Facebook Users Turn To Poker

Social networking site witnesses growth in number of poker players.

The growth of Facebook applications is creating a new audience for online poker, it has been claimed.

Gareth Davis, chief of games at the social networking giant, said that an increasing number of people are using Facebook applications to play games, with poker one of the most popular choices.

Speaking to Reuters at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, he revealed that Texas HoldEm Poker is now in the top ten most-used applications on Facebook.

"With all that growth, what we've seen is a tremendous interest in the usage of games," Mr Davis explained.

"Poker just passed 11 million monthly users, which is the same size as [popular online role-playing game] World of Warcraft."

Mr Davis believes that a shift away from solo video games to more social forms of entertainment is driving the interest in poker and other applications.

Founded in 2004, Facebook now has more than 175 million registered users and employs over 700 people.