Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last couple years, you’ve probably come to realize that there’s a new form of money making waves in the digital world. This trendsetting money goes by the name of Bitcoin, and is leading the charge for the handful of crypto-currencies making their way into the mainstream. As ridiculous as a virtual, or digital, currency may seem to some, it’s quickly becoming the “go to “method for all transactions and commerce online. The popularity growth for Bitcoin is also creating buzz in the investment community for its rapidly ascending value, somewhat reminiscent of the “Tulip Mania “that occurred in the Dutch Golden Age.
What Is The Bitcoin and Gambling Relationship?
We all know that online gambling is a multi-billion dollar a year business already. Online casinos and sportsbooks are always looking for ways to attract new players to their sites, and with Bitcoin’s popularity and acceptance growing like a wildfire; it only makes sense to open the flood gates of new potential customers looking to use this form of currency. The very large and popular online merchants like OverStock.com and Expedia are already accepting Bitcoin for payments of goods and services, and this is driving the mid-sized and smaller outfits follow suit. This revenue stream is not going unnoticed by the gambling community, so just about every major casino brand quickly adopted Bitcoin into their already numerous methods for making deposits onto their sites.
What Makes Bitcoin So Attractive To Gamblers?
Bitcoin has many properties that make it the first choice of online gamblers worldwide. Bitcoin allows for smooth, fast, secure and anonymous transactions that partner great with online gambling.
- Bitcoin is “peer to peer “: This means that there are no third party intermediaries, or middle men, to go through when transactions are made. It simply goes from the owner to the merchant, or service provider, and vice versa.
- Instant access to your funds: Because there’s no middle man, transactions are almost instant. You can deposit funds to your favorite online casino or sportsbook and start using those funds to place bets right away.
- Super-Fast Payouts: With Bitcoin you can cash out after those big scores and receive your winnings almost instantly instead of waiting several weeks for a paper check or a week for your credit card to be credited, or days for the wire transfer to your bank to clear.
- Anonymity: All Bitcoin transactions are anonymous. Even though there’s a public ledger, there’s not any personal information associated with the transactions. This is a HUGE plus for the High Roller’s and everyone else that wants to keep their action on the down low, or hush hush.
- Minimal Transaction Fees: The more of your deposit that actually goes into your player account instead of going towards transaction fees, the better! Because the funds are sent directly to a site without having to go through an intermediary first, you don’t have to worry about those pesky credit card fees or bank fees.
- Bitcoin Deposit Bonuses: Because the transactions for Bitcoin are almost seamless, fast, and without fees, the online casinos and sportsbooks offer players generous bonuses for choosing to make deposits via Bitcoin instead of the other traditional methods like credit cards, bank wires, etc. Some of these bonuses can reach into the Thousands of Dollars!
- Taxes: At the current moment, Bitcoin transactions are not subject to taxation, thus another benefit for winning players.
What Gamblers Are Betting On With Bitcoin?
When it comes down to game selection, the gambler has the world at his/her fingertips. Gamblers can set up an account with an online casino and have access to all the most popular casino games like Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Slots and more. Or if sports are their action of choice, an online Bitcoin sportsbook will give them all the same betting options that all the major brick and mortar facilities have including Football, Basketball, Baseball, MMA, Golf, Horse racing and more.
Deposits Are Being Made Via Bitcoin
In case there’s a little confusion about how gamblers might be betting in Bitcoin, I’ll clear that up here. They are not actually betting each hand of Blackjack, or on a College Football game with Bitcoin. Instead they are merely making their deposits to their favorite online sites with Bitcoin for all the reasons mentioned above. Once the deposits are made, the Bitcoin is converted to U.S. dollars in most cases, and then all the bets are placed with those dollars. When cashing out, a player will request that his winnings be paid in Bitcoin, so the site will convert the cash back to Bitcoin based on the current exchange rate and pay the player. The player’s Bitcoin wallet will be credited almost instantly.
Final Thoughts
The verdict is in, at least for now. It looks like the gamblers and the online casinos will both be winners in this budding relationship of technology and psychology. And with the Bitcoin train continuing to gather steam; it seems that the sky is the limit unless the regulators are somehow able to get involved. Time will tell the rest of the story!
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