Ex-Zynga developers raise $1.4M to fund new studio and casino games

Blackjack

I hope you’re priming your dopamine-glands, because the casino-game trend isn’t going anywhere.

Bee Cave Games, a new studio from former three Zynga developers, announced that it raised $1.4 million today to release titles based on casino games, according to All Things D.

Casino titles are a popular subset of Facebook, social, and mobile gaming. Zynga recently released its Zynga Elite Slots game, which joins its stable of other gambling related games. Zynga is making moves to push real-money gambling in its social games. We’ll see if Bee Cave Games does something similar.

Founders Erik Bethke, Nimai Malle, and Jeremy Strauser, who previously worked on games like Mafia Wars, Mafia Wars 2, and Zynga Poker, started Bee Cave Games in Austin, Texas, after leaving the social-gaming giant.

The studio released its latest game, Blackjack Casino, on Facebook in a closed beta. It plans to release the game on mobile platforms as well.