Zynga chief bullish on internet gambling
News on 1 Mar 2012
News on 1 Mar 2012
The always interesting CEO of social games developer Zynga gave online gambling a boost in San Francisco Wednesday, telling the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference that online gambling was a ‘natural fit’ for his company’s products..
“I think it’s a good natural fit. I think, philosophically, the part people haven’t noticed yet, real money gaming is the perfect fit with virtual goods and social games,” Marcus Pincus commented, informing his audience that online gambling could bring in an additional billion dollars for his company, and that recent changes in the federal approach to anti online gambling laws, along with Facebook policy changes, could lay the foundations for golden opportunity.
Pincus boasted that Zynga Poker was the largest online poker game on the planet with more than 30 million players, and reiterated that Zynga will soon release other casino-related games like bingo, strengthening its already impressive positioning.
The innovative chief executive also hinted at more casino-related developments, telling the audience that his developers may not be confined solely to traditional gambling games:
“We’re interested, but you should expect to see us do a lot more than what you’ve seen in offshore casinos,” he said. “The amount of innovation you’re going to see around gambling as an entertainment mechanic is going to be mind blowing.”
Pincus also indicated that he was considering possibly partnering with a traditional casino company before the end of this year.
Pincus said his San Francisco-based company sees a great deal of opportunity “to start to bring this gambling element into more than just casino games.”
The Dow Jones newswire reports that Zynga’s CEO suggested the company may partner with traditional casino firms such as Wynn Resorts Ltd.
“We’re definitely talking to all of the players that you would suspect,” Pincus said, adding, “We have incredible respect and admiration for brands and groups like the Wynn… I would expect that you’ll see a lot of these players kind of figure out their go-to-market partnerships for sure before the end of this year.”
