Starting in July of this year, after the news that Shuffle Master cancelled its agreement to purchase the online poker company Ongame Network, mutters and whispers began to emerge regarding a Zynga/Ongame deal. At the time the Shuffle Master/Ongame Network deal fell through, bwin.party issued a statement that Ongame Network was "re-engaging with other third parties that have expressed an interest in acquiring Ongame" after both itself and Shuffle Master "mutually agreed not to proceed with the proposed transaction". Zynga's name came to the forefront of the rumours when Chief Executive Officer and founder of Zynga Mark Pincus stated that Zynga was actively exploring the real money gambling market internationally.
Having recently been beat to the Facebook real money gaming punch by Gamesys, it seems that if these current rumours are true and Zynga is no longer one of the companies touted to be in negotiations with the Ongame Network, they've lost out on another real-money gaming plum. Ongame is the second largest online poker network, with 30 faces including Hollywoodpoker, bwin, FullDeckPoker, Gala Casinos, Coral and Betfair. Of course, the Ongame Network skins base their online gaming on more than poker, offering casino games, slot machines and sportsbetting among other real-money action. They have skins aimed at Denmark (Scandic Bookmakers), Greece (Poker.gr), Russia (Fonbet) and almost every inch of the rest of Europe, and are heavily supported in the UK by multiple outlets.
However, the plum has been pruning a bit in the harsh climate created for online real-money gaming by the events surrounding the shutdowns of several major sites such as PokerStars and FullTilt poker by the U.S. Department of Justice which began in April 2011, just one month after Ongame went on the market. Like many if not all of the other competing networks, Ongame has seen its player traffic down a hefty chunk over this last year and is surely hoping that the recent news of the PokerStars settlement with the U.S. authorities for itself and FullTilt signals a change in the weather for the better.
Come and play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk
Having recently been beat to the Facebook real money gaming punch by Gamesys, it seems that if these current rumours are true and Zynga is no longer one of the companies touted to be in negotiations with the Ongame Network, they've lost out on another real-money gaming plum. Ongame is the second largest online poker network, with 30 faces including Hollywoodpoker, bwin, FullDeckPoker, Gala Casinos, Coral and Betfair. Of course, the Ongame Network skins base their online gaming on more than poker, offering casino games, slot machines and sportsbetting among other real-money action. They have skins aimed at Denmark (Scandic Bookmakers), Greece (Poker.gr), Russia (Fonbet) and almost every inch of the rest of Europe, and are heavily supported in the UK by multiple outlets.
However, the plum has been pruning a bit in the harsh climate created for online real-money gaming by the events surrounding the shutdowns of several major sites such as PokerStars and FullTilt poker by the U.S. Department of Justice which began in April 2011, just one month after Ongame went on the market. Like many if not all of the other competing networks, Ongame has seen its player traffic down a hefty chunk over this last year and is surely hoping that the recent news of the PokerStars settlement with the U.S. authorities for itself and FullTilt signals a change in the weather for the better.
Come and play poker with Carl at www.pokerstars.co.uk
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