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Gambling on the go

It's no sure thing, but ET&T; and eConnect are betting that consumers will pay for the ability to wager anytime, anywhere.

June 21, 1999

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Remember the last time you were sitting in traffic, the sound of honking horns drowning out the oldies station on your car stereo, and thinking, "Boy, I feel like placing a bet right now?" We don't either, but Thomas S. Hughes thinks the day is coming in which this will be an everyday quandary. Hughes is chairman and CEO of ET&T, a company that, along with eConnect, is developing a product called the PocketPay -- which is what amounts to a digital phone with a built-in bookie. Sounds like a device meant for James Bond, right? All you need is a race horse named Shaken, Not Stirred. Quite the contrary, according to Hughes, who came up with the idea for PocketPay. "There is nothing space age about this. The technology is already there." And people will use it, he said. eConnect, which owns exclusive license to a transaction system known as Slick, estimates that the global wagering industry is an $800 billion business. The company believes that will rise to $1 trillion by 2001, with many of those wagers being placed with home, office, mobile or Internet devices through companies that accept remote transactions. Along with Slick, which allows real-time transactions while bypassing the Internet, the PocketPay just makes it more convenient. "If you have people who have this device that can move real money in real time, 30 percent of them will use it to make wagers," Hughes said. It's pretty simple, really. A PocketPay user could load ATM/debit card or prepaid smart card information into the device through a detachable card reader. Then the PocketPay customer could dial up personal encrypted remote financial electronic card transaction (or PERFECT) wagers on their lunch break, while taking a walk or, ahem, while sitting in traffic. The information can then be sent to the user's e-mail or fax machine for a printed receipt of the transaction. Hughes said these wagering transactions would be processed just like a debit card purchase at a supermarket. And if a PocketPay is lost, the owner needn't worry about losing his or her money. A special code is needed to access the memory stored on the device. If someone punches in a wrong number or two, the memory automatically erases itself, leaving the would-be crook holding a wireless phone that doesn't work. And you say you hate the long waits at the convenience store to buy lottery tickets? Hughes' hope is that the PocketPay will take care of those transactions too. "Gaming is going to be monumentally huge," he said. "With these kinds of devices, lotteries will eventually get involved." Hughes said the goal now is to get the software just right, then hook up with a company to make a PocketPay prototype, which he estimates will cost around $1.5 million. From there, the sky's the limit. Hughes is confident it will be produced for public use. "If you look at the world today, it makes a lot of sense," he said. "It's something I would use right away." Read more about the PocketPay and Slick transactions at eConnect