It wasn't long ago at all that Zynga's COO, John Schappert, walked out of Zynga following not only a litany of bad news, but also news of a substantial restructuring in the company's operations. Now, the COO slot has been taken on by Maytal Ginzburg, who has an unusual background for being the COO of a gaming company. Ginzburg comes Zynga's way from 888 Holdings, an online gambling company. That's got some wondering if maybe Zynga has a new plan in mind...a new plan that has less to do with running farms and more to do with betting them.
Zynga has a plan to release what's called Zynga Poker, a real-money gambling operation, in the UK starting in early 2013. This by itself is something of a risky move, not so much because it's online gambling, but because in the UK, online gambling has been around for quite some time. Thus, the field is populated by a wide variety of established players, many of whom have been around for some time and have established user bases. Zynga, as a newcomer, is going to have to find a way to break players out of their current gaming venue of choice and bring them into the fold.
This is probably a good chunk of why they brought Ginzburg on board in the first place, as she's got quite a bit of experience in online gambling, and has an idea of how other companies have done it successfully. But the market in general is something of a risky one, as online gambling is largely forbidden in arguably the biggest market on Earth, the United States. While there have been some inroads made--online gambling is currently only legal in Nevada, and requires state licensing at a cost of $1 million, with California, Illinois and New Jersey looking to join in--the bulk of the population is out of the game. So even if Zynga did go to online gambling, it would only have limited impact as much of the market is barred from play by law. However, with the United States Department of Justice recently issuing an opinion that suggests that the federal ban is only related to sports betting, as opposed to card games, this may well signal an opening up of the market.
If this does work, it may well prove to be Zynga's saving grace. Zynga can certainly present a good game--the guys who made Farmville have to have some idea how--and there won't be any outcry of imitating games that have been around for centuries. But the problem with this strategy is that it depends on a lot of circumstances coming together just right for the company, and with Zynga's stock price on the outs and its staff running for the exits, that grand convergence of circumstance may not happen fast enough.
Android (operating system) Bethesda Bethesda Softworks Downloadable content Electronic Arts Electronic sports Facebook Fallout (series) Fallout 3 Fallout: New Vegas Gamer Games Google IOS Maryland Massively multiplayer online game Microsoft Microsoft Windows Mobile game Nintendo Oculus Rift PC game Personal computer PlayStation PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Sony The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim United States Video game Video game console Virtual reality Wii Wii U World of Warcraft Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox Live Xbox One YouTube
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- October 2011
- September 2011
Featured Videos