Zynga Sees Internet Poker Possibilities

Social gaming giant exec talks about a 'very interesting' opportunity

Zynga company executive, in his address to reporters after the first quarterly numbers following social gaming giant recent IPO, identified online poker sector as 'a very interesting opportunity', referring to his company's experience in the genre and recent political developments.

John Schappert, Zynga COO, said: ”I think it’s actually a very interesting opportunity, because we’re in a unique position. We have the world’s largest online poker game and the most social online poker game we’ve been running for four years. We had record results last quarter. And it’s one of the top six games on Facebook. So I think we’re in a very good position and it’s a category that’s interesting to us.”

It was earlier this month when a Zynga spokesman revealed that the company was seeking partners as the prospect of legalized online gambling in the United States comes closer. Zynga's interest is understandable in the setting of a recent surge in partnerships and acquisitions between US land gambling companies and promising internet operations.

Recent deals have seen several partnerships such as Fertitta Interactive acquiring Cyberarts; DoubleDown Interactive and Entraction bought by IGT; a Chiligaming - Golden Nugget tie-up; Churchill Downs buying Bluff Media; new mobile releases from Bally Technologies; the launch of Zynga online bingo; and a partnership agreement between Bwin.party, MGM and Boyd Gaming.

Obvious interest in online poker is showed by the growing list of applicants for Nevada internet poker licenses including 888, IGT, Boyd, MGM, Fertitta, Caesars, Bally, Cantor, South Point, Shufflemaster and Aristocrat.

Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, during a conference call, has expanded on the Zynga internet experience noting that:

* Zynga has grown its mobile user base to 15 million daily active users, which is up five-fold from a year ago.

* Zynga's international revenue year-over-year is doubled, with games now available in 17 languages compared to five languages a year ago.

* The company’s Z Cloud proprietary internet cloud infrastructure is now managing almost 80 percent of daily active users. The company boasts a total of over 230 million users at present, many of these visiting on a daily basis.

* Zynga’s new destination website for social gamers is almost completed and preparing for a live launch

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