[May 26] Online sports betting service
Eurobet
claimed a world first on Friday when it unveiled
its new WAP-based betting capability.
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.
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.
