Dominoes could be the next gambling craze, with the emergence of high-jackpot, televised competitions.

Prize money on the new ESPN cable sports network show could total $500,000 – and is expected to attract a host of eager domino players from around the world.

But the newly formed Professional Domino Association will not be looking for occasional players who have only played for fun on rainy days, as the show is targeting the Latino neighbourhoods of New York, where domino matches are turned into a colorful all-shouting contest.

“We think it will be the next cool thing,” said Lino Garcia, the general manager of Spanish language channel ESPN Deportes.

He told the Daily Telegraph: “We’re connecting with the best places dominoes is played, so naturally we’re going to start in uptown Manhattan and the Bronx, the places where it really happens.”

But online casinos are already wising up to the game and it is unlikely it will not soon feature on many online gambling and casino sites, should the TV series – and the craze – really take off.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 at 9:12 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.