System Would Let Gamblers
Bet and Bet and Bet on Game
By PETER SANDERS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 9, 2005; Page B1
LAS VEGAS -- Gamblers watching an Indianapolis Colts game here may have a hunch that, on the next play, star quarterback Peyton Manning will throw a long bomb to receiver Marvin Harrison for a touchdown. But right now there is nothing they can do about it -- casino sports books don't accept bets on individual plays.
That may be about to change. Boosted by improved technology that makes it easier to take bets on every play in a sporting event -- rather than just the outcome -- gambling-technology companies are on the brink of launching new products they hope will entice gamblers at casinos to keep wagering throughout hours-long games.
Just in time for the college bowl season and the pro-football playoffs, the Palms Hotel & Casino says it is in final negotiations to field-test a system called Rapid Bet Live. It uses touch-screen kiosks that allow gamblers to bet on various propositions throughout a game: Will the team score on a drive? Will it punt? Will something else happen?
Today, in Nevada's sports books -- the cavernous lounges filled with big-screen televisions and electronic boards flashing point spreads and odds for dozens of games -- gamblers can already place so-called proposition bets on things as diverse as which team will suffer the first injury, which will score first and which will make the first first down.
Rapid Bet Live, developed by Progressive Gaming International Corp., will allow casinos to increase the number of these bets available to gamblers, as well as allow continuous wagering as a game unfolds, according to Tim Richards, vice president of marketing at Las Vegas-based Progressive.
"I'm excited to see the product and test it out during highlighted games like Monday Night Football," says Steve Forrester, general manager of Casino Fandango in Carson City, Nev.
Progressive envisions the system being used to bet on golf, ice hockey, baseball and basketball. It will be up to the casinos to devise the propositions to be bet on, which could lead to unusual scenarios in the faster-paced sports: for instance, who would score the next three-pointer in a basketball game. In a somewhat surreal twist -- and one that isn't currently legal in Nevada -- Progressive hopes that spectators will one day be able to wager on televised poker tournaments. In other words, gamblers betting on other gamblers.
In Europe, real-time sports betting is widely legal and popular through interactive television systems, mobile phones and the Internet. In Great Britain, gamblers can bet on soccer, cricket, rugby and tennis using a television-based interactive gambling system. Internet- and cellphone-based wagering is also available throughout Europe.
Computerized, real-time sports betting has been tried in Nevada in the past, but it failed to take off. It was championed in the mid-1990s by Interactive Systems Worldwide Inc. (then-called International Sports Wagering Inc.). The West Paterson, N.J.-based company received approval from Nevada gambling officials in 1996. The company installed its SportXction kiosks in casinos including Excalibur and Bally's. Oddsmakers watched the games and set the lines for individual bets in ISW's control center just off the Las Vegas Strip.
In the casinos, gamblers opened an account and then placed bets while the game was played. ISW split the revenue with the casinos, and the venture saw mixed results. Bernard Albanese, president of ISW, said not only was the idea of betting at a computerized kiosk slightly ahead of its time, but persuading the casual visitor to use the system was tricky.
"Tourists usually come in for two or three days, often as couples," says Mr. Albanese. "It's hard to convince your wife to let you spend three hours in a dark sports book watching a game rather than going to a dinner or a show." He also blamed the relative infancy of online wagering as a secondary culprit.
Mr. Albanese said the revenue-sharing model also discouraged casinos from effectively marketing the system. ISW abandoned its SportXction system in Las Vegas in 2000, focusing on Europe. Mr. Albanese says his company is interested in eventually returning to the U.S. market.
Progressive's Mr. Richards believes his company's version of live betting will provide better results for the casinos, since it gives gamblers more options on each play than ISW's did -- that translates to more chances for the casino to win. "Our system is really only limited by the number of oddsmakers available to watch and set the line" as play progresses, he says.
Casinos say they are willing to consider such options if they can demonstrate the ability to generate revenue. Last year in Nevada -- the only state where sports betting is legal -- casinos took in nearly $112.5 million from gamblers who played the sports books.
"In order to get enough volume, you need to spread it beyond the sports book and into people's homes via the Internet," says John Avello, director of the race and sports book at Wynn Las Vegas.
He says he is willing to consider new devices to add enthusiasm and fun -- as well as revenue -- in the sports books, especially since "right now, there's no lack of interest or bodies in the sports books, especially on weekends."
Others worry that the ability to bet on literally every play will create problems.
The speed of play in live betting will "certainly allow you to lose your money faster and in potentially larger amounts," if there are no checks or limitations, says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. "And from the disease-disorder component of compulsive gambling, people often disassociate and enter a trance-like state. It can become hypnotic."
For their part, those in the gaming industry say they aren't going after the big-time gamblers or anticipating large wagers. ISW's Mr. Albanese said his company's original system counted on bets no bigger than $20 and a gambler was limited to betting $2,500 to $3,000 per day.
Jim Hughes, general manager at the Palms, says it is that same kind of action that his casino is aiming for with Rapid Bet Live. "This is for somebody that isn't satisfied with that $20 or $50 wager on the outcome of a game; he wants to have something else going on as the game progresses."
Write to Peter Sanders at peter.sanders@wsj.com |
