Bitcoin and the Online Gambling Industry

Bitcoin is a revolutionary new currency. Everything about it is so new and different that we do not always know what to expect next. We have, however, seen a great degree of success so far in many areas. It is already possible to buy just about anything you can think of with Bitcoins. There are some technical aspects, but in general, anyone can open up their wallet and send any amount of money across any border for a virtually nonexistent fee. This could all be done in a matter of seconds.

One area where all of these benefits have made a huge difference is in the Bitcoin casino arena. Before Bitcoin, websites were forced to deal with old-fashioned fiat currencies like the US dollar and the euro. Dealing with that sort of money often incurs significant fees and opens the door to all kinds of fraud. Some online casinos have chosen to simply accept and deal with these issues, but it still costs them more than it should to do business.

The government regulations that come along with fiat currency and traditional banking have also caused problems for online gambling services. One issue is that the laws regarding gambling vary significantly from place to place. In some countries the practice is completely illegal. Other nations charge excessive taxes on gambling operations. This all makes things complicated for online casinos as they try to operate at a reasonable cost without violating any laws and ending up in prison. It becomes even more difficult when malicious governments can simply access a gambling website’s bank records to see exactly what they were doing with their money.

Bitcoin and the benefits that come with it are able to solve many of these problems and make things much easier for these online services. Cryptocurrency has no regulation at all and is mostly anonymous. This means that a gambling operator can conduct business with much less government intervention or possibly none at all. If he can host his website in a gambling-friendly country and protect his identity, then he should be able to succeed safely and provide a great service to customers all over the world. Even those who live in places where gambling is illegal should be able to use Bitcoin casinos relatively easily without being identified.

Bitcoin is also directly integrated with the internet, which makes payment processing extremely simple. A web developer with some experience could set up an entire Bitcoin gambling website in just a few days. It is entirely unnecessary to file tax forms, create a corporation, sign banking agreements, or anything like that. Instead, programming alone can create a cheap, useful, and profitable casino. The payments are also very quick and very cheap. Many Bitcoin casinos even accept payments without any confirmations. This works because the risk of losing money to any sort of fraud or network flaw is extremely small, especially compared to the risks associated with credit cards and other fiat payment processors.

Some people feel that these benefits are mostly for the casinos and can actually hurt the players. In fact, many say that gambling with Bitcoin can be risky because you often have no legal recourse if something goes wrong and payments are irreversible. This is true. Some Bitcoin gambling websites really have cheated their customers and run off with money that did not belong to them, but this has also led to new innovations in transparency and honesty. Legitimate casinos know that potential players might not be very willing to trust them so they have to come up with ways of proving that what they say about their games is true. Many Bitcoin casinos publish detailed reports about how they determine whether a wager becomes a win or a loss. This is called provably fair gaming and it is great for the gamblers.

This still leaves the possibility of a casino running away with funds, but that only encourages legitimate businesses to conduct their operations honestly in order to build a good reputation. Many people trust the established casinos which currently handle piles of money every day and always make good on their payouts. As soon as anyone starts stealing money, people will hear about it and stop dealing with that business. In general, this creates an incentive for casinos to build a reputation and remain honest.

All of this has led to significant growth in Bitcoin gambling. Tons of online casinos have already popped up and this trend is bound to continue. Some of the most popular websites handle thousands of Bitcoins in wagers every day. In fact, on one busy day, over 1.5 million Bitcoins were wagered on Just-Dice, a popular dice website.

Cryptocurrency is extremely easy to use and gambling operators would be almost senseless not to look into using it. They have two options. They can use fiat currency so that the government can watch their bank transfers and impose huge taxes on their business or they can use Bitcoin privately. They can use fiat so that they cannot operate easily in some countries or they can use Bitcoin globally. They can use fiat so that payment processors can charge fees and reverse transactions or they can use Bitcoin cheaply and securely. Even the players themselves benefit from the use of Bitcoin. The future of online gambling looks quite promising and with any luck, we will begin to see this growth in other areas of Bitcoin economy as well.

• Category: Uncategorized