Zynga Poker, the social gaming content developer that boasts almost 30 million users a month on its free-to-play poker product, appears to be taking up much of the advertising slack created by the departure from the US of major advertisers like Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker in the wake of Black Friday.
The company has reportedly taken a substantial chunk of advertising on the ESPN network much favoured by major online poker operators in televising major live tourneys and .net promotional activities.
The obvious conclusion is that Zynga is closely following the legalisation trend for online poker in the United States, where it is based in San Francisco, and possibly has early positioning plans of its own.
If true, the company could represent a formidable competitor with a vast player base. Strengthening that speculation in recent months, Zynga has been beefing up its software and services.