The modern gambling industry is a sprawling multi-billion dollar sector with a voracious appetite for adopting new technologies. With much lower overheads than land-based casinos, companies can invest their revenue in providing gamblers with appealing deals and bonuses, and in exploring new ways to deliver games online.
One popular recent development is the advent of the live casino online, where players can wager money on games of blackjack, roulette, and poker hosted by real dealers and streamed onto their computer screens in real time. This is testament to how eager online casino brands are to become early adopters of new technology, with several leading platforms turning to this live-streaming option early on, years before Facebook introduced its live feeds and other companies followed suit.
So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the industry has taken an interest in the up-and-coming technology of blockchain.
Another new high-tech development that casinos seem eager to adopt as soon as possible is the digital ledger known as blockchain technology. Blockchain tech helps solve a problem faced by those looking to gamble online, which is that some are wary of trusting their financial details with online sites. That may be prudent if not entirely necessary in most cases. However, blockchain technology increases the transparency of online transactions so that people can have greater peace of mind. Peace of mind and increased security is where blockchain comes in. It is an online ledger system that involves passing records of transactions between networks of computers, with no single computer able to exert centralised control. Following this idea, sites can potentially set up a blockchain network that keeps track of money that is deposited and payments to be sent out whenever a game is won.
The manner in which such a network operates is completely transparent to the player – if a site is not going to pay out, it is obvious for a player to notice. Moreover, a player can see exactly how wagers translate into payments – and no-one can interfere with this process.
There is another advantage for players with blockchain technology. This is the consideration of privacy. Sites do not need to collect as much personal information when they use a blockchain system, as the network sends payments to their rightful recipient without the need for constructing detailed profiles.
Of course, gambling sites may be legally obligated to collect some personal information such as a person’s age and country of residence, so a blockchain cannot fully guarantee complete anonymity when applied to an online casino. But, certainly, blockchain technology ensures that fewer traces of a person’s identity are left online when they gamble.
There is a drawback to blockchain technology in some cases though, and that is its accessibility. To wager and win on a blockchain casino, many sites would require a gambler to be comfortable using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or XRP. While many internet users are passionate about cryptocurrencies, more casual users may view them with suspicion owing to the wild fluctuations in their value, the somewhat mysterious origins of the technology behind them, and their sheer novelty and unusualness compared to traditional currencies. However, there are casinos out there that allow cryptocurrency deposits without placing their information on a blockchain, blockchain casinos which don’t allow you to deposit Bitcoin or other cryptos. Let’s also make it clear that some crypto-ready casinos only accept BTC, while yet others may also allow you to play via XRP, ETH or even LTC.
Within this context, we should also keep in mind that at present, numerous governments around the world are reluctant to allow their citizens to trade freely in cryptocurrencies too, meaning those casinos which only use crypto may not be suitable for online gambling just anywhere on the globe.
Lastly, blockchain casinos remain in their infancy. It is debatable whether a truly trustworthy blockchain casino that offers the range of services expected of immersive, reputable online casino sites can exist at present. However, the technology is there and we may see developments in the future.
Blockchain technology may be the future of online gambling, but that future isn’t here quite yet.
