Zynga’s position on online gambling has “changed”, CEO says

Lee Bell
January 17, 2012
2 Comments

ZyngaThe head of the social gaming giant, Zynga – the company behind such Facebook games as Mafia Wars, FarmVille and CityVille - has said the department of justice’s recent decision has changed the company’s position on online gambling.

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, CEO Mark Pincus, discussed the potential opportunities of online gambling. He said: “We’re watching it with interest. Virtual reality is about the connection between the virtual and the real, and there’s just such a close and perfect connection between the virtual and the real when you’re gambling, because these chips have real world value.”

After Zynga went public in December last year, its stock price fell 5% on the first day of trading and has since been lingering below its $10 offering price. However, despite the figures, the interview also hints that Pincus is happy with his Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Zynga as he defends the company’s decision to go public at the time they did.

He added: “Our goals were we want to raise a billion dollars. Through going public, we wanted to add some more great long-term investors to the company. All of that was successful.”

“We were trying to go public at the right point in our company growth, and we thought that was the right point,” he said.

When asked about the controversy last year surrounding his decision to renegotiate the stock compensation of select early employees, Pincus added:

“In four isolated incidents, we outgrew senior leaders and we wanted to find them another position at the company versus just parting ways. In two of those four cases, those people are at the company and they’re wonderful executives and contributors who have found other opportunities to lead.”

If Zynga does decide to enter into the realm of online gambling, what can this mean for the feature of iGaming? Will it become more socially interwoven? Could Facebook become a hub for online gambling? What are your thoughts?

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Tags: Article, Facebook, Mark Pincus, Zynga
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