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Cell gaming
Published: 2005-04-29
9:38 pm
Cell gaming
Updated: 4/29/2005 5:03 PM
By: Adam Balkin, News 10 Now Web Staff
You don't have to be in Vegas, you don't even have to be near a computer - you can now win or lose real money playing poker at any time, from anywhere.
Online gambling site PokerRoom.com has just launched a mobile version of its game that you can play from your cell phone.
“We have seven card, Omaha, high-low and hold 'em, which is our most popular game,” says Patrak Selin, the CEO of PokerRoom.com. “The minimum bet is $1, and the maximum bet is $100. In poker you only bet against other people, and we take out a percentage of the winnings - that's how we make our money. You can play with other people on cellular phones, or with people online.”
If you're among those who like to head down to Atlantic City or over to the nearest Indian reservation to try your hand at the poker tables, you can now save, at the very least, your airfare or car money. In the following story, Adam Balkin has more on gambling from anywhere you can get good cell phone service.
This is all legal because PokerRoom is based in Sweden, with computer servers that sit on a Candian Indian reservation.
One major scary aspect of phone gambling is you could have $100 down, be holding a royal flush, and then - as happens so often - your cell service cuts out. If that happens, there's a good chance you'll just lose your money.
“If somebody is raising as you disconnect, it's the same as you're folding, so you need to have a good connection,” says Selin. “If we see that you're disconnected you will have an extra 30 seconds to get connected again.”
The other cause for concern is of course addiction. Some researchers who study gambling addiction say giving all of us the ability to gamble with real money anytime, anywhere is nothing short of dangerous for people with gambling problems, or anyone who has potential to develop a gambling problem.
Dr. Stephen Ross is Associate Director of the Substance Abuse and Alcoholism program at NYU and Bellevue Hospital.
“I think it's a potential nightmare,” he says. “It's sort of like making a drug available everywhere. Imagine if people could use cocaine or heroine everywhere like cigarettes? But even worse, you can't smoke a cigarette in a bus or a public space, but now you can gamble sort of privately right there, anywhere, so I think it's a total disaster. When you give people who could potentially become addicted that much availability and that much ease, it's going to be combustible.”
“People can restrict themselves so they don't lose more money than what they believe is within their limits,” says Selin. “We also train all of our staff at customer support to take care of problem gamblers.”
Right now cell gambling is available on just two phones, the Nokia 6660 and the Sony Ericsson 700i.
PokerRoom.com says it plans to have the service working on about 80 percent of all cell phones within the next few months.
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On Line Gambling Stocks Surge as Trade Gambling Slows GBGC 50 Continues to Outperform FTSE & DOW
Published: 2005-04-30
 On Line Gambling Stocks Surge as Trade Gambling Slows GBGC 50 Continues to Outperform FTSE & DOW
Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.
On line gambling stocks have surged recently and are likely to go higher with some inportant IPO's coming to market such as Party Poker, Cassava, Betfair, Empire Poker.
(PRWEB) April 30, 2005 -- Online gambling stocks such as Sportingbet (SBT.L) and BetandWin (BWIN.VI) have soared to become the leading growth stocks in the GBGC-50 Index of leading gambling stocks by market capitalisation.
BetandWin has been the on line phenomenon moving from 42nd place in January to 19th place in April 2005 just above 20th place Sportingbet a gain of 358% in stock value in only 12 months and an amazing 256% since the turn of the year. The announcement of record revenus have led to further increases the stock's value over the past week or so. Both stocks have benefited tremendousely from the current online poker explosion with Sportingbet having acquired Pacific Poker during Q4 last year and BetandWin being part of the Poker Pulse network.
According to Warwick Bartlett GBGC’s Lead Partner the trend is likely to continue.
“ With the advent of 3G cell phones, faster cheap broadband, plus the forthcoming developments in Interactive Television where the TV will become the computer, betting will be so easy from your own home that future growth is assured” he said.
Simon Holliday GBGC partner and lead analyst says, “ The make up of the index is about to change dramatically over the next 12 months. First of all there is the potential for some seriously big IPO’s led by Cassava (888.com Pacific Poker), Gala, IG Index, Betfair and possibly Party Gaming, Coral and Tadal (Empire Poker). The majority have the potential to become GBGC 50 stocks and some will even go straight into the FTSE 100”.
Holliday goes on to say that, "whilst IPOs are the flavour of the month on this side of the Atlantic in the US it looks as though the domestic market is about to run out of steam. The order books of the gaming machine suppliers are looking thin, with the result that both them and the leading casino operators are looking overseas, particularly toward Asia, Macau and Singapore for the next wave of growth."
International Game Technology (IGT) has seen its share price fall a staggering 43% in one year as it faces a tough market in Las Vegas with increased competition and a slow down in replacement orders. The company’s market cap has fallen a staggering US$7.2bn over the last 12 months. As a result of this downturn the industry on the other side of the Pond has been going through an unprecedented number of M and As as consolidation has become the order of the day.
“The reality is that the new stocks coupled with the M and As will cause the weight of the index to shift dramatically from the traditional bricks and mortar stocks toward the i-gaming sector reflecting the reality of a dynamic market that is shifting online by the day” says Holliday.
The GBGC 50 index of global stocks continues to out perform the FTSE 100 by 150% and has beaten the Dow by 110% between the beginning of Q4 2001 the end of Q1 2005.
The big new entrant into the index has been the Las Vegas Sands (LVS). Its IPO has put the company in at the top of the index with a market cap of almost $14 billion.
Then we have the Genting (GENS.SI) conundrum. They have acquired 29.9% of the British company London Clubs (LCI.L) and 19% of Stanley Leisure (SLY.L). A successful all out bid for both could jettison Genting into the top ten.
William Hill (WHM.L) has reportedly bid £500m in an exclusive deal to secure Stanley's 600 betting shops. If successful its is believed that Hills would have to dispose of between 50 and 100 shops but still they would become the biggest bookmaker on the planet and in so doing move up the index from the 9th place that they currently occupy.
Then we have Rank (RNK.L) who have acquired Internet bookmaker Blue Square and completed a Hard Rock Casino deal with the Seminole Indians in Florida but still continue to under perform the market. Rank were the 5th largest gambling stock a few years ago they have now fallen to 15th position. Here GBGC expect to see a shake out through an acquisition or a break up of the company to its constituent parts.
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