“Mobile Gambling: Bringing Casino Games to the Cell Phone”

Mobile Gambling is a new service offered by PokerRoom.com and enables players to gamble simply by using a cell phone. The latest in accessible gambling, Mobile Gambling allows players to play anytime, anywhere, even in states where gambling is currently prohibited.

Mobile Gambling has been available to European gambling fans for the last few years. Its popularity is now increasing in the United States, with industry analysts keen to extol the virtues of this new breed of gambling. While attractive to those who have already enjoyed gambling online or at live casinos, Mobile Gambling is expected to encourage a new generation of gambling fans to try their luck over the airwaves. A player can simply pick up his cell phone, download a game and make real bets on the action.

CNET’s Brian Cooley says that Mobile Gambling’s popularity derives from its personal touch. “It’s the next big thing,” he says. “Cell phones are personal, gambling is personal. They go together in the consumer’s mind.”

PokerRoom.com’s Ira Gladnikoff also predicts an explosion of growth in Mobile Gambling as the industry develops. Currently PokerRoom offers only slot machine games and Texas Hold’em poker, but new games are already being prepared for their transition from the computer screen to the cell phone.

Some sources have already predicted that Americans will have spent an estimated twenty billion dollars on Mobile Gambling alone by 2009. Mobile gambling is also expected to operate outside gambling legalization issues as the U.S. government lacks the resources to find and prosecute gamblers at an individual level.

Like any new product though, Mobile Gambling doesn’t come without a few drawbacks. One major disadvantage for state governments is the inability to collect profits generated through Mobile Gambling. There is also the danger of higher rates of gambling addiction developing due to its accessible nature.