Web portal Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) will drop its Yahoo Poker, Yahoo Pool and Yahoo Bingo services for Web and mobile devices on Dec. 31.
Security issues played a part in the decision, announced just one month after Yahoo began heavily advertising its Texas Hold'em portal directly on its fantasy football webpage, according to a Forbes report on Monday.
"This decision is part of our efforts to streamline our product offerings and focus our energy and resources on developing for Yahoo's core experiences," the No. 3 Web search firm said in a blog post on Nov. 19.
Yahoo has left open the possibility of launching a new Texas Hold'em game in the future. But for now: "The company will no longer be offering the game of Texas Hold'em due to changes in the supporting technologies of the game as well as the increased security requirements needed for the Yahoo web pages. These needs have left the game 'incompatible, insecure and no longer functioning correctly' as according to Yahoo," online gambling news site 4flush.com said in a post on Monday.
Yahoo "does mention working on new online games that will include additional security measures and could include Texas Hold'em in the mix," according to 4flush.com. "If a new game is launched, Yahoo has mentioned that the poker game would be free to play and have boosts that can be purchased for additional upgrades such as with other popular games," according to the 4flush.com post.
Yahoo's Texas Hold'em online poker game only offered free chips as prizes that could be used for additional gaming, 4flush.com said in a post last month. But the poker site was "set up to enter the real money marketplace" if the option arose, according to the site.
