Siemens Offers Mobile Gambling Solution
Siemens IC Mobile has added the option of "live betting" to its portfolio for mobile data services. M.traction Gambling enables mobile phone carriers to offer platforms for mobile betting all over the world. In practice, this means you can use mobile devices such as PDAs and cellphones to place bets electronically with the betting company wherever you are. Traditionally, and this includes the internet, bets could only be placed up to just before the actual event started; now, thanks to m.traction Gambling, a new form of betting is possible, based on "dynamic odds" and allowing wagers to be laid while the match or race is still in progress. The Siemens solution is based on an application from scaraboo, a start-up company sponsored by Siemens Mobile Acceleration.
"Mobile betting is fast becoming a nice little earner for network operators," comments Volker Ziegler, head of the Solutions Division at IC Mobile. "The important thing is that payment transactions, in both directions, are systematically organized: the wagers are lodged with the provider, the winnings go the users. Another consideration when money is involved is that it must be ensured that the punters are of legal age. This can be done by having their date of birth specified on the card contract."
Siemens Mobile Acceleration, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Information and Communication Mobile, was set up in the summer of 2001, and invests in young start-ups before market entry.'"
Posted to the site on 22nd July 2002
