Technology making it easy to bet

Just in time for the football season, sports books in Nevada are taking some gigantic strides to make it easier for bettors to get into action on a game or event.

Station Casinos just made it possible to use slot club points to bet on sports, while Cantor Gaming has announced a deal to operate the race and sports book at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

And Leroy’s, which operates nearly 60 sports books in Nevada, has launched a Blackberry program that allows bettors to make wagers over their mobile phone.

At Station Casinos, slot club members must trade in their existing cards for a specialized version. They can then swipe their card at any kiosk, which will determine how much cash they have available for sports bets, and print out a ticket that can be used in the sports book.

At the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, management has entered into an operating agreement with Cantor Gaming to serve as its exclusive race and sports book operator.

Cantor Gaming, which currently operates the sports book at the M Resort and provides in-running technology to Palazzo/Venetian casinos, will initially integrate its state-of-the-art In-Running technology into Hard Rock’s existing race and sports book, with the aim of launching upon regulatory approval by Nov. 1.

The race and sports book operations will begin a new era in sports wagering at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Cantor Gaming’s In-Running wagering system, driven by the firm’s highly sophisticated, proprietary financial trading technology enables customers to bet on sporting events in real time. Bets can be placed throughout a game, on numerous different outcomes and with the lines constantly changing, up until the final whistle.

"With the innovations in technology today, information is available at the touch of a button," said Lee Amaitis, President and Chief Executive Officer for Cantor Gaming. "We can receive news and data in an instant, manage our finances online and send text and video around the world in real-time via mobile phones.

"Our In-Running system applies this generation of technology to sports wagering. Gone are the days when you could only bet on a sporting event by lining up at the window before the games started. Now you can trade sports in the same way you trade the financial markets. Our technology has made sports wagering dynamic, interactive and, most importantly, relevant to today’s casino customers."

For more information, visit www.cantorgaming.com.

For Leroys sports book customers, getting money down on their favorite sports team is getting a little easier in Nevada with the first-ever legal wagering application for smart phones.

American Wagering Inc., which operates the Leroys chain, is launching the program for BlackBerry devices in time for the start of college football and the NFL regular season. The company plans to launch new apps for iPhones, Droids and Windows-based phones soon.

"I’m all-in on this," Vic Salerno, American Wagering’s chief executive, told the Associated Press. "We’ve reinvented the company entirely."

Salerno said it took 14 months to develop the application and get it approved by Nevada gambling regulators. Each version for other phone operating systems requires separate approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which will scrutinize their security systems and other features.

The application requires bettors to appear at a sports book in person just once, when first creating their account with Leroy’s.

That allows the company to verify a person’s age and tie their account to one specific phone. When that person then logs into the system, a combination of GPS and cellular tower coordinates verify he or she is within Nevada’s borders before allowing them to place a bet.

Salerno said custom versions of the apps will likely be offered in future years to major gambling operators like Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., MGM Resorts International (MGM), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN).