Home / Poker News May 2012 / Facebook IPO – Does it Impact Online Poker?
Facebook IPO – Does it Impact Online Poker?
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2012-05-17 16:25
Facebook shares have been priced at $38 in the company’s initial public offering, hitting the higher end of the prediction scale and turning several Silicon Valley residents into millionaires and billionaires in a heartbeat. The online gambling and online poker industry has long taken advantage of the social communication channels created by Facebook in particular and social media in general, therefore many believe that IPO will have a direct impact on the
online poker and gambling industries.
The IPO has obviously shown that there is great demand for Facebook shares and that investors do indeed seem to trust the company, despite statistics showing that over 50% of Americans believe it to be nothing more than a passing fad. Regardless of how the fate of the company unfolds though, one thing is certain: Facebook will have to change now that it has several million new bosses. The shareholders come with expectations and the company will be under pressure to generate revenue, there’s absolutely no doubt about that.
That pressure may well drive the company to look for revenues in verts and markets it hasn’t yet explored. Real money online gambling and poker have long been seen as possible monetization channels for the social media giant, and these channels are much more likely to be exploited now. A possible starting point for a foray into real money online poker for Facebook would be the UK, which presents a large market, with solid regulation and solid social media penetration.
The freshly legalized and regulated Nevada gambling market may also be a potential target for such a move.
How successful will Facebook be as the potential new center of the online gambling and poker industries? If Zynga’s success with its play-money Texas Holdem operation is any indication, it will indeed be massively successful.
Taking advantage of the fast-proliferating mobile apps that all major online poker operators seem to be pushing lately, Facebook may indeed end up opening up a whole new chapter in the history of real money online gaming.
