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Zynga exec explains why it's abandoning online gambling in the U.S.

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Real-money gambling and FarmVille just don’t mix.

Zynga chief operations officer David Ko said in an analyst conference call today that the company decided not to invest in U.S. real-money online gambling because it needs to stay focused on social gaming and its core casual audience.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.