Free To Play Online Poker Room ZEN Gaming Files for Bankruptcy
One of the leading free to play online poker networks, ZEN Gaming, has filed for bankruptcy protection with its future uncertain. The company relied heavily on an ad support platform but has been met with fierce competition, mostly from real money Web poker rooms that also offer the free to play format. Still, ZEN Gaming does boast of having more than 750,000 registrants with over $100k in cash prizes awarded monthly.
The problem, a la PokerFuse.com:
It failed to turn a profit since inception, and borrowed over $16m in the last three years in hopes that regulated online poker in the US would give value to its 750k strong player base.
South Point Poker, the off strip Vegas casino, had initially set up its free to play online poker site on the ZEN Gaming Network, a move that would ultimately prove to be disastrous. South Point is currently developing its own Web card room due out some time this year.
ZEN would like to enter into a deal with NYX Gaming whereby the later becomes a sole shareholder and ponies up just shy of $700k, according to PokerFuse.
ZEN CEO Marc Sperberg might as well have hammered the final nail in the coffin, contending that the “business model is unsuccessful, and shows no signs of becoming profitable in the future.”
“From inception in November, 2008, [ZEN Entertainment] has been cash flow negative and has never made a profit,” Sperberg noted as part of a filing on Friday.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest free to play online poker room, Zynga, saw its share price rise sharply Monday by 14 percent ahead of its quarterly earnings report on January 5. Zynga has already announced its plans to develop a real money online poker platform during the first part of 2013.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
