Cell Phone Poker Highlights Growth of Online Gambling

UNITED STATES – As reported by the Orlando Sentinel: "…The service from PokerRoom.com -- launched in April -- highlights the fast growth and accessibility of online gambling. The business has grown so much that investment bankers are circling the major players seeking lucrative new stock offerings.

"Yet any such offerings will not be in the United States -- the result of Internet gambling's great paradox. The U.S. market by far is the world's largest, but the government remains adamantly opposed to Web wagering.

"The stance has kept U.S. companies from venturing into a new market, but it hasn't stopped people from betting online. However, the government hasn't shown the will to bust individual bettors.

"So the U.S. gets no economic benefit from online gambling yet is still saddled with the potential social cost -- a growing venue for problem gamblers to feed their addiction.

"Online gambling is still dwarfed by traditional forms of wagering. Last year, online gamblers comprised about 3.9 percent of the $237 billion global market, according to Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, a European investment bank.

"…PokerRoom.com appears to be the first Web gambling outfit to allow its game to be downloaded into cellular phones.

"…Sweden-based PokerRoom.com is the sixth-biggest Internet card room, though it jockeys back and forth in rank with the fourth- and fifth-placed sites, according to PokerPulse…"