootstrap others.
How do you bootstrap a word famous, successful city in the middle of a desert?
Realizing that gambling would be profitable for local business, the Nevada state legislature legalized gambling at the local level in 1931. Las Vegas was poised to begin its rise as the gaming capital of the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Las_VegasHow does a bankrupt city become one of the wealthiest in Europe?
By the 1850s Monaco's reigning family was almost bankrupt. At the time, a number of small towns in Europe were growing prosperous from the establishment of casinos... . The success of the casino grew slowly, largely due to the area's inaccessibility from much of Europe. The installation of the railway in 1868, however, brought with it an influx of people into Monte Carlo and saw it grow in wealth.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_CarloHow do you create one of the world's richest cities in communist China?
Macau is one of the world's richest cities, and as of 2013 its GDP per capita by purchasing power parity is higher than that of any country in the world, according to the World Bank.[11][12] It became the world's largest gambling centre in 2006,[13] with the economy heavily dependent on gambling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacauWhat helped Bitcoin get bootstrapped?
Firm says online gambling accounts for almost half of all Bitcoin transactions
Although it's not quite legal in the US, online gambling is big business in BTC
http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/08/firm-says-online-gambling-accounts-for-almost-half-of-all-bitcoin-transactions/Customers aren't attracted to shopping malls with no businesses and businesses aren't attracted to shopping malls with no customers.
Traders don't want to risk holding illiquid assets but the assets won't become liquid without traders using them.
Gambling doesn't have that chicken and egg problem, hence why it works so well as a catalyst to kickstart the economies where it's introduced provided there's a market for it.
Given that blockchains can undercut centralised options, offer privacy, provable fairness and funds are safer. the future of gambling is definitely on the blockchain.
I predict this sector will be the one that creates the first crypto-billionaires. PLAY doesn't seem to be doing very much/moving slow. So I think if BitShares is struggling to gain traction it should re-look at introducing gambling at the blockchain level.
If not we'll be able to see in a few months if the potential and market is there with Augur.