A business division of Coral Eurobet plc, the Internet betting service enables customers to find the latest odds -- and place bets on all kinds of sports taking place all over the world.

With the new WAP service, customers can use their existing user id and password to access wap.eurobet.co.uk for a similar service direct from their mobile phones.

Eurobet says it has simplified the interface to take account of the small screens on mobile phones, but otherwise users get the same wide range of sports and odds.

Trevor Beaumont, managing director of Eurobet, said he believed Eurobet had a leading position in the sports betting market with its service for the fixed line Internet. It had already added significant value to the business, he said.

"Sports betting on the Internet is a true e-commerce business and with the new WAP facility announced today, we believe we can also lead the way in m-commerce."

Even more bullish, Coral Eurobet's Chief Executive Bob Scott claimed Eurobet was already in front in m-commerce betting, and added: "We intend to stay there."

Scott said Eurobet was in discussions with serveral operators and other WAP portals and expected to announce some major partnership deals before long.

Jim Noakes, projects director, Eurobet, explained that the company had developed the technology for the mobile facility in-house, which gave it an advantage over competitors.

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Many industry observers have predicted a surge in online gambling when users have the ability to place bets from mobile devices. According to Datamonitor, 59 percent of all mobile phones will be WAP enabled by the end of 2004.

WAP or Wireless Application Protocol links mobile devices to the Internet.