Zynga COO On Internet Poker Industry: "Very Interesting Opportunity"

Social gaming giant Zynga's COO John Schappert addressed reporters after the company released its first quarterly numbers, saying that the online poker business sector is a "very interesting opportunity" for the company.

Speaking about entering the online poker industry, Schappert said, ”I think it’s actually a very interesting opportunity, because we’re in a unique position. We have the world’s largest online poker game and the most social online poker game we’ve been running for four years. We had record results last quarter. And it’s one of the top six games on Facebook. So I think we’re in a very good position and it’s a category that’s interesting to us.”

The company's interest in online was expressed earlier this month and makes fiscal sense. Other online gaming software developers being acquired by traditional gambling giants such as IGT, and Churchill Downs. Other industry giants like MGM have partnered with European companies with an online presence.

Company CEO Mark Pincus announced during a conference call that:

• Zynga has grown its mobile user base to 15 million daily active users, which is up five-fold from a year ago.

• On a global basis, Zynga doubled its international revenue year-over-year, with games are now available in 17 languages compared to five languages a year ago.

• The company’s Z Cloud proprietary internet cloud infrastructure, is now managing almost 80% of daily active users. The company boasts a total of over 230 million users at present, many of these visiting on a daily basis. (Ed. note: some estimates peg daily poker player visits at over 6 million.)

• Zynga’s new destination website for social gamers is nearing completion and preparing for a live launch