Zynga Poker Eying Real-Money PlayIGT acquires Double Down, Caeasrs finishes buy of Playtika |
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Facebook’s immensely popular Zynga Poker is now looking into partnerships to offer real-money play, AllThingsD reported Friday.
A spokesman for the publicly traded company told the website that Zynga Poker boasts more than 30 million players each month and wants to "explore this new opportunity.” In fact, the company has been contemplating the venture for more than a year.
The window for Zynga is open thanks to a recent Department of Justice reversal on its long-held interpretation of the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 — a law which had made it unclear whether or not intrastate online poker was permissible.
Many of gaming’s top attorneys say there is a green light for state governments to authorize and oversee such an industry, and the possibility exists for jurisdictions to partner up in order to create more robust player pools.
The San Fransisco-based Zynga would have to wait out a likely long and bitter battle in the California legislature before being able to take wagers from some percentage of the state’s 37 million people. Nevada has already legalized the activity and is closing in on licensing companies. Zynga currently has not applied to participate in a Nevada system.
It did recently host a live poker tournament in Las Vegas for its fans.
If Zynga were to venture into the Silver State, the company, along with any potential technology it plans on using for a poker site, would be required to partner with an existing brick-and-mortar casino. Zynga, with its huge database of players, would be the service provider, while the casino would be the operator.
The games developer, in business since 2007, has caught the attention of Phil Hellmuth — one of poker’s most highly marketable players. In a Card Player interview last year, Hellmuth said: “If the law changes, a company like Zynga is suddenly sitting on a $5 billion poker site. That would obviously put me in a great situation to represent something like that.”
Zynga, now also on Google+, reportedly is looking to offer bingo under its current business model, but would be limited to real-money poker if it came to Nevada. Two bills are on the table in California — one for broad online gaming and the other just for card playing.
The company currently makes money from selling virtual merchandise in its free-play applications available on Facebook and mobile devices. Zynga, which also created FarmVille and Words With Friends, recently signed a five-year deal with the social networking site.
According to AllThingsD, a spokesman for Facebook, which takes a 30 percent cut from Zynga, said that the number one social-media platform “doesn’t have any plans to get into real-money gambling.”
However, reports circulated in December that Facebook would experiment with online gambling in the U.K. — a decision which drew some sharp criticism from those fearing it would be accessible to children. Some also worry that gambling on Facebook would proliferate to other countries through loopholes in the law.
The news from Zynga follows Nevada online-poker applicant IGT acquiring Double Down Interactive for $500 million. Double Down, also on Facebook, develops and runs casino games for nearly 5 million active users per month.
IGT also made big news last year when it acquired Swedish-based poker network Entraction. Despite the acquisitions, the leading slot-machine manufacturer has not yet made any announcement on a partnership with a Nevada casino company.
Caesars Entertainment, which has an existing partnership with Nevada web-poker applicant 888 Holdings, reportedly finished off the purchase of Playtika — a company that offers slots and dice to 10 million active users per month on social media platforms.
In addition to Zynga Poker and Double Down, other poker games on Facebook include the likes of WPT Texas Hold’em Poker and Enterra Poker.
However, only Zynga has made plans to venture out on its own.
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