Friday, April 28, 2006

Mobile Slots Player Wins $163,114 Jackpot on His Phone

Slotland.com’s first mobile games jackpot winner breaks previous progressive jackpot record

A Texas man became the first Slotland.com player to hit the jackpot on a mobile phone and is the biggest mobile gambling winner to date. The player known as “OlympiaGold” won $163,114 playing Slotland.com’s Lucky Stars slot machine.

“Our jackpot is hit every six weeks or so,” said Hannah Morante of Slotland.com. “Not only is this the first time it’s been won by someone using a mobile phone, it’s also our biggest jackpot ever, breaking our previous record of $162,514.”

“I am a gadget freak!” said the lucky winner when he learned he was the first mobile jackpot winner ever. “I love all sorts of electronic items, and so of course I have a nice mobile phone with all the extras. I wasn't even aware that you could gamble on your mobile phone until a friend of mine introduced me to Slotland's mobile games. “

The Texas jackpot winner began playing Slotland.com’s mobile games last September when their most popular game from the web was launched on the new mobile gambling platform. There are three mobile slots now and a new one is added every couple of months. “OlympiaGold” was enjoying the newest mobile slot, Golden 8, but hit the jackpot when he switched to Lucky Stars.

“I don't know why, but I always feel that new games are looser than the older games,” said the historic winner. “But that Sunday morning, I wasn’t winning much on the Golden 8 so I went back to my old favourite, Lucky Stars. I already had two of my three stars lit up so I figured with a little luck I could light up the third and possibly pull in a nice win to double my $100 deposit.”

It wasn't more than 15 minutes before his third star lit up – and his bonus spin produced three bars across the fourth pay line! His hands were sweating and he was literally shaking all over -- he’d just won $163,114.

“Of course, my wife already has plans for most of my winnings,” grinned the happy winner. “But I told her that $5,000 of that win is all mine to just blow on more gadgets!"

Slotland.com now features three unique games in its mobile suite and eight different slot machines plus video poker on the web site. Both mobile and web games share the same progressive jackpot pool.

American Idol is the Hottest Proposition of the Year

As with sports, betting on television heightens excitement for viewers

35 million viewers vote on American Idol contestants each week and betting online has become a hugely popular way to participate in the excitement of America’s favorite reality television show. Aces.com Odds Maker Jeremy Ryan listens to the judges, checks the polls and monitors weekly voting trends when he updates his odds each Thursday.

While Chris Daughtry and Katherine McPhee have been the odds makers’ and voters’ favorites since Week 1, other early favorites have been eliminated, and some unlikely contestants have survived.

“Every contestant had a chance to win,” adds Ryan. “That’s why odds are different; some are just bigger favorites than others.”

“Of course at Aces.com we were pulling for Ace Young,” said Manager Rene Quesada. “He seemed like such a sure thing for awhile there…”

“The action has been pretty predictable, nothing out of the norm for Idol betting. We’re getting great action on all contestants,” said Ryan.”Idol is live so it always gets great action. With other taped reality shows I generally see only one-way action. For example, for Survivor I had action mostly on 2 people and my guess is you'll see those two at the live finale.”

Elliot Yamin opened as a relative long shot but, to the amazement of many, he’s still in the running -- Paula Abdul gushed over him this week and even Simon Cowell loved him.

“He’s been one of the most talented voices from the start, so I’m not surprised he’s still around,” Ryan said about his personal favorite. “Initially, odds were high to generate more action on him. Our customers didn't start betting him ‘till later in the show...Week 4 or so. A month ago we had him at 18-1, but only 5% of the money was on him. Now he’s in the final five at 9-1.”

Current odds* on who will be the next American Idol:

Chris Daughtry 13-10
Katharine McPhee 11-5
Taylor Hicks 12-5
Elliott Yamin 9-1
Paris Bennett 20-1

* As posted at Aces.com as of April 27, 2006.