Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) was beaten by Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU) by becoming the first traditional game company to launch a real money gambling game in the United Kingdom. Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) will soon be coming up with its own real money gambling in the UK soon by partnering with UK betting company bwin.party.
Smartphone game maker launched the game in partnership with UK mobile betting game company Probability Plc. Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), the social game maker took the first step for a license in the state of Nevada for distributing the real money gambling games. Though, the process could well take over a year. Even, Facebook has announced to allow its UK users to wager real money on its site.
The popularity of online gaming is not only limited UK but is also gaining in United States. Recently, New Jersey legalized the online gambling for residents and Nevada gave a nod to interstate online poker and allowing state-to-state gaming agreements.
The maker of popular free iOS and Android apps such as Mutant Roadkill and Deer Hunter told that the casino games will be made available to UK public in partnership with Probability and its partners such as bookmakers Paddy Power Plc and William Hill Plc. The game maker formed an alliance with Probability in October to create a suite of Glu-branded mobile slot games. The game launched features elements of Glu Mobile Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUU)’s popular Samurai vs. Zombies Defense game. The slot machine based game requires the user to select the cash stake per line they wish to bet and then choose the number of paylines they wish to play (from 1 to 50). A player can earn a maximum amount of 9,000 (£6,000).
The San Francisco Company, last month posted revenue of $21 million for the fourth quarter against 15.2 million in the year-ago quarter. The company’s Smartphone games (including new releases Death Dome, Contract Killer 2 and Dragon Slayer) contributed 89 percent of revenues, which is 85 percent year-over-year increase. Operating losses for the company improved to $6.7 million compared to $9.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The game maker, this year is planning to launch about 15 new mobile games with five in the first quarter: Dragon Storm, Gun Bros 2, Stardom Hollywood, Small City and Samurai vs. Zombies Defense 2.