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Just curious as to how popular this will be.......if at all.....
Wireless next step for gambling: Sports betting with cell phones is likely
By Kevin Ferguson
LAS VEGAS SUN
While driving to work one morning, you hear a radio report that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has suffered an injury in practice and will sit out that night's game against the competitive Portland Trail Blazers.
Curious about how that will shift the point spread of a game you have money riding on, you pull out your cell phone and log onto your favorite cybersports book.
The Caribbean Island-based website hadn't updated the point spread yet. So with a few keystrokes on your phone, you double the wager against your previous bet.
All of this you've accomplished without ever entering a regular casino or sports book and without logging onto the Internet with a regular computer. You've gambled with your cell phone and never had to leave your car to do it.
This scenario is not just hypothetical -- it's happening now in certain parts of the world. United Kingdom sports book operators Ladbrokes and William Hill International are already accepting sports wagers from mobile phones via their websites.
While these bets could already be made from hundreds if not thousands of websites on PCs, it's clear that mobile technology allows gamblers to be more discreet about their betting habits.
If the boss or a spouse monitors Web surfing on company or home computers, the compulsive or simply enthusiastic gambler can place bets on his wireless gadget during breaks or even while locked in the bathroom.
The end of Prohibition
Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling at the University of Nevada, Reno, compares today's largely unregulated Internet gambling industry to the period following the end of Prohibition.
That's because before the Internet put a casino in your living room, gambling was restricted to certain jurisdictions. Referring to a study by Harvard Medical School professor Howard Shaffer on the post-Prohibition era, Eadington said he expects growth in "binge gambling" resulting from a lot of people who previously didn't have access to gambling before it was offered on the Web.
"I like to call it the kid-in-the-candy-store syndrome," Eadington said. "After a while, you'll see some level of stabilization. But it's hard to tell how long that binge-period will last ... In the case of alcohol at the end of Prohibition, stabilization came over generations. It pushed its way out over time."
Eadington and other industry observers see Internet gambling getting a boost from wireless technology, but mostly in the arenas of sports book revenues and lottery businesses more so than video poker and virtual blackjack games.
"I don't really see people running around the corner to play video poker on their cell phones," UNLV professor Bill Thompson, who tracks the casino industry, said. "(But) wireless technology will make sports betting much more convenient."
One such system is being developed by Online Gaming Systems of Boca Raton, Fla. It's working on a portable, wireless miniature slot machine about the size of a laptop computer that will allow gamblers to roam throughout a casino or gamble while lounging poolside.
The system, called the Pegasus, has yet to be approved by Nevada gaming regulators. Steve Campbell, president of Excel Design, a division of Online Gaming, said the company is working on a fingerprint-scanning element that would ensure the person using it is old enough to gamble in that jurisdiction.
Las Vegas-based Anchor Gaming is contracted to market the Pegasus in North America if and when it clears regulatory hurdles.
But as Nevada and New Jersey politicians say they can efficiently regulate cyberbetting on home computers, U.S. gaming industry observers say it makes little sense for bill drafters to include clauses addressing betting from cell phones and other wireless devices.
"I think we're a long way away from Internet gambling from cell phones (in the United States)," said Tony Cabot, an Internet gambling lawyer for the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins. "The Web on my cell phone right now only works a third of the time."
William Hill, which operates more than 1,500 sports-betting shops in the United Kingdom and a Caribbean Island-based online sports book (willhill.com), has been streaming betting lines and accepting bets from mobile phones for more than a year.
Technology in infancy
Company spokesman David Hood acknowledges the technology is still in its infancy, and needs to be improved. He noted that bets taken from cell phones are still a small piece of its revenue.
"But it's important enough to continue investing in research and development (of this technology) for the future of our business," Hood said. "In three to five years, the technology will improve to the point where it will be an intregal part of our business."
And Newpalm Information Technology, a Beijing-based wireless firm, is allowing gamblers to buy lottery tickets using its mobile phones, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported.
Before they legalize and regulate e-gambling, Nevada gaming officials say they need to be assured that cybersurfers are betting online from a computer within the boundaries of a legal jurisdiction, such as within Nevada, excluding Boulder City.
Locating users
That's not so much a problem with mobile technology, said gambling analyst Sebastian Sinclair of New York-based Christiansen Capital Advisors.
"It's actually easier to locate the user of a cell phone than one on a PC, because the new cell phone technology will allow (operators) to pinpoint the location," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is referring to Global Positioning System, a technology that the Federal Communications Commission is forcing the cellular phone industry to invest millions in that will allow emergency dispatchers to pinpoint 911 calls from mobile phones.
That system is scheduled to be operating nationwide by October.
But issuing that locater information to third parties may be challenging. Privacy-rights advocates have been trying to rally support against wireless companies selling the user's location-based information to third parties, such as advertisers or private investigators working for divorce lawyers.
Sinclair said the wireless gambling industry should have no problem overcoming those obstacles, because if people want to gamble at an online casino and it requires them to provide certain information, the gamblers will do so.
"The gambling industry is a whole different animal. Gambling is not like buying a bar of soap ... Casinos can kick anybody out if they want. Wal-Mart can't do that," Sinclair said.
Cabot said the technology to locate cell phone users is very sophisticated and reliable, but may be too expensive to implement.
"The casino companies may subsidize the cost (for the consumer), but in order to do so, they would have to justify it from a cost perspective to their board of directors," Cabot said.
Wireless next step for gambling: Sports betting with cell phones is likely
By Kevin Ferguson
LAS VEGAS SUN
While driving to work one morning, you hear a radio report that Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has suffered an injury in practice and will sit out that night's game against the competitive Portland Trail Blazers.
Curious about how that will shift the point spread of a game you have money riding on, you pull out your cell phone and log onto your favorite cybersports book.
The Caribbean Island-based website hadn't updated the point spread yet. So with a few keystrokes on your phone, you double the wager against your previous bet.
All of this you've accomplished without ever entering a regular casino or sports book and without logging onto the Internet with a regular computer. You've gambled with your cell phone and never had to leave your car to do it.
This scenario is not just hypothetical -- it's happening now in certain parts of the world. United Kingdom sports book operators Ladbrokes and William Hill International are already accepting sports wagers from mobile phones via their websites.
While these bets could already be made from hundreds if not thousands of websites on PCs, it's clear that mobile technology allows gamblers to be more discreet about their betting habits.
If the boss or a spouse monitors Web surfing on company or home computers, the compulsive or simply enthusiastic gambler can place bets on his wireless gadget during breaks or even while locked in the bathroom.
The end of Prohibition
Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling at the University of Nevada, Reno, compares today's largely unregulated Internet gambling industry to the period following the end of Prohibition.
That's because before the Internet put a casino in your living room, gambling was restricted to certain jurisdictions. Referring to a study by Harvard Medical School professor Howard Shaffer on the post-Prohibition era, Eadington said he expects growth in "binge gambling" resulting from a lot of people who previously didn't have access to gambling before it was offered on the Web.
"I like to call it the kid-in-the-candy-store syndrome," Eadington said. "After a while, you'll see some level of stabilization. But it's hard to tell how long that binge-period will last ... In the case of alcohol at the end of Prohibition, stabilization came over generations. It pushed its way out over time."
Eadington and other industry observers see Internet gambling getting a boost from wireless technology, but mostly in the arenas of sports book revenues and lottery businesses more so than video poker and virtual blackjack games.
"I don't really see people running around the corner to play video poker on their cell phones," UNLV professor Bill Thompson, who tracks the casino industry, said. "(But) wireless technology will make sports betting much more convenient."
One such system is being developed by Online Gaming Systems of Boca Raton, Fla. It's working on a portable, wireless miniature slot machine about the size of a laptop computer that will allow gamblers to roam throughout a casino or gamble while lounging poolside.
The system, called the Pegasus, has yet to be approved by Nevada gaming regulators. Steve Campbell, president of Excel Design, a division of Online Gaming, said the company is working on a fingerprint-scanning element that would ensure the person using it is old enough to gamble in that jurisdiction.
Las Vegas-based Anchor Gaming is contracted to market the Pegasus in North America if and when it clears regulatory hurdles.
But as Nevada and New Jersey politicians say they can efficiently regulate cyberbetting on home computers, U.S. gaming industry observers say it makes little sense for bill drafters to include clauses addressing betting from cell phones and other wireless devices.
"I think we're a long way away from Internet gambling from cell phones (in the United States)," said Tony Cabot, an Internet gambling lawyer for the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins. "The Web on my cell phone right now only works a third of the time."
William Hill, which operates more than 1,500 sports-betting shops in the United Kingdom and a Caribbean Island-based online sports book (willhill.com), has been streaming betting lines and accepting bets from mobile phones for more than a year.
Technology in infancy
Company spokesman David Hood acknowledges the technology is still in its infancy, and needs to be improved. He noted that bets taken from cell phones are still a small piece of its revenue.
"But it's important enough to continue investing in research and development (of this technology) for the future of our business," Hood said. "In three to five years, the technology will improve to the point where it will be an intregal part of our business."
And Newpalm Information Technology, a Beijing-based wireless firm, is allowing gamblers to buy lottery tickets using its mobile phones, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported.
Before they legalize and regulate e-gambling, Nevada gaming officials say they need to be assured that cybersurfers are betting online from a computer within the boundaries of a legal jurisdiction, such as within Nevada, excluding Boulder City.
Locating users
That's not so much a problem with mobile technology, said gambling analyst Sebastian Sinclair of New York-based Christiansen Capital Advisors.
"It's actually easier to locate the user of a cell phone than one on a PC, because the new cell phone technology will allow (operators) to pinpoint the location," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is referring to Global Positioning System, a technology that the Federal Communications Commission is forcing the cellular phone industry to invest millions in that will allow emergency dispatchers to pinpoint 911 calls from mobile phones.
That system is scheduled to be operating nationwide by October.
But issuing that locater information to third parties may be challenging. Privacy-rights advocates have been trying to rally support against wireless companies selling the user's location-based information to third parties, such as advertisers or private investigators working for divorce lawyers.
Sinclair said the wireless gambling industry should have no problem overcoming those obstacles, because if people want to gamble at an online casino and it requires them to provide certain information, the gamblers will do so.
"The gambling industry is a whole different animal. Gambling is not like buying a bar of soap ... Casinos can kick anybody out if they want. Wal-Mart can't do that," Sinclair said.
Cabot said the technology to locate cell phone users is very sophisticated and reliable, but may be too expensive to implement.
"The casino companies may subsidize the cost (for the consumer), but in order to do so, they would have to justify it from a cost perspective to their board of directors," Cabot said.
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