Online Gaming for Tiltaholics

Online gaming for money is taking a new twist, going after the demographic that thinks no-limit hold'em might as well be Old Maid, reports an AP story appearing in the Miami Herald:

Service to offer cash, prizes for online gamers

DALLAS — A new source of income — or debt — could soon be a mouse click away for PC gamers.

Players 18 years and older can win cash or prizes while playing against each other in the online World War II action game Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

It's part of a deal between YouPlayGames and two Texas companies — Even Balance, Inc. of Houston and Id Software, Inc. of Mesquite.

After registering with YouPlayGames, gamers can place their wager.

The cost of entry generally will range from a few cents to a few dollars for each kill or injury players incur on their opponents, YouPlayGames creator Chris Grove said Tuesday.

...

YouPlayGames is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, just off the coast of Venezuela.

(via boing boing)

Addendum: I just took a look at the YouPlayGames home page, and noticed that the site accepts payments via PayPal. I wonder how long that is going to last? The ground shifted late last year when eBay acquired PayPal, and the latter announced that they would discontinue doing business with gambling sites.