Zynga brings in online gambling exec as COO

Newsbrief: After losing a number of high-level executives recently, Zynga has brought in a new chief operating officer with plenty of experience in the online gambling space -- a market the social studio has been pushing into. Maytal Ginzburg Olsha previously served as the SVP of corporate and regulated markets for real-money gambling site 888.com, and will soon take on the role of COO of new markets at Zynga, according to Social Casino Intelligence. Zynga said last month that it already has real-money gambling products in development, and that it intends to release them in markets where they are regulated and open (the United States is currently not one of those markets) starting in the first half of 2013. Olsha's appointment comes at a point when a number of key employees are leaving Zynga, including former COO John Schappert, CityVille GM Alan Patmore, Mafia Wars 2 GM Erik Bethke, CCO Mike Verdu, and vice presidents Bill Mooney and Brian Birtwistle.