"Want a Quick Game of poker? Give Us a Ring."

If it is enough that you can play easily online if you have access to a computer, now all you need is a cellphone to play poker online. There was a time when someone who wanted to gamble found it necessary to drive to Las Vegas or Atlantic City where he/she could play at the card tables and slot machines on the casino grounds. From this point, casinos began to be opened on various Indian reservations across the nation, resulting in an only slightly greater accessibly for those who wished to gamble. Pandemonium can be said to have broken loose with the advent of Internet gambling. this however, is nothing compared with what can be expected now that cellphone technology promises to bring that pandemonium to a much higher level. With this technology now available you can gamble peer to peer with real money at practically anytime. While your driving to work, during a lunch break or even when you are just taking a few minutes off. Cellphone poker is the brainchild of Stockholm-based company PokerRoom.com, whose CEO Peter Sellin, brags that betting on the cellphone can be expected to be the next big trend in online gambling. Sellin claims that their site is the first site worldwide where players can actually play peer to peer for real money on a cellphone. He also points out that if cellphone poker starts to bore you, you can always switch over to wireless slot machines or bet on sports events.

Poker however, is what is usually the biggest attraction and the form of poker known as Texas Hold'em in particular. The popularity of poker has ballooned at a phenomenal rate since cable television started televising poker tournaments a few years back. A growing accessibility of Internet casino sites has fueled this growing popularity, which only requires that one possess a computer and a modem.

Pokerpulse.com, the company that keeps track of poker trends, has reported that more than 1.7 million people played Internet poker for actual money the preceding month alone. That’s a great deal of money passing hands. It has been estimated that over $190 million minimum exchanges from hand to hand in these online games daily.

Now with the advent of this new cellphone technology just about anyon can play online at any time The new software being made available through PokerRoom.com’s removes the need for the computer and the modem in order to play online, and most cellphones have enough computing power to make playing online casino games possible. There are some factors however, that do distract from this convince and that would be the length of battery time available along with the cost of airtime or “minutes” being utilized in order to play online. Die hard poker fans however, don’t seem to mind these limitations.

As an increasing number of other companies become aware of the market for software that allows players to gamble online using their cellphones, Sallin’s position as first in the cellphone poker market won’t last for long. There is already one company, Zone4/Play, which has developed the same type of software. They plan to deploy it for use by European online gambling services such as Corall Eurobet, which is the third-largest operator of online gambling sites in Britain.

There are still those who criticize this new trend in online gambling, even though Internet gambling companies and Internet gamblers are justifiably very excited about the attractiveness of online gambling and the new technology that is promoting such industry growth. There are many who are afraid that online gambling and, now, cellphone gambling, will open up a Pandora’s box. This is in the area of gambling addiction. As Brighton resident Gary Thul explains, “Anytime you are escalating gambling on an electronic platform, there must be concerns about gambling addiction.” Mr. Thul is a member of the board of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. He adds that studies show that the faster paced the form of gambling is, the greater the addiction.