Is Facebook Poker Gambling?

TechCrunch has a very interesting article that seems to indicate that the maker of the popular Facebook poker game, Zynga, could become a target of state attorneys general. According to the article one of Zynga’s competitors had ordered a review of the legal status of offering an online poker game for free to US players and their experts concluded that it was too risky. They shared the findings with Tech Crunch.

The report makes the argument that despite Zynga’s claims that they are in the clear legally because players don’t win money it is well known that there is a secondary market for the chips. Players can sell their chips on eBay and other sites for cash which means that the chips could be construed to have value and that would mean that Zynga is no different than PartyPoker or Full Tilt Poker in that they are offering gambling for money.

While the heat may not be on Zynga today the fact that one of their competitors shared this with Tech Crunch in an attempt to put pressure on them and perhaps wake up a nutty anti-gaming attorney general means that this status may only be temporary.

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