Zynga To Launch Cash Poker In 2013

Back in 2007, social game services provider Zynga developed its poker game application for Facebook, which has since grown to become the mother of all play money sites. To put things into perspective, Zynga has more than 122,000 daily fun players, whereas the world’s largest poker real money site PokerStars has just 25,000 using play money daily.
Last year Zynga generated $1.16 billion in revenue derived from the sale of its virtual goods, as well as advertising opportunities. Now it seems that it is planning to enter the world of real money online poker in 2013, which will be a cause of concern for current poker networks. It has even been suggested that PokeStars may be interested in paying billions for its operation in order to stave off the competition.
Nevertheless, Zynga’s poker game is presently accessed via Facebook and would likely have to be run outside the social network when it shifts to real money. In addition, many of the San Francisco based company’s customers are American and it remains to be seen whether it will have to concentrate on non-US customers or, in the event of US regulation, be able to transfer those customers to its real money offering.
Billionaire and co-founder of Zynga Mark Pincus, 46, saw his personal wealth fall to $700 million last week after his company’s share price tumbled by over  35%. The plunge came after the company reported a Q2 2012 revenue of $332 million with a net loss of $22.8 million, which he blamed on Facebook favouring new games on its site over Zynga’s offerings. Commenting on Zynga’s scheduled 2013 poker launch, Mark Pincus said:
“What we’ve said, and what we have to announce today, is that we have our first products in development and that we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing.”