Zynga mulls online gambling market

[January 23, 2012]  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Zynga, the social game company known for "FarmVille" and "Zynga Poker," is mulling a new market -- online gambling.

Zynga Inc. confirmed Friday that it is in active talks with potential partners. San Francisco-based Zynga says it is speaking to the potential partners in order to "better understand and explore" the opportunity in online gambling involving real money.

The company's "Zynga Poker" title is the world's largest online poker game. Zynga says seven million people play every day and 30 million do so each month. That game, however, is played with fake money.

The talks come in the heels of a recent ruling by the U.S. Justice Department, which found that in-state Internet gambling does not violate federal law. Zynga's talks were first reported by the tech blog AllThingsD.

[Associated Press]

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