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With a projected growth potential approaching 30 billion US dollars over the next five years, mobile gambling is clearly going to be placed in the spotlight. This dramatic rise in popularity is largely due to a subtle shift in attitude from those service providers and end users of mobile technology for gambling purposes. While Puritan attitudes of many governmental institutions are on the rise, the powers of free speech and civil liberties are also lining up their forces. Attitudes in Europe are still too fluid to pin down, with some European countries willing to welcome the mobile gambling revolution. However, attitudes in the US remain entrenched, and it would seem that little change is expected in that continent in the near term. While the key area for mobile gamblers is likely to be sports betting, other gambling sectors are also lining up for a piece of the action. With an estimated market size of approximately 500 million individuals, it's clear why big business is sitting up and taking notice of this potential cash cow. Market research company, Juniper Research has estimated the mobile gambling market winnings could potentially grow from its current volume of approximately 200 million US dollars to something in excess of three billion US dollars by the end of 2013. They suggest that Europe will continue to hold the centre field. However, the US market could outstrip European preeminence should its restrictive practice against the mobile and Internet gambling markets be relaxed.
Affilicon, the affiliate marketing conference and exhibition held in Shfayim, Israel on November 24 and 25, 2008 was organized by Itay Paz. We met Itay at the event, as we were covering it for OCR Live, and talked about the idea and how it materialized. It might not have been easy getting Itay to stand still for the cameras, but we did get him in the end and asked him about the event. The numbers seem to have surprised him, and certainly have planted even greater ambition for the future, with concrete plans to hold two more Affilicon events, next Spring and next Fall, in a year. Visit us again for more information on these events.
Poker legend Doyle Brunson has spent the last couple of months mentoring swimming champion Michael Phelps, but his long career in the game is proof that it is possible to translate success on the sporting field to success on the card tables. Basketball career Born in 1933 in Longworth, Texas (population 100), Brunson was a state champion runner over one mile and a member of the All-State Texas basketball team. The Minneapolis Lakers (later Los Angeles Lakers) expressed interest in the then Hardin-Simmons University college basketball star, but he turned to a career in teaching after a knee injury ended his promising career. Looking for a job with better pay, Brunson turned to poker. After starting off in illegal pick-up games in his home state of Texas, Brunson teamed up with two others who would later become poker professionals - Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts - and traveled around the country looking for competition. They eventually arrived in Las Vegas, where he would of course become a household name. Poker records Brunson was the first player to win a $1 million tournament, and has 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets to his credit, including two main event titles in 1976 and 1977. However he is probably better known as the author of the book Super/System, considered the bible of poker by his fans. Self-published in 1978, Super/System gave an insight into the methods of professional players. An updated edition, Super/System 2, was published in 2004, with contributions from other top poker players. Nicknamed "Dolly", after an opponent mistakenly pronounced his name, Brunson still plays on the world tour today, and most recently won the Legends of Poker World Poker Tour in 2004. Legendary Two Texas holdem hands are named for Brunson. One, a ten and two of any suit (see video on this page), was the hand with which he won both the 1976 and 1977 WSOP events, in both cases with a full house. Another hand named after him is the ace and queen of any suit, because he wrote in Super/System that he "never plays this hand." He later revised the statement in Super/System 2 to "tries to never play this hand." Apart from continuing to add to his tally of over $5.3 million in prize money, Brunson is also making a name for himself as one of the poker world's authoritative figures, including his relationship with Phelps.
The financial crisis has claimed another victim in the gambling industry, with the announcement that Black Gaming will temporarily close the Oasis Casino in Mesquite, Nevada this week. The company will cut 500 jobs, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But while the casino, restaurants and night club will be shut, the 900-room hotel and other facilities will remain open. Still hopeful While the company's filing referred to the move as temporary, its CEO Randy Black, Sr. said in an accompanying statement that the gaming market faces challenges which make it impossible to give assurances about when the casino will be reopened. "We're all hopeful the economy comes back," he said. "Because if it doesn't, things are just going to get worse." Disappointing numbers Oasis, situated in the town of Mesquite, around 80 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas, experienced a 6.6 percent drop in visitors in September, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Black Gaming's third quarter revenues dropped 23.6 percent. This latest instance shows that the financial crisis is affecting people in all forms of the gambling industry, whether in big or small towns. Before the current round of layoffs, the CasaBlanca, Oasis and Virgin River casinos - all operated by Black Gaming - were the top three employers in Mesquite, employing more than 2,000 employees in a town of less than 15,000 inhabitants.
The very first example of a mobile gambling event took place in Japan in the form of a new year's lottery. With the success of the Japanese sweepstake, it didn't take long for entrepreneurs to jump on the bandwagon to test out the new technology. Before long, sports betting, including gambling on horse racing and football games became available by mobile phone. In spite of the success and projected growth of this market, a number of issues exist. As ever with online gambling there is the issue of monitoring and regulation. Other issues include the control and potential manipulation of betting odds. It took a number of years before these elements were managed in the Internet gambling arena, and a similar process will need to be established in the new mobile phone market. Further issues of personal and company confidentiality as well as payment systems and system validity and reliability will have to be addressed. Difficulties aside, there are a number of top European online gambling operators who are willing to put up the cash to bet on the new technology. These include market names such as Ladbrokes and Blue Square. Technology companies are also lining up to create the software required to power this new sector, with European gaming software companies eager to be first in line for this new business. The ruckus has also attracted the large cellular phone giants such as Nokia and Ericsson into the market. However, many mobile phones are simply not designed to work as gambling devices. Spurred on by the interest in this market, the larger cellular phone providers are currently developing handsets that will enhance the mobile gambling experience. While issues undoubtedly remain, the projected size of this new market is certain to produce the kind of innovation and investment required to make the mobile gambling sector the potentially largest online gambling sector to date.
Online gambling needs to be as secure, accountable and transparent as possible. Anything less is simply asking for trouble, but those are just the first steps in a series of issues that the Gambling Commission wants online gamblers to check. Gambling Commission The UK Gambling Commission has player interests at heart and with that in mind they have compiled a beginner's guide to more informed online gambling. At the heart of the matter is player safety relating to sensitive personal information and whether the online casinos are regulated. Though regulation is becoming the preferred option for many governments and jurisdictions, there are operators that fall outside the scope of the public safety net and that's why the GC has decided to inform gamblers of what to look out for. Watch out for... It may seem daunting but the Gambling Commission offers sensible advice. Following are examples of the tips provided: Know who you are gambling with and make sure you can find their contact details. Make sure you know where the company is licensed and whether its products are regulated. If you have issues with the company, where can you take them up? It's short And the best thing about it - the guide is short! The Gambling Commission Player's Guide is only 4 pages long. Read it!
Representatives of some of the world's major sporting bodies have proposed the creation of a global anti-corruption agency to deal with match-fixing and corruption in sport. The football world governing body FIFA, International Rugby Board and the England and Wales Cricket board were among the bodies represented at a meeting in Brussels last Thursday to deliver a report to the European Union on ways to cut down on corruption in sports betting. Powerful body The proposal presented to the EU includes an agency that will have powers of investigation, serve as a licensing agency for bookmakers, and will be able to exclude nations that do not comply with its terms from major sporting tournaments. The meeting has come amid growing fears amongst sporting bodies that the Internet has enabled international access to bookmakers that do not adhere to national jurisdictions. Development and protection In a statement on its Website, European football governing body UEFA - which was also present at the Brussels meeting - said, "Sports competition organizers should be represented in any regulatory authority which is created, and closely associated with the development of the sports betting market. Betting operators must contribute to a sustainable, workable and financed framework to preserve the integrity of sports competitions and to protect them against any form of betting corruption."
Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton is a clear odds favorite at bookmaker Paddy Power to be voted Zoo magazine's coolest British man of the year. Hamilton, who in 2008 became the youngest person to win a Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship at the age of just 23, is an 11/8 favorite to take out the award. He is followed by Daniel Craig, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe on 10/1 each. Craig will surely benefit from the recent release of his second James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton has also had recent success, retaining his IBO light welterweight boxing title in November. Also a successful boxer, Joe "the pride of Wales" Calzaghe retained his ring light heavyweight title in November. Last year's champion Noel Gallagher is 14/1 to go back-to-back, while his brother Liam is 20/1. Not very cool Prime Minister Gordon Brown is 100/1, but if the current opinion polls are anything to go by, he has almost as little chance of keeping his job as he does of becoming Britain's coolest man.
PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, announced this week that it is launching a new Russian poker tour, the first in the country. The tour will make two stops, beginning with a $5,000 buy-in event in St. Petersburg from January 25 to February 1, followed by a $10,000 buy-in tournament in the capital Moscow February 22 to February 28. The St. Petersburg event will see each player start with 15,000 chips. The rules will be the same as those on the European Poker Tour. Growing Russian Interest Interest in poker, and in particular Texas hold-'em has grown in Russia of late, and has been matched by success in big tournaments. Ivan Demidov is the best known of the locals, having become the first ever player in history to reach the final table of both World Series of Poker Main Events in 2008. He collected almost $6 million in prize money after a second place finish to Dane Peter Eastgate in the Main Event, and backed that up in October with a third place finish at the Europe Main Event in London. Alex Kravchenko won a WSOP bracelet last year, becoming the first ever Russian to do so. He also overtook Kirill Gerasimov in 2007 as the all-time leading money winner among Russian players.
Stu Ungar (1953-98) became a household name before most of today's current crop of professional poker players had been heard of, but continued to dominate until just before his death in the late 90s. Still the only person to have won three World Series of Poker Main Event tournaments, Ungar also won the now defunct Super Bowl of Poker three times - a tournament that during its day was the second most important competition in the world. Ungar won a total of five World Series of Poker bracelets between 1980 and 1997. Born and raised on Manhattan's Lower East Side to a Jewish family, Ungar was exposed to gambling from a young age via his father Ido, who ran a bar that doubled as a gamble club. He started playing tournament gin following the death of his father and turned it into a full-time career after dropping out of school to support his sick mother and his sister. Later, like all the major poker players of yesteryear and today, he found his way to Las Vegas, where he took up poker, mainly because he had become so infamous in gin circles that nobody would play against him under those rules. Equipped with a photographic memory and genius-level IQ, Ungar was capable of succeeding at any game he took up. Playing in what he later said was his first ever experience of Texas hold 'em, Ungar won the main event at the 1980 World Series of Poker, defeating Doyle Brunson. He became known as "the kid" due to his youthful appearance and the fact that he was the youngest ever winner of the tournament at the time. He showed it was no fluke when he came back the next year and won the tournament again. Ungar died in 1998, but not before what was perhaps the extraordinary moment of his professional career. Clearly showing the effects of years of cocaine addiction, Ungar beat all comers in the $10,000 buy-in WSOP main event to take out the $1 million first prize, which he shared with fellow poker pro and financial backer Billy Baxter. He received the nickname "the comeback kid" for his efforts. Ungar was found dead in his room at a Las Vegas motel in 1998. The autopsy found he had died of a heart condition caused by years of drug abuse. Ungar was survived by his daughter Stefanie and step-son Richie, the result of his failed marriage to Madeline. Despite the fact Ungar won an estimated $30 million at the poker table during his career, critics say he would have won more if he had learnt to hustle. Ungar was so naturally gifted and so feared by opponents that he would often win tournaments quickly, without finding a way to raise his opponents' stakes. A movie about Ungar was produced in 2003. Entitled High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story, it starred Michael Imperioli in the lead role.
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