Zynga holds bet on gambling games

Zynga has decided to put its real-money gaming aspirations on hold, the company revealed today.

This was a big day for the social games company, with newly arrived CEO Don Mattrick at bat for the first time in an investor brief, and following the news that King had overtaken the company in terms of market share.

Mattrick said that over the next 90 days he would be evaluating everything about Zynga’s business from top to bottom, trying to break old habits, and even overhauling the product pipeline.

Part of the company’s new recovery game plan involves checking its bet on real money games.

“Zynga believes its biggest opportunity is to focus on free to play social games,” read the company’s earnings report.

“While the Company continues to evaluate its real money gaming products in the United Kingdom test, Zynga is making the focused choice not to pursue a license for real money gaming in the United States.”

For the past few months much of the news coming out of Zynga has revolved around its ambitions in the gambling market.

Aside from the “test” run of Facebook gambling games in the UK, Zynga Poker, and other US casino titles, the company acquired social and casino game studio Spooky Cool.

For now at least, it seems Zynga is less enthusiastic about the transition to real-money games, but that doesn’t mean the company won’t still be making free-to-play casino titles.

“Zynga will continue to evaluate all of its priorities against the growing market opportunity in free, social gaming, including social casino offerings,” read a statement.