Game developer Zynga Inc(NASDAQ:ZNGA) is now eyeing
real-money gambling to shore up its dwindling revenues and has begun to lobby
with the state and federal governments in the United States towards this end.
Online gambling is not legal in many parts of America
and last year the U.S. Justice Department made an initial start by indicating
that states could start developing regulations for online gambling.
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There has been some move towards some related
legislative efforts that would include Internet gambling as well. Global online
gambling is now worth an estimated $30 billion, with online poker worth a
potential $6 billion annually in the US.
Zynga, has, of course said that its real-money
gambling initiatives would not start with the U.S. market. Currently the
company offers "Zynga Poker" that is played with virtual money and
cannot be exchanged for real money.
The game developer, which makes games for Facebook,
including the popular Farmville, has seen diminished interest in its games on
the social network while new games released by it have not seen much traction.
In fact Chief Executive Mark Pincus had told analysts
at the conference call after the release of its second quarter results that the
company expected to launch its first real-money gaming products in the
international markets in the first half of 2013.
Zynga said that it has spent $75,000 towards these
lobbying efforts in Washington and California, for promoting the cause of
Internet gambling.
Curiously, its long-time ally and partner Facebook,
which was once dependent on Zynga's games for a significant part of its
revenues, has also turned to online gambling as alternative stream of revenues.
Facebook has started off offering its gambling
services to its subscribers in the United Kingdom.
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