Zynga retains lobbyists

Zynga, Inc., a social media gaming developer has hired several lobbyists with the goal of legalizing online gambling within the United States.

The company has hired lobbyists Jeffrey Peck, Justin McCarthy and Alix Burns. Peck has worked as a Majority Staff Director for the Senate Judiciary Committee and McCarthy has previous experience as a Legislative Lobbyist for the George W. Bush administration. Burns was a Finance Director for Al Gore's Presidential Campaign.
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Venetian/Cantor already have a gaming platform but Zynga seems to still be in talks with Wynn over developing one.

Whats the angle?

Does Zynga want to offer sponsored cash/prizes for its games?
Have their very famous poker game legal for cash/prize tournaments?, Cash rings?
Mafia Wars slot machines?

Farmville Paigow.

They need a better source of revenue, I think this is a good thing. Can you imagine if even just a few percent of those horrible Zynga players started playing for real money? Talk about positive EV (haha.)

Quote: Boney526

They need a better source of revenue, I think this is a good thing. Can you imagine if even just a few percent of those horrible Zynga players started playing for real money? Talk about positive EV (haha.)

Zynga already has decent revenue streams...

Yeah, but they probably feel as if they need to secure a way to make more.

They're there to make money, after all.

Quote: Boney526

Yeah, but they probably feel as if they need to secure a way to make more.

They're there to make money, after all.

Absolutely, I just thought you were characterizing Zynga as not in the profit zone. I've read that Zuckerberg himself has a very decent cut of the action at Zynga. Personally, I'd love to see them and other casual game companies get slices of the US gambling market... casual game development is a growth industry in this town.

Quote: 98Clubs

Whats the angle?

Does Zynga want to offer sponsored cash/prizes for its games?
Have their very famous poker game legal for cash/prize tournaments?, Cash rings?
Mafia Wars slot machines?

Couldn't Zynga offer cash prizes if it wanted to, as long as you don't have to pay to play? Hasn't Pogo been doing this for at least a decade?

How about some good old-fashioned Castleville Hazard? ("Lost again? Serves you right for betting against Gloom!")

Actually, if Zynga wanted to open an online casino, it already has one, sort of - Casino City, which it acquired when it bought out DNA Games last year. It shouldn't be that hard to convert it to a cash system.

Quote: Wavy70

Farmville Paigow.

Do I split the pigs? Or keep them together?

Quote: ThatDonGuy

Couldn't Zynga offer cash prizes if it wanted to, as long as you don't have to pay to play? Hasn't Pogo been doing this for at least a decade?

How about some good old-fashioned Castleville Hazard? ("Lost again? Serves you right for betting against Gloom!")

Actually, if Zynga wanted to open an online casino, it already has one, sort of - Casino City, which it acquired when it bought out DNA Games last year. It shouldn't be that hard to convert it to a cash system.

Pogo is an end-run around the US gaming laws. One pays $40 a year to play, or pay nothing, but suffer through ads every few minutes. If you decide to pay-to-play, POGO has to convince the gummint that the $40 is cost of service, with no monies going towards prizes. Second, since all prizes are awarded by either a.) jackpot spinner, or b.) push a sweepstakes button, all that means is that one has entered a sweepstakes. Presume that one's chances are the same, pay or no-pay. Therefore the prizes MUST be sponsored by either a third party, or the prize-manufacturer/distributor (liscensed). One fact to be noted is that cash prizes are awarded by the "sweepstakes button" or the jackpot spinner... there is no way to "earn-by-play" (win X tokens, and receive Y dollars).

What the OP hints at, and what could be are that one wins X tokens, and receives Y dollars. or that tokens can be converted to cash. Considering the "token harvesting" going on at POGO, the gummint should rightly frown upon such "gaming", as tokens are just that... a value-less representation of points.

OTOH, if one wants to pay $50 a year as a "club member" and play cash-value games, with a buy-in, this might be allowed IF on-line gaming gets legalized, taxed, and reported properly. The latter is what is making OLG illegal in spite of the banking regulation UIGEA. As far as ID verification, Official ID with fingerprint (BTW this solves some, AHEM, cash-out/Log-in problems)

Gee, all those lobbyist seemed to have worked for the government before. Do I see a pattern there ??

Reports that Zynga threw in the towel.

Will not attempt to have real money gambling and has used massive layoffs to stem second quarter losses.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/zyngas-2q-losses-narrow-company-slashes-costs-203112739.html
link

If they are still around when it becomes legal, they'll be back in it. I think they threw in the towel because those lobbyists are expensive. They have the system to deliver online gambling and they have the customer base. They still have 187 million monthly users.

I may have watch the stock over the next few days. If it goes lower it might not be a bad shot in the dark stock if you have a little extra money. If online gambling does become legal and they got into the fray, it would be a killer win for their stock.

ZCore13

Yeah, I heard this unfold on Bloonberg this morning. Zynga still has OLG in Europe (England I think). Z lost a LOT of subscriptions..
Todays closing price $3.50... after hours $2.99.

Basically I want "According to Nevada Gaming Law" and "Proper Taxation" phrases in any OLG agreement. Anything else is just a cheat. /MHO

I'm looking for a $2.50 buy point.

ZCore13

Quote: Zcore13

I'm looking for a $2.50 buy point.

Good luck but perhaps those rats deserting the sinking ship know a thing or two that you don't.

They probably do, but I have to pick a point where I think the risk makes the reward worth it. Like I said, they still have 187 million monthly users. At $2.50 I start looking seriously.

ZCore13

Forcast looks like -.05 to -.09 /share