GSN/Worldwinner looking to bring cash gaming competitions to Facebook

To the extent that Facebook gaming is about competition, it's usually a competition that's purely over bragging rights. Even the 50 million poker games on the social network restrict themselves to gambling for fake money. A company called WorldWinner seems poised to change that, though, by bringing its system of cash gaming tournaments to Facebook.

A subsidiary of TV's Game Show Network, WorldWinner currently offers a variety of skill-based gaming competitions on its website. Players can wager a dollar or more that they'll be able to score higher than a randomly assigned opponent (or opponents) on many popular casual games, including Solitaire, Bejeweled, Minesweeper and Plants vs. Zombies. Worldwinner takes a perecentage of each entry fee for itself, and the winner of the competition nets the remainder.

The company seems excited about bringing these kinds of cash-based gaming competitions to a platform with the size and scale of Facebook. "It's only in the last nine months or so that people have built up a critical mass on Facebook games," WorldWinner president Peter Blacklow told Xconomy. "Now, when the Zangas [sic] and Playdoms and Playfishes have created the critical mass, the timing is perfect. None of them have any intention of getting into cash tournament games, but they all know there is no better way to generate revenue."

The company has already launched one Facebook game, a free-to-play trivia contest called Dumbville that's designed to draw new registrants to the WorldWinner site. Blacklow promised two game-show-based Facebook games this summer, though it's not clear whether these will be free-to-play, cash competitions or some combination.