SANTA MONICA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/21/12 -- Playsino (http://www.playsino.com/), one of the world's fastest growing social casino companies, announced today the first two games to be released under the Playsino Publishing Network: Five-O Poker, a particularly creative take on poker, and Yalla Tarneeb, a popular Middle Eastern card game. Five-O Poker, brought to Playsino by Israel-based Chiki Gaming, is unique in that five poker hands are played simultaneously between two players, adding an extra, intriguing level of tactical thinking to the already fantastically strategic classic. Yalla Tarneeb, a tremendously popular game throughout Arab countries, is a bid, trick and trump-based game developed by Yallah Games.

"We're elated to be working with these two great companies and proud to have been chosen to publish their top games," said Doug Dyer, Playsino's recently hired vice president of product and publishing. "These two games are the perfect kick-off for our publishing network and will do wonderfully as they benefit from, and add to, the liquidity between each other and amongst Playsino's current games."

Playsino's Publishing Network's program is designed to bring new and unique social casino products into the Playsino gaming ecosystem. The company's goal is to market and support games that are not run-of-the-mill casino fare as exemplified by both Five-O Poker and Yalla Tarneeb.

"The first few steps in establishing a solid social presence for Yallah Games includes our partnership with Playsino," said HRH Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al-Saud, Yallah Games founder. "We offer a new and innovative gaming platform that is working with and targeting the growing online population in the Middle East. By partnering with Playsino, we're making it easy for our gaming community to grow and engage the public."

Other games in the Playsino Publishing Network include Solitaire and Prizes, Playsino Poker and Bingo World, which was recently launched on iPad.

According to a recent report, "Social Gambling: Click Here to Play," by Morgan Stanley, social casino gaming is expected to grow from $1.7 billion today to $2.5 billion in annual revenues by 2015 -- and could even go as high as $7 billion -- helping to drive growth for real money gambling in addition to the virtual currency world.

Unlike most social games, social casino games have a high customer retention rate, according to Morgan Stanley's blue paper, a fact of immense value as the industry is forecast to continue its trend of consolidation, not only among social gaming companies but also real-money companies. This puts Playsino -- the only publishing network solely focused on helping social casino developers acquire and monetize gamers on Facebook and mobile platforms -- its partners and its unique value proposition in a strong position to ride the upcoming wave.

Playsino is helmed by Brock Pierce, one of the most recognized figures in the global online gaming space, across genres from MMOs to social casinos and iGaming. Pierce is well-known for his unprecedented success in online gaming, and as CEO of Playsino and a board member and investor in many online gaming companies, is ideally positioned to scale Playsino, with its wide variety of casino-inspired games, into the world's leading iGaming publisher.

Companies interested in working with Playsino should send an e-mail to publishing@playsino.com.

About Playsino
Playsino, a social casino games publisher, brings the exciting world of free-to-play casino games to mobile and social platforms globally. The Playsino Publisher Network (http://www.playsino.com/) is the only publishing network solely focused on helping social casino developers acquire and monetize social casino gamers on social and mobile platforms. The company is run by proven entrepreneurs and game industry veterans. Playsino is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., and Kiev, Ukraine.

About Yallah Games
Yallah Games, a social games company, brings an exciting range of free-to-play games to mobile and social platforms, targeting the Middle East, its expanding social networks and impressive growth in online gamers, monetizing on social and mobile platforms. The company is founded and run by proven serial entrepreneur, game and Internet industry expert, HRH Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al-Saud.

About Chiki Gaming
Chiki Gaming was founded in late 2011. Our mission is to develop a clever, funny and social game. Five-O Poker, Chiki's first undertaking, matches all three goals. Five-O Poker is a sophisticated poker game, played one on one against opponents from around the world. Join today and play with thousands of players who are already playing the most entertaining poker game on the Web!