As they lounged poolside reading under a 50-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel & Casino here, the last thing Alice and Jerry Long wanted to do was gamble.
"You need to relax when you're eating, and when you're at the pool," said Alice Long, 56, of Hickory, N.C. Her husband, Jerry, 60, was absorbed in a book. "Gambling is not relaxing," he said.
By the time the Longs return to Las Vegas next fall it may be harder to relax. Others next to them at the pool might be playing blackjack, poker, roulette and even slots. This summer, Nevada became the first state to allow the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices inside casinos.
Public hearings will begin next week before the Nevada Gaming Control Board to draft regulations governing their use. Atlantic City gambling operators are watching closely because Las Vegas sets the trend, and what starts here doesn't stay here.
Considered gambling's newest frontier, wireless devices mark another step closer for U.S. companies who want to enter the lucrative, but currently illegal, world of online gambling. Some worry they will only encourage problem gambling, especially among minors.
Cantor G&W, an affiliate of New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., wants to provide the system and the devices to the Las Vegas casinos. For the Wall Street firm, the business leverages its experience with mobile trading technology.
"This is about allowing people to play their favorite casino-type games without being restricted to the traditional convenience of a casino floor," said Joe Asher, managing director of Cantor G&W. "Fundamentally, a $100 million bond trade is the same as a $10 bet on a football game or $10 on a hand of video poker."
He said the devices, ranging in size from a handheld computer to a slate or tablet PC, could be another source of revenue for the casinos and help them keep customers longer.
To gamble using the mobile devices, a casino visitor would need to show identification to obtain one from the casino, and then deposit money into an electronic account. Under the law signed by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn in June, a wireless-blackjack player could gamble in public areas such as the bars, restaurants, pool area and convention hall of a casino. The devices could not be used in hotel rooms or other private areas.
"We think there is a market for it," Asher said. "You have a whole new generation that grew up with video games."
He's talking about people like Hugh Himmel of Lansdale, Montgomery County, who said he started playing online poker in 2001. He was 18 at the time - too young to gamble in an Atlantic City casino.
"This will really take off with the younger crowd," said Himmel, now 22, who was at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City recently with Jason Quattro, also 22, to play table games.
Himmel said he would use the portable device to brush up on his poker skills.
"You don't get good overnight," he said. "The more hands you play, the better you become."
Some say it will only be a matter of time before the technology makes its way to Atlantic City. The resort has long borrowed trends from Las Vegas to bring in younger customers.
"We're curious to see any new product that would put us at a disadvantage or give us an advantage," said Borgata chief operating officer Larry Mullin. Styled after a Las Vegas mega-casino, the $1.1 billion Borgata is the most technologically advanced casino in Atlantic City and has been a youth magnet since opening in July 2003.