In July 2017, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high against the USD, earning any Bitcoin bettor a whopping $3,000 for every coin traded. According to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, BTC crossed the mark sometime in the month to set the all-time high against most of the major currencies. And with an increasing number of people continuing to use the Cryptocurrency globally, the value is set to increase more.
Considering the near global and industry adoption of the currency, favored mostly because of its decentralized system, it’s no surprise that there are people, and bettors are continuing to adopt this method of payment for online casino games, too.
Why Did Casinos Start Paying Out in Bitcoins?
Bitcoin is still very much at its infancy stage, but this hasn’t prevented it from being widely accepted across different organizations including online casinos. But what makes the different casino portals to trust this unsure payment method to incorporate it into their sites? Below are some of the main reasons.
Very Fast and Cheap Transactions
In the modern casino and gambling era, bettors seem to prefer Bitcoin casinos that promises a faster and cheaper way of getting money into and out of their account. Well, there are plenty of payment options that promise this, but none does it better than BTC.
A typical BTC fee will cost you a transfer fee of 0.0005BTC for every transaction you make. As compared to the credit cards which will charge you 3-5% commission for the total amount you’ll be transacting, this makes BTC very cheap and one of the ways which players prefer!
Transaction cost aside, Bitcoins also promise players a quick processing time for all the transactions made. While other payment methods take between 12-72 hours to process withdrawals, Bitcoins take up to a maximum of 20 minutes for players to withdraw and start using funds.
It’s Totally Safe and Secure
Unlike traditional payment option, credit cards and eWallets, Bitcoins have proven to be the safest and most secure payment methods online. See, while scammers have found a way of hacking and getting some of the information on the ‘traditional’ payment options, Bitcoins have proven to be very difficult. This is because they use a modernized encryption technology that keeps all your personal information safe.
Still can’t see how this is possible? How about we tell you that all the Bitcoin transactions you carry online are anonymous. You cannot see the personal details of someone sending you the currency though you’ll be able to receive the money.
Some might argue that this is a bad thing due to security issues, but provided you choose a site that has a good reputation of trading the Bitcoins, plus a reputable Bitcoin Casino, then you can be assured of safety and security.
Due to the security that this Cryptocurrency assures its users, then an increasing number of casinos are incorporating BTC as one of the payment options.
Decentralization
I wasn’t well aware of this fact until just recently. Apparently, the US central bank wanted to take all deposits that were uninsured and larger than $100,000 in a bid to help recapitalize itself. The result was most people became very unsettled and more chose to shift to Bitcoins.
How’s this relevant to our article? Well, unlike the hard liquid cash that the government has control over, BTC is decentralized, meaning that its value is not dictated by the government or any person in particular. Instead, the value of Bitcoin is determined by the demand.
Recently, the demand for Bitcoins has increased, but the number of miners isn’t sufficient enough. Consequently, the demand has gone high, resulting in a higher value.
In addition to giving bettors the opportunity of winning more money from their initial investment, Bitcoin casinos also are set to benefit from the transactions that bettors make. More bettors using BTC as a payment option means that the site’s BTC pool grows bigger and thus more profit for them.
Flexibility
Lastly, flexibility is another reason why Bitcoin Casinos decided to use this payment option. Since there are no regulations to control how much bettors can send each other, there’s no limit as to how much one can send to each player. This is something that attracts bettors to using this payment option, forcing casinos to also include it to their payment options.
Controversies Surrounding Bitcoin
Just like any payment method online, there are controversies and uncertainties that face BTC as a payment method. Hacking, lack of knowledge on how to use this payment method, among many others that seem to pop up on a daily basis. Regardless, BTC continues to grow in popularity and value. Furthermore, more BTC based casinos also continue increasing by the day, some even opting to purely offer their services using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Could Bitcoin be the future of online gambling? We certainly aren’t sure about this, but the future is very bright for this payment option!