Millions of people around the world already play poker on Facebook for play chips and the company recently announced moves that might give it a direct cut of the real money online poker play in some countries.
Facebook has reportedly approached several potential online partners with an eye towards offering real money poker games to Facebook users in the UK, with 888 tapped as the most likely partner.
Facebook is thought to be positioning itself for an IPO early in 2012 that could raise $10 billion or more, with the addition of additional revenue streams such as from online poker likely boosting its haul in an IPO.
The company also recently allowed online gambling ads in some countries and updated its gambling app policy to enable a much larger swath of companies to be able to launch related apps.
