Maytal Ginzburg Climbs Aboard Zynga’s Executive Merry-Go-Round

Yesterday Zynga’s Studios VP, Bill Mooney, and marketing VP, Brian Birtwistle, joined the growing list of Executives who no longer are employed at Zynga (1, 2, 3). The mass exodus of high ranking officials that have recently departed Zynga had many guessing as to what is going on in ZyngaVille.

Tricia Duryee

Also late yesterday, Tricia Duryee, of AllThingsD, reported that Maytal Ginzburg (formerly the SVP of regulated markets at 888.com) was hired by Zynga as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Maytal Ginzburg Olsha

888 Holdings Public Limited Company (888) is one of the world’s most popular online gaming entertainment and solutions providers. 888.com offers real-money games such as poker, bingo and sports betting, in markets where online gambling is regulated.

The hiring of Maytal Ginzburg may put an end to any claims or speculations that Zynga is looking to tap into the online legalized gambling markets.

Pincus said he expects to launch Zynga’s first real-money gaming products in international markets in the first half of 2013, subject to licensing approvals.

When you see the amount of money that legalized gambling generates just for the United States you can understand why Mark Pincus wants to cut into the gambling scene.

According to the American Gaming Association, legal gambling revenues for 2007 were as follows:

• Card Rooms - $1.18 billion
• Commercial Casinos - $34.41 billion
• Charitable Games and Bingo - $2.22 billion
• Indian Casinos - $26.02 billion
• Legal Bookmaking - $168.8 million
• Lotteries - $24.78 billion
• Pari-mutuel Wagering - $3.50 billion

Grand Total - $92.27 billion

The parimutuel system is used in gambling on horse racing, greyhound racing, jai alai, and all sporting events of relatively short duration in which participants finish in a ranked order. A modified parimutuel system is also used in some lottery games.

Source wikipedia

money.msn.com touches on the dark side of Zynga’s ventures ino legalized online gambling when Louis Bedigian wrote the following;

Zynga hires online gambling expert

The company is already making some big bets on real-money gaming ventures.

Investors need to be wary, however. Zynga is not an everyday game developer with a turnaround plan. Many believe that, from day one, the company has thrived by exploiting the work of other, more talented and more creative corporations. This strategy allowed Zynga to soar to the top of Facebook (FB -5.40%) gaming.

Critics of Zynga might be inclined to believe that the company will use the same exploitation and copycat tactics to bolster its online gambling business. But in this case, Zynga may not just be exploiting the work of other developers -- it might also exploit consumers.

Facebook seems to be ill-suited for real money gambling. People carelessly jump in and out of social media games without giving them a second thought. By taking advantage of this, Zynga will inevitably publish and promote games that people spend more money on than they had intended.

This will occur even if the company has no intention of exploiting consumers. Zynga may only wish to exploit its fellow game developers. If consumers buy into this exploitation, however, and come to Facebook with bulging eyes at the prospect of winning real money, no one wins. In this scenario, everyone loses.

There will no doubt be a few talented poker players who will win big, giving hope to the rest of the world. These men and women are likely to appreciate Zynga's effort even if they don't support the company's corporate policies. That is understandable. But it does not mean that consumers, investors, or anyone else should sit back and let Zynga take advantage of another market.

Certainly some gamblers will win on occasion. But I do have to argue Louis Bedigian when he stated ‘There will no doubt be a few talented poker players who will win big’. One’s poker talents and knowledge is null when it comes to internet gambling. It’s a fool’s game to play online since these internet games can so easily be manipulated and coded to only payout to specified individuals who spend certain amounts of money. Online gambling can not be guaranteed to be pure chance.

And bluffing? Bluffing is out the window since there is no Poker Face to see!

For me, personally, I would NEVER place an online real-money bet ANYWHERE! ANYTIME! 

I won’t even play in real casino’s (like Wheeling Downs for example) because of the electronic card shuffling machines. If it’s electronic or computerized it’s too easy for the house to cheat.

 

Do you remember this old saying; ‘A fool and his money are soon parted’?

New VIP Loots – August 30 3012

 

VIP Members are happy today. They get new loots to drop while fighting.

The loots that those who are VIP Members include

Chisel Plough

Clawbot

Platypus

Cut-Proof Suit

Retro Bus

Milkman

Those players who have continuously purchased VIP Memberships for at least 4 consecutive months will also get 2 additional loots to drop.   These 2 loots include;

Riddickted

Sable

If you are a VIP Member, I hope you enjoy your benefits.

That is, while there are still enough players for you to beat up on.

There’s Got To Be A Mistake

On occasion I check the Mafia Wars stats on appdata.com. When I checked the stats this morning I got a huge surprise. The appdata.com stats for Mafia Wars are showing only 100,000 players for the past day. Here is what I saw;

With kids going back to school and a holiday coming up I expected to see a decline from the 320,000 daily players (which was Mafia Wars DAU for 7 consecutive days).

Either this number is inaccurate or many players are taking a break or the rapture happened and I am one of only a few bad asses who are left playing Mafia Wars.

What do you think is going on with these numbers? Will they look different in an hour?

More Zynga Executives Say Goodbye

 

Chief Creative Officer at Zynga, Mike Verdu confirmed to AllThingsD that he is leaving Zynga to start his own game company.  AllThingsD also reported that Zynga will be an investor in Verdu’s new company.

On the heels of several other Zynga executives taking a gamble and leave Zynga Mike Verda and Zynga made this press release earlier today;

Starting A New Chapter

Submitted by Mike Verdu on Tue, 08/28/2012 - 15:00

During my three years at Zynga, I've seen the company grow from a small, scrappy start-up on the frontier of interactive entertainment to a large, world-class organization with 20 development studios around the world and a deep well of amazing talent. With just the right mix of Web 2.0 and game DNA, Zynga blends art and science to deliver game experiences that are played by tens of millions of people every day on their computers and mobile devices.

I'm very proud of my part in building this remarkable company, especially in growing and nurturing what has become a vibrant community of game designers, producers, and creative leaders. These are the people who will create the entertainment experiences of the future.

Now, however, it's time for me to try something new. Being at Zynga in the early days reminded me of how much I love being an entrepreneur. After a lot of soul-searching, I have decided to go back to my roots and start a new company.

It's tough to leave people I admire and respect - and something that I have helped to build. I thank Mark for his leadership, friendship, and unwavering support. And I thank the people of Zynga for making my time at the company some of the best years of my career.

This makes investors, as well as fans of Zynga’s games and services, wonder what is going on inside Townsend Center (Zynga’s Headquarters)? How volatile is Zynga? How many more employees and executives will say goodbye to Hollywood (Hollywood being Zynga)?