I heard of the introduction of mobile gambling for the first time in September 2005 in Las Vegas at the Casino Affiliate Conference. It seems that the top five online poker rooms are all migrating to mobile gaming as of lately. I was at a booth of some sports betting company and they were discussing with me how their software was about to go ‘Mobi‘ and would allow people to place wagers on their cell phones anytime of the day. This was going to be particularly popular for business individuals or workers who either couldn’t or didn’t want to be browsing the lines and going to Neteller while at the office.
Fast forward a little over two years and now we are at the point where the technology is there, due to better software available on phones, and there really isn’t much action. I think this may be due to two very important factors. One is the time it takes to play the game pretty much excludes multi-table play. Besides a freeroll I qualified for or a sit and go I can’t see myself playing poker all night on my Blackberry. However, some players must be interested as Poker Room introduced no-limit games to their mobile users. This is such a new market that I would assume more rooms are going to be watching the demand for mobile poker and slowly developing their software clients to be adaptable if it blows up in popularity. Right now for mobile poker options all I could find were PR and Ultimate Bet compatible versions. Hint: Might be time for some of us to develop a new portal.
I saw that the news resource OGPaper.com went into further detail with their spin on mobile gambling and how it pertains to the sports betting world. Interesting how slowly the programs are integrating new features. For instance, it looks like Bookmaker.com is only opening up Horse Racing as a wagering option for now. I am sure more will be coming soon in the future. They made a nice point however on their post, “keep in mind that data and roaming fees could be applied by your network provider, depending on your wireless plan.”
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I dont know why but i don’t see this become a big thing. I couldnt stand playing poker on my phone unless i had a huge screen. Also how would the controls of the game work?
Unless somebody like Full Tilt or Pokerstars joined in i cant see it become big in the near future.
I never knew how to play poker. So, if there is one that is compatible for my phone, I will surely add it to my favorites and learn how it is played.
For sports betting, mobi would be convenient… not poker though as a phone or blackberry is still a communication device. It would be better if Poker sites encourage the use hand held game devices such as the Sony PSP for poker by developing online applications suited for these. I can then see parents fighting to use their kid’s PSP as it would be more convenient and discrete at wireless internet serviceable areas than a laptop.
There are some plugins for WP that will make your site psp friendly, I think PSP casinos, mobile casinos, all that if it was out of the box installed would be a huge hit.
Imagine Cricket, the prepaid unlimtted company, you buy chunks of ‘fun money’ in advance, buy songs, with it, games, etc.. you could buy casino money in advance.. play real poker..
It’d rock.