Top Gambling News: PokerAce Shuts Down, Zynga Lays Off 500 Plus Staff

These are the top gambling news stories here at Gambling911.com for the late evening and overnight hours of June 3 and June 4. Follow us on Twitter here.

*PokerAce Online Poker Room Shuts Down – PokerNews.com broke the story late Monday that the online poker site PokerAce will be closing its doors. 

PokerAce has only existed for 10 months.  The company offered its own software with a focus on Asian bookmakers including DafaPoker, which is expected to be taking over all PokerAce accounts.

 “We have made arrangements with Dafapoker one of Asia’s top online poker rooms where players will be able to continue to play using their current account details and player balances. All PokerAce player account details and balances are safe and will be automatically transferred to Dafapoker from Wednesday June 5, 2013, at 6:00 p.m.

“Thank you for your support so far. We are sad to discontinue and understand the inconvenience it may cause, for which we sincerely apologize. Much thought has gone into the decision, and we know that teaming up with Dafapoker is very much the right decision for our players.”

This is the second online poker site to shut down in so many days.  Last week, AmsterdamPoker.com was forced to shut down after Dutch authorities seized the site domain name and froze bank accounts belonging to that website’s owners. 

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*Zynga Cuts 18 Percent of Workforce - SAN FRANCISCO (Associated Press) Online game maker Zynga Inc. said Monday that it is cutting 520 jobs, about 18 per cent of its workforce, in a cost-saving move designed to help it adapt to consumers shifting game play from computers to mobile devices.

Zynga said it expects the move to save about $70 million to $80 million in annual costs. But the San Francisco-based company behind Farmville and Words With Friends also now expects a worse loss in the second quarter than it previously anticipated, as well as weak bookings, which will weigh on future revenue.

Zynga's stock plunged 12 per cent to close at $2.99 on the Nasdaq after trading was halted twice on Monday. Its shares have traded below $4 since about July 2012, after debuting at $10 in its December 2011 initial public offering.

The cost-cutting, which also includes some office closures, is "proactive" and done from a position of financial strength, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a blog post.

"By reducing our cost structure today, we will offer our teams the runway they need to take risks and develop these breakthrough new social experiences," he said.

*Tim Tebow Done – A couple of online sportsbooks were offering odds on Tim Tebow and where he might end up.  It turns out he is being cut from the National Football League.

In an article in ESPN the Magazine, David Fleming writes that those close to Tebow are “privately admitting that his NFL run is probably over” — the first such statement to leak from Tebow’s inner circle, though it’s been widely assumed that the combination of Tebow’s inadequacy as a player and the media circus that follows him might make finding employment challenging.

The article also cites an NFC scout who seems to agree with that assessment of Tebow’s prospects.

“He’s not a quarterback,” the scout told Fleming. “When you look at his run two years ago, when you watch the tape and break it down, he wasn’t really doing anything that impressive. He’s a tough guy, a great leader, a great person. But he isn’t a good enough quarterback to have all the distractions that come with him.” (Source:  Fox Sports)

*Colorful Cast of Mobsters Will Take the Stand in Whitey Bulger Trial - Bulger’s trial, set to begin today with jury selection, promises to have all the glamour and gore of a TV mob drama. Prosecutors plan to call a collection of infamous mob figures, including Bulger’s former partner, Stephen ‘The Rifleman’ Flemmi, who is now serving a life sentence for 10 murders and admitted pulling the teeth out of some of the gang’s victims, including his own girlfriend.

Former hit man John Martorano, who admitted killing 20 people, will also take the stand, as will Kevin Weeks, a former Bulger lieutenant who eventually led authorities to half a dozen bodies.

Bulger’s lawyers have made it clear they will attack the credibility of men they describe as “once-reviled criminal defendants” whom prosecutors have eagerly transformed into “loyal government witnesses”. (source: Irish Examiner)