Poll results: US supplier to buy Ongame
37% of readers believe a US supplier will acquire poker network " eGR reveals Zynga makes "verbal offer".
This week the collapse of Shuffle Master’s deal to acquire Ongame prompted us to again ask readers who they believed will purchase the loss-making poker network.
Shuffle Master’s decision to pull out of the 19.5m purchase, citing economic uncertainty in Europe and slow regulatory progress in the US, led bwin.party to announce last week that it was “re-engaging” with other interested parties, with the majority of eGaming Review readers “ 37% of those polled “ suggesting that these parties would be US suppliers.
The collapse prompted a significant number of readers to return to the notion that that bwin.party could choose to write the business off, with 33% saying the operator could simply dissolve Ongame rather than allow the sale to drag on any longer. When eGR originally asked readers who they believed would buy Ongame in December last year, 43% of those polled said the business would be written off. However, the situation took a remarkable turn earlier this week, when eGR exclusively revealed that social gaming giant Zynga has made a verbal offer to acquire Ongame.
The operator, which currently has more than 33m monthly active users on its flagship Zynga Poker product, is understood to be one of five bidders vying for the network, with representatives from the San Diego-based company having travelled to Ongame’s headquarters in Stockholm to discuss the sale last Friday.
Should Zynga prevail as the preferred bidder, it would mark the company’s first move into real-money gaming, with the Ongame network providing real-money liquidity, a possible entry point into Europe should Zynga wish to operate there, as well as a way of converting social gamers into real-money players. Though the network is currently loss-making, Zynga is estimated to have cash reserves of around US$1bn to invest in product development with both founder and CEO Mark Pincus and COO John Schappert have previously hinted at plans to enter real-money gambling.
In February Schappert described real money as “very interesting,” while Pincus has deemed cash gaming a “natural fit” for Zynga, name-checking Wynn Casinos to prompt rumours of a partnership between the companies.
Most crucially, should Zynga acquire Ongame it would have a poker platform which would put it in a strong position to apply for a Nevada licence, and make such partnerships even more likely.