Bitcoin and online gambling – hand and glove forever?
The Worldwide Web becoming freely accessible and worldwide in the beginning of the 90s heralded a new era for the industry of gambling. The launch of the first online casinos and gambling websites meant gaming enthusiasts having Internet access could enjoy their favorite games and activities using the available banking services, including credit card payments. When Bitcoin appeared in 2009, it became apparent for many online casino operators they have great possibilities to literally revolutionize the industry with the help of the new cryptocurrency. Has Bitcoin answered their expectations?
Bitcoin survived numerous regulation attempts in many states, and although it’s still not officially considered a fully valid money analogue in the countries where it wasn’t completely banned, it has nevertheless become the most popular payment method among online gamblers. There have been many reasons for that, but Bitcoin casinos are most likely to have succeeded because of their availability in jurisdictions where online gambling for real money is officially banned, and, just as important, because BTC substantially reduces the commission fees on payment transactions for players, at the same time enabling them to gamble absolutely anonymously.
Indeed, with Bitcoin gamblers get a great opportunity to shrink the operational expenses they got so used to dealing with ‘traditional’ real money gambling websites, or even pay nothing extra in some cases. As for Bitcoin casino operators, now they don’t have to pay any regular fees to BTC payment service providers at all. You couldn’t have such remissions with regular fiat currency payment systems. Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin is growing increasingly popular among the owners of online gambling businesses, as they are willing to make life easier for themselves and their players. Will that cause Bitcoin to expand its potential over other industries requiring instant and more efficient payment solutions? That is a question of time.
Speaking of the successful Bitcoin gambling businesses, we should definitely mention BitCasino.io above all others. The portal has been officially launched in early 2014, and as we see, it took them just a little more than a year to officially establish themselves as a #1 virtual entertainment website in many countries; Google can easily prove it. According to Mr. Tauri Tiitsaar of the company’s management team speaking about their success in his interview to their own Bitcoin gambling blog, “there are a lot of differences actually [between BitCasino and other Bitcoin gambling websites]; since we are a very innovative group of people we tend to pride ourselves in being the first with many things on the market. We were the first and still are the only Bitcoin Casino with a Gaming Licence. In addition our Live Casino, Live Dice, Live Chat and On Demand Payments to affiliates were the first of their kind in the Bitcoin gambling market”.
Thus, as it follows from Mr. Tiitsaar’s words, innovation can be one of the main driving forces behind BTC’s global progress. Still, there can be millions and millions of potential Bitcoin users in the world still being somehow afraid to try the cryptocurrency for one reason or another. It may take them certain time to get accustomed to the new block-chain based payment solution, but the experts’ Bitcoin-related forecasts and expectations are positive. Yes, in the coming years Bitcoin will need to face certain critical issues in many countries, including legal regulation and the U.S. ban on using banking services in online gambling, but, given a bigger stakeholder support, these issues become quite feasible. Bitcoin’s future is much brighter than many tend to think.