BETTING cash on the outcome of blackjack, roulette or poker games in Australia could soon be as easy as pressing a few buttons on your mobile phone.
Without even dialling a number, users could also be able to enter lotteries, play electronic slot machines and use animated "scratch cards".
But Queensland academics are already concerned this new form of gambling, dubbed m-gambling, could spawn a new generation of addicts.
As such, a group of four researchers from the Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland and Griffith University have joined to investigate the emerging trend and assess whether it's a risk to Australian mobile phone users.
Team leader Dr Judy Drennan, from QUT's business faculty, says mobile gambling would make the habit instantly accessible, removing barriers for many who might consider gambling but would not spare the time to visit a betting shop or a newsagency.
But she said m-gambling could also recruit a different kind of problem gambler.
"Once upon a time, vulnerable consumers were people with little education and not much money, but in this case it's likely to be people who are tech-savvy, have the money to get a sophisticated mobile phone and because of this they're primed for m-gambling," she says.
Drennan says young users were also likely to be at heightened risk as they commonly downloaded content for their mobile phones, often at a cost.
"They're already used to paying to download ringtones and we know that at the moment many younger people use their mobile phones all the time to play games," she says.
"It's not such a big step to move from playing these games that are free to playing these games that involve money."
She says some mobile betting services available overseas also allowed gamblers to use credit billed to their mobile phone account, meaning users might not be fully aware of how much they were spending until a hefty mobile phone bill arrived.
"You've also got to consider how much it's costing you to use the mobile phone service because of the time factor also, as mobile connections are billed by time," she says.
M-gambling is already taking off overseas and Juniper Research estimates that the industry will take in $US19.3 million ($A25 million) by 2009.
Its reach is also spreading. Vodafone in the United Kingdom, for example, last week signed a deal with the owner of Gambling.com to add betting games to the Vodafone Live! menu in June.
Services will include 11 games, including blackjack, roulette, stud poker, slots and scratch cards, and players will have to verify their age and pay for games with a credit card.
Drennan says it is not clear whether Australian mobile phone users are already using overseas services or connecting to online services like Centrebet through their mobile phones, but the research project will attempt to discover how widespread it is, the future risk and preventative measures.
source : The Courier Mail
