IGT technology enables reliable sports wagering on mobile devices
In a blockbuster announcement, International Game Technology said Thursday Sept. 29 that it will debut online and mobile gaming offerings next week, including a sports betting platform.
The announcement is another step toward legal sports betting on mobile devices in the United States, and IGT’s announcement is a promising sign that legal sports betting can play a major part in U.S. economic recovery and domestic dot.com innovation.
Headquarted in San Francisco, IGT is a leader in the manufacturer and marketing of slot machines and other electronic gaming equipment. IGT is also a major employer in Reno, Nev. and Las Vegas – two cities hardest hit by the 2008 economic meltdown.
In May, IGT made a $115 million deal to purchase Entraction Holding, developer of the content management, payment and fraud protection services necessary to provide a reliable platform for wagering using smartphones and iPhones. Initially, IGT is expected to test the waters with multi-player poker networks based on the Entraction platform, but today’s announcement signals that it is ready to provide sports book operators with the information technology infrastructure necessary to provide proposition sports betting via mobile devices.
In 2010, the legal sports handle in the United States through Nevada casinos was $2.7 billion. An estimated $98 billion annually in illegal sports betting is conducted in the United States annually, according to American Wagering Inc. senior vice president of business development and public affairs John English. Offshore casinos are widely known to provide poor customer service and slow payouts.
As the Nevada economy and the United States economy have floundered, proponents of legal sports betting using mobile devices have argued that federal law hamstrings domestic competition and channels gambler dollars’ offshore. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, passed by Congress in 1992, and the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act, passed by Congress in 2006, are currently among the impediments to legal sports gaming on mobile devices and iPads throughout the United States.
Research firm Gartner Group estimated that global mobile gaming revenues would reach $5.6 billion in 2010, and $11.4 billion dollars by 2014.
IGT will demonstrate its mobile sports betting platform at the Global Gaming Expo on Oct. 4-6 in Las Vegas.
