SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Some 20 months after Nevada casino regulators approved rules governing wagering on wireless hand-held gambling devices, mobile gaming remains an uncharted mystery.

But some of the questions may start finding answers in November.

Cantor G&W, an affiliate of New York-based financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, hopes to begin testing a wireless gambling device on a small scale at The Venetian.

The company is asking the Gaming Control Board to allow customers frequenting the semiprivate lounge inside The Venetian's high-end slot parlor to wager on a device no larger than a personal digital assistant.

At the very least, Cantor G&W executives plan to allow attendees to the upcoming Global Gaming Expo who visit The Venetian play the mobile gaming devices for free to show their capabilities. The G2E in mid-November is the casino industry's largest trade show.

"We're trailblazing here," said Lee Amaitis, president of Cantor Fitzgerald's gaming division in London. He is also overseeing Cantor's efforts in Nevada.

"We have basically done more than is required for testing this technology and we want to make sure everybody is comfortable with (the concept). People want to see the living, breathing thing. Once it gets into action, I'm optimistic it will be well-received."

Conceivably, mobile gaming would allow casino patrons to wager on blackjack, bet on the spin of a roulette wheel and play slots machine from public areas away from the traditional casino, such as poolsides, buffet lines or outside convention areas.

Gamblers would set up accounts with casinos for mobile gaming. Firewalls would shut down the devices and prohibit gamblers from wagering outside of a resort's public area, including hotel rooms or away from the property line.

Cantor spent more than $400 million to develop technology used for wireless interactive bond trading on Wall Street.

The company then led the initial charge to transfer that same technology into the casino environment. Cantor officials lobbied state lawmakers in 2005 to approve mobile gambling and offered comments when regulators wrote the standards.

The company became Nevada's first licensee approved to manufacture and distribute hand-held gaming devices in May 2006, two months after the regulations were approved.

However, it's taken more than a year to get its products through the Gaming Control board's testing laboratory.

In addition to Cantor, slot machine giant International Game Technology and Fortunet have also been granted manufacturer and distributor licenses.

Only Fortunet, however, has a mobile gaming device in the control board's laboratory along with Cantor.

IGT spokesman Ed Rogich said the slot machine manufacturer, which was approved for mobile gaming in August 2006, is concentrating most of its efforts on developing server-based slot machines, which industry analysts believe will be the next wave in retooling casino slot floors.