Wild Jack targets young professional gamblers

WHILE THE demand for online gambling is still exploding, the key players have turned their attention to the next obvious sector - mobile phones. And one of the first to deliver this in the UK is Wild Jack Mobile Casino.

Although the name might be new, the technology isn't. Wild Jack has taken advantage of the Gamewire casino system developed by Spin 3 which in turn is based on an established casino management system created by Microgaming.

The net effect is that when you play any of Wild Jack's games on your mobile phone, you're effectively linked live (via GPRS) to a casino based in Canada. The result is that one of Wild Jacks games will allow participants to have a crack at a minimum $40,000 jackpot.

Plus Wild Jack aren't newcomers either. They're part of the Jackpot Factory Group - online gaming specialist - which has paid out over $900 million since 1999.

Unlike other recent mobile offerings, Wild Jack's games are very definitely for the over 18s. For starters, you have to have a credit card. Furthermore, in order to sign up, players have to send a text message (WJMC) to the 89895 shortcode. In the UK, shortcodes which start with 89 are recognised as being adult services. So, in theory at least, unless you've asked for the bar on your mobile phone to be lifted, you won't actually be able to download the games.

There are seven games in the Wild Jack series. The list includes: - Black Jack, Double Magic slots, Fruit Fiesta, European Roulette, Jacks or Better, Treasure Nile and Scratcard. They run on most Java enabled mobile handsets.

In the interest of research and using the skills honed attending CES and Comdex in Las Vegas, the INQ is testing these games right now for authenticity. And to see if we can win anything, naturally.µ