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Mobile Phone Gaming To Lead The Way
Published: 2005-12-29
 Paul Sandells
By 2009, experts are predicting mobile phone casinos and poker rooms will be making in excess of $4 Billion per year. But, you don't have to wait that long to start playing.
Poker on your mobile. Is it really possible? Well, apparently so. Back in November we revealed The Poker Channel had teamed up with Stream Group PLC to provide and promote mobile poker and other gaming products. Now 7WIN7 have entered the market place with their own mobile casino and poker room.
Juniper Research, headed by Dr Windsor Holden, estimate mobile gambling, which includes lotteries and sportsbooks, will be worth over $19 Billon by the end of this decade. With casinos and poker rooms taking a sizable $4.5 Billon.
"Governments are generally less censorious about lotteries than other forms of gambling" said Dr Holden "with the result that mobile lotteries are likely to become established fairly quickly in a greater number of markets."
Holden continued "These forecasts are based on the premise that a number of countries - most notably the US and China - will remain strongly opposed to the introduction of most mobile gambling services in the short and medium term. Should this situation change, then quite clearly the figures would be revised upwards to reflect this."
So, quite clearly, there is room for more expansion in mobile gaming still to come. If America and China become more relaxed about gaming on this platform these figure could be dwarfed.
Peter French, of Casino Phone Technologies said "The UK is taking the lead with regards to this issue. They really get it and understand that by passing comprehensive and user-friendly gaming legislation they will reap the considerable financial benefits, and also become the European centre of development for the mobile-gaming industry."
It seems the future is bright, the future is UK mobile poker. That is, if you intend to "raise as you go"
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Cigars Bust Out as Poker Sees the End of an Era
Published: 2005-12-29
 In the days of smoky back-room poker, cigars were the perfect accessory for every hard-boiled poker buff. From the stogie-chomping pros in “The Cincinnati Kid” to C.M. Coolidge's famous poker playing dogs, cigars were a integral component in any given game. The tough-guy game of yesteryear, however, has undergone something of a domestication, and with it, cigars seem to be going up in smoke, so to speak. Poker's newfound legitimacy, having become the new All-American pastime, has also translated into a change in standards. No longer considered a game of the underworld, poker- the sport, as it's often referred to today- has, for better or worse, been given a white-washing.
In an increasing number of cases, poker's new squeaky clean image is smoke-free. Sure, you'll still find many home gamers indulging in the occasional “fat one” and, playing online, people can smoke themselves silly if they so choose. Nevertheless, many live poker rooms, including the major Vegas joints, have done away with smoking, cigars and cigarettes alike. Cigar smoking in poker is thus losing much of the debonair once attributed to it. No longer a sign of casual, disaffected cool, cigar smokers are now hanging out in the separate smoking lounges many poker rooms have that serve their smoking clientèle.
This new era of poker is certainly promising, and the move to take smoking out of the poker rooms of the world is certainly the better, healthier option in the end. Nonetheless, the end of the affair between cigars and poker signifies something greater; it signifies the gradual loss of the old-time poker hero, the one who's rough and tough and takes the pot. And that, my friends, is something worth commemorating.
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