Mobile Gaming Eyes The Future

A couple of years ago owners of brick-and-mortar establishments feared the revenue ramifications of internet casinos once legalized.

Given the current recession of the global economy, one can clearly see why gaming executives are exploring new avenues to broaden their player base.  The answer clearly lies in technology and this new technology is mobile gaming.

“The internet casino industry is being revamped at a prodigious pace yearly by new gaming platforms such as hand-held technology,” said Gene Johnson, an associate with Spectrum Gaming Group. “Mary Meeker, who is an Internet forecaster with Morgan Stanley, anticipates more players will have access to hand-held gambling devices within the foreseeable future.”

“Internet casino gambling is here to stay, it has forever changed the face of gambling as we know it,” said Frank Fahrenkopf, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association. “Internet gambling started out very small and today it’s a billion dollar mega house.” With the U.S out of the equation Europe is the globe’s largest internet casino gambling market; its annual revenues total approximately $12.5 billion of the sector’s $29.3 billion in totality for 2010’s profits.

“Presently it is still prohibited in the U.S,” said Cantor Gaming Chief Executive Officer Lee Amaitis, who was a member in the panel debate, “The Hand-Held Casino: Mobile gaming is here to stay and its contribution to increased profits.”

Amaitis feels that internet casinos must work with lawmakers to find alternative solutions to ensure that proper mechanisms are in place to guarantee safety and security to internet gamblers whilst employing a variety of mobile gaming platforms.

U.S. Representative. Barney Frank is in support of taxing online gambling vendors and poker as well as its regulation. This new legislation is now in the hands of the committee as Congress has started the lame-duck session.

Lloyd Levine, owner of Filament Strategies, a Sacramento, Calif., political and policy consulting company, hopes that Frank’s bill passes within the next few weeks whilst the lame-duck session is in progress, in the event nothing materialises it could take as long as two years before internet casino gambling is given another thought. Because of the midterm elections, Levine said hard work to sanction internet gambling has moved to the states.

Internet poker is on the brink of being legalized in California and Florida, whilst New Jersey is very close in allowing casino companies within the state to operate and manage their own sites. On 15 November the state Senate Budget Commission will convene and then decide whether gambling online in New Jersey would be legalized both to local and international gamblers.

“To be honest I’m not very positive that internet gambling would receive the go-ahead in New Jersey now,” Levine said recently. “I’m familiar with all the pitfalls, simply put if it succeeds at its first attempt I’ll be amazed.”

“The legalization of gambling on the internet could potentially yield an annual profit in New Jersey of $350 million, Amaitis said.” Irrespective of all the current obstacles internet gambling faces in the U.S, Amaitis is positive that internet wagering would be permitted again within the next two years.

Alex Kelly, vice president of interactive, said the gambling industry must come to the conclusion that gambling in its entirety has evolved to a different format called online gambling.  He anticipates that proverbial land-based casinos in years to come will be socially linked. “Facebook networks will exist that will enable players to share their wins and losses with fellow players and friends alike,” he said.