Poker NewsMuch more than just a poker blog...
Zynga Poker's spokesperson told the site AllThingsD that Zynga is indeed looking for partners in order to launch their real money poker solution.
Zynga Poker currently offers play money games only, but that is about to change, it seems. Last year, when asked about real money games, Zynga Poker's General Manager Laurence Toney refuted this [3]. Now it seems the game has changed.
[4]"We build games and experiences that our players want and love. Zynga Poker is the world’s largest online poker game with more than 7 million people playing every day and over 30 million each month. We know from listening to our players that there’s an interest in the real money gambling market. We’re in active conversations with potential partners to better understand and explore this new opportunity." - said the spokesperson to AllThingsD.
Zynga currently offers play money games only and lives off of advertisement and the selling of virtual goods (chips). They have announced the launch of a new game, Zynga Casino on Facebook in October, which is still yet to be released, but it hints that if the company will be able to offer real money games, they will offer a casino as well.
With the numerous changes since Toney's last comment on the issue such as the legalizations of online poker in a few states in the United States and the recent acknowledgement by the United States Department of Justice that the Wire Act, which prohibited gambling and betting since 1961 does not apply to online poker, the market opened up to legalized online poker rooms in states which have already done that. This open market is surely of interest to Zynga, who can realize a vast profit if they can migrate their players to their real money tables.
This is also great news to the poker pros, as never such a huge fish pond opened its gates in the history of online poker. Of course the rollout is still months away at best, and Zynga will have to find the proper partners and go through some major legal hurdles such as the acquisition of licenses and facilitating a secure environment for real money transfers, but it shouldn't be a problem for the biggest online poker provider in the world.
Will this be the next online poker boom?