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#2
07-02-2005, 02:24 PM
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Re: Wireless Gaming
Just realized you have to login to see the article...here is the text for anybody not a NYT site member.
Even Poolside, Casinos Entice by Hand-Held By FOX BUTTERFIELD Published: July 2, 2005 LAS VEGAS, July 1 - No more need to fret about all that wasted time waiting in line for the buffet at your favorite casino. Or those tedious talks in a convention room just a few yards from the casino floor. Help is on the way to make it possible to gamble any time - in fact - all the time. Skip to next paragraph John Gurzinski for The New York Times Gambling tables too crowded in the casinos? By next year in Nevada, the casino action may be as close as a hand-held device like this one. John Gurzinski for The New York Times Joe Asher, the managing director of Cantor G & W (Nevada) LP. Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a law last month authorizing gamblers in Nevada to play slot machines, video poker, blackjack and other games on hand-held wireless devices from public spaces in casinos. The spaces include restaurants, bars, convention rooms, even swimming pools. Hotel rooms, however, are off limits, to make sure that minors do not get their hands on the new devices, which resemble personal digital assistants or tablet personal computers, depending on where they are being used. Out by the pool of the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino, close to the bottom of a 50-story replica of the Eiffel Tower, the idea had instant appeal. L. Dave Ross, a middle-aged tourist from Tampa, Fla., said: "I have no moral objection to the device. Sure, I'd use it out here by the pool. Why not?" After all, Mr. Ross said, "What do you come to Vegas for, except to gamble?" The devices - which officials say are not likely to be in use in casinos until early next year - represent an important development in the rapidly growing world of gambling, said William Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, which represents the major casino companies. Traditionally, most casino operators regarded any technology that would allow people to gamble outside their "bricks-and-mortars casinos as a real threat," Mr. Bible said. "They worried that it would cannibalize their business." But now, with the spreading popularity of Internet gambling, Mr. Bible said, "Some companies see the new technology as a real opportunity for expansion." At the least, it allows the casinos to get a foothold into the realm of virtual gambling. Internet gambling is illegal in the United States, under a 1961 anti-racketeering law. But casino companies in Britain, the Caribbean and places like Gibraltar have gotten around the law by setting up their Web servers and credit card operations offshore so that federal and state prosecutors cannot seize their assets and act to stop them. Prosecutors have also been reluctant to bring charges against individuals using their home computers to place wagers through the Internet, which has encouraged some people to participate in illicit online gambling. In 2001, the Nevada Legislature authorized the State Gaming Commission to examine whether casinos here could enter the Internet gambling business. After a year's study, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa concluded that without a clear new federal policy it would be legally dangerous for Nevada casinos to venture into online gambling. But the just-approved hand-held devices will be legal because they will not be linked to the Web, Mr. Bible said, and will be more like a wireless network with game programs loaded into them. The devices were developed by Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the New York-based financial services company, for its bond trading operations and adapted for a bookmaking company it operates in Britain. In 2003, Cantor's company in London introduced the first hand-held device that allows for wireless gambling in casinos in Britain, said Joe Asher, the managing director of Cantor G & W (Nevada) LP, a Nevada affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald. "Since we spent a tremendous amount of money developing the technology, we were looking for other new applications, and so we approached Nevada." Mr. Asher said the idea had inherent appeal to the big casinos here. "Think about a swimming pool," he said, juggling several ringing cellphones. "Casinos spend a lot of money to build them, but when guests are there, swimming, the casino isn't making any money. "So if the people can play a hand of poker, or play the slots, while they are at the pool, that is money for the casinos," Mr. Asher said. "The idea is to turn down time into revenue-generating time," he said. For competitive reasons, Mr. Asher declined to say which casino companies were in line to use the new mobile devices. He also declined to estimate how much additional revenue the devices would generate for the casinos. The casinos would rent the devices to customers, who would open accounts to use them. Mr. Asher is quick to dismiss critics who worry that the devices, by allowing for virtually continuous gambling, will create more gambling addicts. "People have already made the decision to come to the casino," he said, "so if they wanted to, they could just stay in the casino and play all night anyway." Dennis Nylander, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said that time would be needed to draw up regulations to put the new law in place and to test the devices to ensure that they could not be used in hotel rooms. The current worldwide market for gambling on mobile devices is still relatively modest, about $2 billion, according to a recent report by Juniper Research, a research and consulting firm based in the United Kingdom. But it is expected to explode in the next few years, rising to $19 billion by 2009, and possibly much higher if the United States loosens its restrictions on Internet gambling, the report said. This potential makes the new hand-held devices too tempting for Las Vegas to pass up, said William N. Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "We've been very two-faced about Internet gambling," Professor Thompson said. "On the one hand, we want gambling only in our casinos to protect our interests. But we don't want to have the train leave the station without us on board, so the hand-held devices may be a first step into the whole business of Internet gambling." 
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