Experts do not predict any fall of crypto gambling in the future since it is associated with so many good things:
- No commission or transaction fees — The circulation of digital currency takes place in decentralized networks. Accordingly, there is no single institution that benefits from fees, commissions, and payments. The only fee charged to users is the miner fee for the transaction. Its amount doesn’t exceed $0.04, which is significantly less than in any other financial institution;
- The speed of the transaction — Cryptocurrency payments are processed much faster than transfers through traditional financial institutions. In most cases, it takes no more than a few minutes to verify and complete the payment;
- Security — By using blockchain technology, digital currency transactions cannot be canceled or rejected. The history of all transactions is stored in the system, and any attempt to change the history is rejected. Thus, crypto transactions are absolutely safe and leave no room for fraudulent activities. Casinos that use such a currency enjoy increased user confidence;
- Anonymity — You do not need to provide personal data to fund your account or withdraw your winnings using digital currency. All that is needed is the bitcoin wallet address and keys. The gambler’s identity remains anonymous. Thanks to this, even players from those countries where gambling is prohibited can freely play in online casinos and withdraw their earned money.
Cryptocurrency Gambling Sites
There are many widely-accepted cryptocurrencies on the market today, with new coins being introduced at a rapid rate. While the online gambling industry was one of the earliest adopters of these payments, to date, the operators have been focused on adding the most trusted.
Deposit With Cryptocurrency
All this talk about cryptocurrency and its benefits is nice, but understanding how to make a deposit in your online casino account is likely why you came to this page in the first place. Using the currency for online casino deposits and withdrawals is actually not as intimidating as it may look, but you definitely want to know all the right steps to take in order to make the transactions as easy as possible.
Cryptocurrency Wallets
For as many cryptocurrencies that exist in the marketplace today, there are as many if not more cryptocurrency wallets to choose from. The crypto wallet is exactly as it sounds – a central location for you to manage all your cryptocurrency balances. Some wallets are better than others, and when it comes to online gambling, choosing a wallet that makes it easy to move coins to and from casino sites is a must. There are some crypto wallets that have been around for much longer than others, but that doesn’t mean that the new ones aren’t worth using.
Simplified payments? Faster? Reliable? Secure? Yes.
Casinos provide for their users to conduct play and trade using their preferred currency. No limitations are attached to this, whether it is a trending coin or a dormant one.
Safety is also not much of an issue. This is because cryptocurrency operations are conducted in a fashion that is aided by blockchain technology. Transactions are encrypted onto the system then relayed to all the required quarters. This makes it transparent, fast, efficient, and secure.
The security features are strengthened as more information is fed. Cryptoninjas states that hackers have virtually no way to breach the network. The probability of losing your assets, however, increases with where you store them. That means the weak link in your wallet. But as long as you are using a good crypto wallet, and employing all the necessary steps to keep it secure, there is no cause for alarm.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a method for tracking transactions using a public, globally distributed ledger. Transactions can include anything of value (e.g., houses, patents, intellectual property, cars, software, contracts), but is most commonly used for virtual currency (i.e., cryptocurrency).
Blockchain automatically and securely (using cryptography) keeps a historical record, or ledger, of all transactions.
New transactions are saved in a “block” and added to the existing chain (hence the term blockchain). Importantly, this record has a number of encryptions and redundancies which ensure it cannot be changed, falsified or altered. As such, the blockchain remains unbroken, and free of error or tampering. The unbroken record is shared and distributed among everyone who uses blockchain. This means that everyone has a record, which can then be compared across individuals to ensure there are no anomalies. When a new transaction is added to the record, it is time-stamped and verified by all those who are using the blockchain. This ensures that no records are falsified or altered.
The main benefits to using cryptocurrencies for gambling are summarized by Gainsbury
and Blaszczynski:
- Transactions occur rapidly (near-instant), including immediate and automatic withdrawal and/or deposits.
- Transactions are non-reversible (no charge-backs), meaning fraud and non-payment are eliminated.
- Transactions tend to have few overhead fees (no deposit and withdrawal fees), which allow casinos using bitcoin to have a very low house edge.
- Players can retain their anonymity, which allows users to avoid regulations (such as betting in jurisdictions where gambling is prohibited).
- Players do not need an account, so there is no need for players or operators to manage and protect funds and accounts.
- In addition, gambles that use blockchain are open to verification, so gamblers can ensure games are fair. Due to the blockchain technology, there is no way for gambling operators to cheat, or interfere with outcome or payments.
Implications for Responsible Gambling
Since cryptocurrency use can be anonymous and doesn’t require a player account, current responsible gambling strategies may be difficult to implement. For example, self-exclusion may still be possible (using wallet IDs) but will be very easy to bypass. The collection of big- data to inform RG practices will also be challenging. Still, the open and transparent understanding of odds may be easier to implement. There is also a risk that players may spend more money then they had intended when gambling with cryptocurrency. This is due to the nature of cryptocurrency as a virtual representation of currency, and players may not readily associate the value of their cryptocurrency as “real money”.
An additional issue with cryptocurrency is that even people who don’t directly gamble may be indirectly gambling through currency speculation. Indeed, there is a large exchange market in which speculators buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in order to profit from favorable fluctuations in exchange rates.