Ongame Plans Hebrew Online Casino Site
Published: Monday, February 28, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
ONGAME PLANS HEBREW SITE
Israelis love to gamble online...
The
Israeli publication Haaretz reported this week that online gambling is an Israeli
success story.
"Israelis really like playing casino games, they're
quite hooked on it," the publication quotes Ira Gladnikoff, vice president
of Swedish online gambling company OnGame. She added that Israelis are particularly
prevalent visitors on online gambling sites. "That's why we will be running
a site specially in Hebrew, despite it being such a small country."
OnGame
runs the online
poker site PokerRoom.com, considered the fifth-largest online poker web site
in the world. Some 3.5 million surfing punters a day place around $13 million
on bets.
The local potential is so great that OnGame will be launching
a campaign to teach Israelis how to play the game.
"Initially we
will open real [not online] poker classes in Tel Aviv," Gladnikoff said,"with
tutors brought specially to Israel from overseas. Poker is a game that requires
70 percent skill and 30 percent luck, so there is something worth learning."
Americans account for the vast majority - some 80 percent, according to the
VP - of OnGame's customers,"but there are loads of Israelis that play on
the site, and they are considered good players."
Gladnikoff, a Swedish
Jew who has family in Israel, thought up OnGame's venture in Israel, for which
the company is to spend $100,000 in the first stages.
Online poker is
estimated at taking in some $2 billion a year in bets, and that's just part of
the phenomena of online gambling worldwide. Another major player in the field
is Casino-On-Net,
whose software was developed by Random Logic, ironically an Israeli company, based
in Tel Aviv. Ironic because according to Israel's strict gambling laws, punters
are forbidden from gambling, even online. The company therefore decided to run
its casino from Gibraltar, and the site is barred to surfers from Israel.
Another local online gambling company, King Solomons, found another way round
the legal restrictions. The company, which takes in bets of $1.5 million a month
and makes profits of $400,000 to $600,000 a month on its site, kings.co.il, runs
its online casino from South Africa. Its support services though are available
in Hebrew.
Related Links:
Casino
on Net Review By Online-Casinos.com
Pokerroom
Review By Online-Casinos.com
