It's official: Zynga chases online gambling outside the U.S. in 2013

Let's start with the obvious: When it comes to the green stuff, no game company is, well, playing games. But Zynga is about to enter a whole new playing field. CEO and co-founder Mark Pincus recently announced that his social gaming giant will enter the real-money gaming (or online gambling) business outside the U.S. in 2013. In fact, Zynga already has products in the pipeline.

"What we've said, and what we have to announce today, is that we have our first products in development and that we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing," Pincus said during an unfortunate analyst conference call, TechCrunch reports.

Given that only a handful of states in the U.S. currently allow for online gambling, this move is strictly for markets and audiences outside of the country. "The US is obviously an attractive market, but it's not an open, regulated environment today," Pincus said. But really, who didn't see this coming from a mile away? Were Zynga Poker, Zynga Bingo and Zynga Slingo not enough of a hint?

While Pincus is self-admittedly "not a good predictor of politics," according to TechCrunch, the CEO does foresee online gambling being legalized in the U.S. in some form. Does Pincus have the word "prediction" confused with "hope"? Come back to us in 2014.

Are you interested in seeing Zynga's first-ever online gambling products? Will this be a success for Zynga? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.