Mobile Gambling

This is the final chapter of my research about mobile gambling.

It started when I looked for information on the keywords "mobile gambling" and arrived to a certain mobile gambling homepage.
Then I made preliminary researches about Black Jack, Poker and Roulette – just to get acquainted with the lingo.
(It also serves as a demonstration of QTSaver capabilities).

In all the chapters I used the same procedure: adding the first suggested keyword to the original search phrase. Each chapter took me about an hour. I started as a complete ignoramus and you can comment on this posting and tell me how I ended…

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2003-04-12-m-gambling_x.htm
"M-gambling" is gaining speed after a sputtering start in the late 1990s when it relied on a far slower technology called WAP. In the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Britain and Austria, regular mobile phones can now be used to buy lottery tickets, bet on sporting events or enter sweepstakes for prizes.
"In your mind, you've already won." With sales of traditional lottery tickets falling and state-run lotteries looking to attract a new generation of customers, the time is ripe for m-gambling. Government-approved mobile lotteries have recently been introduced in the Netherlands and Sweden, and the United Kingdom is likely to follow.
These lotteries are based on existing formats such as lotto, and players dial in a set of numbers to compete in daily or weekly draws. Currently worth an estimated annual $50 million, the mobile gambling market is expected to surge in coming years, said Robin Bosworth, an analyst with the U.
The gambling company and the mobile operator typically split revenues. This new sector is also attracting major companies: Hewlett-Packard provides hardware and systems to Openlot, a mobile lottery software developer in Amsterdam. Siemens provides financial and marketing support to a German m-gambling software startup, Scaraboo.
Social problems associated with gambling don't disappear when it becomes wireless. Roel Kerssemakers of Jellinek, an addiction-prevention center in Amsterdam, believes that because instant games can be addictive and dangerous "they definitely shouldn't be offered through a threshold as low as the mobile telephone." Some mobile service providers, worried that customers might rack up huge debts on their regular phone bills, are experimenting with prepaid cards. Selman also notes that m-gambling offers inherent control mechanisms, such as daily spending limits.
http://www.alatto.com/gamblingreportpr.html
According to Whelan, “at one extreme there are infrequent players who regard mobile gambling as an innocuous time filler or a more convenient way to play the lottery. At the other extreme are frequent, heavy ganblers who are motivated by the ubiquitous availability, isolation and anonymity of m-gambling.
The report also highlights the unique benefits that mobile gambling offers to all types of player. Not alone is it more convenient than traditional methods but it offers the possibility to place a wager at any time and any place.
From a regulatory perspective, mobile gambling offers advantages over Internet based gambling. In particular, the unique ability to detect the location of a mobile phone allows the operator to determine if the user is within a jurisdiction where mobile gambling is licensed.
Alatto believes that premium SMS represents a secure and convenient payment breakthrough for low value wagers such as lottery tickets. For more serious ganblers, a gambling account separate from the mobile device account will be the preferred solution in the short term. The gambling account can be replenished either by vouchers (like pre-pay mobiles) or by credit/debit card over a fixed line phone.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/gaming/2003/apr/14/514943826.html
Las Vegas SUN: Europe bets on mobile gambling
Currently worth an estimated annual $50 million, the mobile gambling market is expected to surge in coming years, said Robin Bosworth, an analyst with the U.
The gambling company and the mobile operator typically split revenues.
This new sector is also attracting major companies: Hewlett-Packard provides hardware and systems to Openlot, a mobile lottery software developer in Amsterdam. Siemens provides financial and marketing support to a German m-gambling software startup, Scaraboo.
http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0304/13/technology-134696.htm
Forget about grand casinos and shady bookmakers. Europeans can now satisfy their gambling urges on the spot -- with their cell phones. "M-gambling" is gaining speed after a sputtering start in the late 1990s when it relied on a far slower technology called WAP. In the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Britain and Austria, regular mobile phones can now be used to buy lottery tickets, bet on sporting events or enter sweepstakes for prizes.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2003/apr/14/514943826.html
"M-gambling" is gaining speed after a sputtering start in the late 1990s when it relied on a far slower technology called WAP.
M-gambling is a largely anonymous pursuit, which is part of its appeal to players and operators alike. The technology obviates the need for face-to-face contact, and participants never see their competitors.
With sales of traditional lottery tickets falling and state-run lotteries looking to attract a new generation of customers, the time is ripe for m-gambling.
This new sector is also attracting major companies: Hewlett-Packard provides hardware and systems to Openlot, a mobile lottery software developer in Amsterdam. Siemens provides financial and marketing support to a German m-gambling software startup, Scaraboo.
Growth in m-gambling is based largely on the success of text messaging, or SMS, technology. In Britain alone, more than 1 billion SMS messages are sent every month.
Its ease gels nicely with the impulsive character of games of chance. Some m-gambling operators even allow bets to be placed after a sporting event has started, so users can bet from the stands.
Selman also notes that m-gambling offers inherent control mechanisms, such as daily spending limits.
http://www.rgtonline.com/Article.cfm?ArticleId=54530&CategoryName=Online+Gaming
UK -- With the Government looking to review gambling regulations for the first time since 1968, the legislation around m-gambling is provoking huge levels of interest. The Netherlands and Sweden have already created 'mobile' lottery licences and Britain is set to follow suit.
Crucially, the Government is also looking to ensure that the UK industry wins its share of the revenue. M-gambling applications are coming onto the market with increasing rapidity and m-gambling has the potential to be a highly lucrative market for both service providers and operators. According to Alatto Research Group, the m-gambling market could reach almost £500 million by 2006.
Positive legislation is therefore important to prevent companies exploiting this new market without the right technology and without a licence. In addition, as m-gambling evolves, regulation will promote user confidence in the industry by ensuring that there are legal requirements for user security such as age verification and accurate pricing and billing information. In time, over 4.5% of users will visit a casino via their mobile, with average spending estimated at around £53 per month.
In fact, certain companies have already started to invest in developing interactive casino and betting games on a Java platform. M-gambling is completely portable and now that network coverage has reached almost 100%, the mobile phone could rapidly become ideal tool for having a flutter. Consumers can place bets on favourite sports matches or play a game of blackjack or poker – anytime, any place, at the touch of a button.
http://www.the3gportal.com/members/archives/cat_applications.html
July 07, 2003 Horse gambling over a 3G network
With its new UMTS platform for mobile betting on horse races, the German provider of mobile gambling software company, scaraboo allows users to place bets via mobile devices such as Pocket PCs and mobile phones.
http://www.billingworld.com/archive-detail.cfm?archiveId=7661&hl=mobile%3Agaming
Gaming can mean many different things to different people and companies. The term "3G" has been coined in the gaming world to mean "girls, games and gambling" as the three areas where mobile phones are expected to generate significant revenue.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/mobilematters/story/0,12454,1409179,00.html
Nobody had such a powerful communications system in mind when that legislation was being enacted." Most of the bill, the government says, regulates remote gambling - on mobile telephones, the internet and interactive television - which specialists suggest 800,000 adults per month participate in. "Our controls on commercial gambling are being undermined by technology," a DCMS spokesperson says. Once the bill is made law, the Gambling Commission will award remote service providers with licences only after certain conditions are met.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,63226,00.html?tw=wn_culthead_1
A Nevada company is hoping to win the business of gaming operators around the world with a new technology it says could port casino games onto mobile phones. The so-called mCasino technology is intended to give casinos a way to keep customers happy -- read: playing and betting -- even when they're away from the tables.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,2120834,00.htm
August 14, 2002, 11:48 GMT
Siemens and software start-up Scaraboo are trying to change the ancient maxim of gambling that you can't bet on a contest that has already started It's been the one sure thing in gambling: you can't bet on the outcome of a sports contest once it's begun. But German software start-up Scaraboo and telephone equipment maker Siemens are trying to change this centuries old dynamic with what they're calling "live betting."