Zynga and bwin.party end UK RMG partnership
Social gaming operator to end UK real-money venture with bwin.party with ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino apps to close imminently
Social games developer Zynga is to officially end its UK real-money operations in the coming weeks as it prepares to close poker and casino products developed in partnership with bwin.party.
The San Francisco-based company sent an email to players yesterday explaining that ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino were to cease operating “shortly”, less than two years after first launching.
“As part of a multi-year partnership with bwin.party, over the last two years Zynga has conducted a focused test of select real money gaming products – ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino – in the UK,” a Zynga spokesperson told eGaming Review.
“Zynga remains committed to delivering consumers unparalleled free-to-play mobile gaming experiences in the mainstream, evergreen categories they care the most about,” the spokesperson added.
The company previously announced plans to limit its push into real-money gaming and in mid-2013 had also revealed it had ended its pursuit of a real-money gaming (RMG) licence in the US.
Zynga originally launched bwin.party-powered RMG products ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino on Facebook and desktop, in addition to mobile poker app at a later date, and regulated under the operator’s Gibraltar licence.
The move came after the company previously changed the terms of its contract with Facebook, which gave it the flexibility to potentially launch RMG on the social network where regulations allowed.