Crypto Gambling Explained | Guide to Gambling With Cryptocurrency
This guide on crypto gambling is been a long time coming. Crypto gambling is a hot topic right now but there is a lot of confusion as to what this new payment method entails. While more and more people are starting to use cryptocurrency to pay for services, goods and entertainment, getting into crypto gambling can seem intimidating.
If you have been on the fence about getting into crypto gambling then this guide is for you. We are going to cover the entire process from when you first create your crypto wallet to making your very first casino deposit.
What is Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency. This means that it has no physical form. It exists entirely on the digital network. The value of fiat currency (i.e. euros, dollars, rubles) is determined by its selling and purchase price as a commodity, whereas determining the value of cryptocurrency is a little different.
The value of each type of crypto depends on the agreement between its users and hosts. The more crypto is mined, traded and used, the more it increases in value.
Decentralized currency
Unlike fiat currency, cryptocurrency is decentralized. Dollars, Pounds, Euros and any other fiat currencies in the world are physically available to us, courtesy of reserve banks and treasuries.
This isn’t the case with cryptocurrency. Everything is exclusively digital since it’s based on blockchain technology. In other words, don’t expect you’ll receive change from a retailer if you pay for things with cryptos.
The Blockchain
A blockchain is based on a network of servers located all over the world. All of these spots work together to make sure a blockchain network functions properly. If any of these nodes get tampered with, all other nodes will work together to remove the anomaly. This makes the blockchain network incredibly secure.
Instead of using a ledger as all fiat currencies do, the blockchain network uses blocks. When a transaction is made on the blockchain, a block is created containing the sender, the recipient and the amount of cryptocurrency that was transferred between the two.
This process creates a hash code, which acts as a receipt of sorts. Interestingly enough, the transaction is viewable by everyone in the world. Literally, anyone with the hashcode or a wallet address can view all the transactions that were done with very little information. The only thing that isn’t viewable on the blockchain is the recipients themselves.
Anonymous trades and transactions
Even though a lot of wallet companies are trying to implement KYC measures for all their users and even though transaction details are viewable by everyone, users remain relatively anonymous. This is both good and bad.
On one hand, nobody needs to know what exactly you are buying and no banks can keep tabs on your gambling activity. On the other hand, people have been known to use bitcoin to pay for illicit goods and services. Whatever the case is, finding out who the owner of a crypto wallet is is much harder than finding the origin of a bank account.
Valuable even outside the digital world
If you don’t believe that cryptocurrencies have “real world” value, let me reassure you, they function pretty much the same as any other type of currency would. Sure, they may be more volatile, but you can still buy cryptocurrency in exchange for fiat currency and vice versa.
The most popular cryptocurrency available is, undoubtedly, Bitcoin. In fact, because of bitcoin’s popularity, many crypto casinos are often referred to as “bitcoin casinos” and their games are often called “bitcoin games”, even when they accept other forms of crypto.
Getting Started With Bitcoin Gambling Sites
Bitcoin gambling sites (or crypto gambling sites) are on the rise. Lots of online casinos have crossed that threshold, implementing cryptocurrency as a “regular” payment method. Other bitcoin casino sites are taking things a step further with crypto game offers – while some emboldened online casinos are even giving NFTs as rewards.
There is no doubt that avid gamblers would be missing out on a lot of brand new and exciting features that crypto casinos bring to the world of online gambling. And this is just the beginning.
Difference Between Crypto Casinos and Traditional Online Casinos
It may seem like crypto casinos are more advanced than online casinos and getting things up and running seems like a daunting task. In reality, crypto casinos are basically the same as any other online casino out there. On paper, they simply have different payment methods available and maybe a few extra game types as well.
The main difference between an online casino and a crypto gambling site is that the latter accepts cryptocurrency as a payment method. It’s pretty similar to saying how one casino accepts Paypal as a payment method while the other one doesn’t.
Another difference between the two is how crypto casinos may host special Bitcoin gambling games. Bitcoin gambling games work the same way as most online slots do, however, with a few distinctions:
- The obvious one is that minimum and maximum bets are calculated in crypto (or fractions of crypto).
- Crypto games also give their players better odds than regular online casino games.
- Crypto casinos are also the only casinos that will offer special crypto bonuses for players who deposit in crypto.
Depositing and Withdrawing with Cryptocurrency
In this section, we are going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to create your very first crypto wallet, how to add crypto funds to it and, finally, how to make your very first deposit in a crypto casino.
Creating a wallet
Before you can even own crypto, you need to create a crypto wallet. These include Binance, eToro, Coinbase, Gemini, Voyager – but, generally speaking, they all function pretty much the same way.
Creating a wallet is as simple as downloading an app and finishing a registration. While you can do the same by creating an account on a website, creating a wallet on your phone is much more convenient. Because of this, we are going to assume that you are using a phone to create your crypto wallet.
Download a wallet that you like and finish the registration process. The registration process might seem a bit complicated when compared to creating accounts on other platforms but you only need to do it once.
As part of your registration, you may be required to take a picture of yourself holding a generated code to prove your identity. Do not be alarmed when you get asked this as this is a standard procedure that most crypto wallets do in order to fight crypto scams and fraud.
Buying your first cryptocurrency
Assuming you created a wallet that also has a crypto exchange option, you can move on to the next step. You will need to link your existing payment method (credit card, debit card, e-wallet, etc.) to your crypto wallet.
Afterwards, you can go ahead and buy some crypto of your choice. If you aren’t sure which crypto to buy, you can always check out the crypto casino and see which types of cryptocurrencies it accepts.
If you still aren’t sure, your best bet is to buy fractions of Bitcoin or Ethereum because the two cryptocurrencies are universally accepted by most gambling sites that trade in crypto.
Using cryptocurrencies at online casinos
Finally, it’s time to use your cryptocurrency to make a deposit. This is normally a very straightforward process. Once you get to the deposit page and select the crypto in which you would like to deposit you will be taken to the deposit page.
There you should see a QR code and a long string of numbers and letters (the wallet address). While in the past, you had to enter the long address on your crypto wallet, nowadays, all you will have to do is scan the QR code with your wallet app.
Once the QR code has been scanned by your app, you’ll simply need to enter a number of funds you wish to transfer and decide how much you are willing to pay for gas fees. The gas fees are transaction fees that crypto miners use in order to transfer your funds to the casinos and vice-versa.
The more you pay for gas fees, the faster your transaction will go through. You shouldn’t worry about overpaying for gas fees as most of them can take only a few minutes before the funds reach the casino.
After a few minutes (or seconds) you should be able to see your funds in your casino account. Congratulations, you have successfully transferred funds from your crypto wallet to your casino account.
The Benefits of Crypto Online Gambling
Crypto trading has a lot of benefits but a lot of downfalls too. Fortunately, the benefits are very substantial, hence why so many casinos are implementing them into their ecosystem. Down below we’ve covered the top reasons why so many people are going the crypto route.
Low transaction fees
One of the benefits that crypto trading is based on is its relatively low transaction fees. Crypto miners handle all transactions between two wallets on the same blockchain network. The process of transferring funds does require a bit of computing power, hence why miners need to do it.
The idea of crypto transaction fees is that users get to decide how much they are willing to “tip” the miners. The more they tip, the faster their transaction will go through.
While it may seem tempting to throw a little extra to the miners for the sake of speed, transaction times are relatively short even when the gas tip is minimal. This brings us to our next reason.
Instant transactions
Even when a user pays a minimal fee for the transaction gas fee, transactions are almost instantaneous. Naturally, if you wish to speed up the transaction even more, you can do so by throwing a bit more crypto towards the miners.
Whatever method you choose, you won’t have to wait for long periods of time for your deposits or withdrawals to go through.
Anonymity
As already mentioned, while the wallet addresses and the amount of money transferred is viewable by everyone, the sender and the recipient remain anonymous.
Everyone might be able to see that one wallet transferred a few bitcoins to another wallet but nobody will be able to tell who the owner of either wallet is or what their transaction was about.
This is great for casino enthusiasts who don’t like banks or e-wallets having a record of their casino spending habits.
At the same time, many crypto transactions have been made to enquire about illicit goods and services. This is certainly a double-edged sword example no matter how you look at things.
The Downsides of Crypto Online Gambling
With all the benefits that crypto online gambling brings, there are also a few benefits that might just make you want to stick with fiat currency.
Volatility
Most people know the story of the very first bitcoin transaction in 2010 where one man paid 10,000 bitcoins to buy two pizzas at Papa John’s. As of writing this, a single bitcoin is worth over $50,000.
All cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile. They could be worth nothing one minute, only to skyrocket in their value the next. Cryptocurrencies are so hard to keep track of that even famous stockbrokers are choosing not to get involved with them.
You could buy a bunch of Ethereum, only to realize that by the time you wish to use them as casino funds, they’ve lost a lot of their value.
At the same time, it may be a good idea to buy a brand new cryptocurrency and watch as it rises in value only to sell it for a large profit. Either way, you look at things, dealing with cryptocurrencies always carries a risk, one that most fiat currencies don’t experience.
No recourse/chargebacks/reversals
A great thing about the modern banking system is that if you ever make a mistake and send your money to the wrong recipient (get scammed), you are able to do something about it. For example, you can easily call the bank and have them recourse or make a reversal on your transaction.
This simply isn’t possible with cryptocurrency. Once you’ve decided to send your crypto to a different wallet address, nothing is going to stop that transaction from happening.
This is especially bad when you end up sending your crypto funds to a scammer’s address as no government or bank official is able to help you because they literally don’t exist.
Can be used for illegal activity
Finally, we get to the dark part of cryptocurrency. Before it became mainstream, bitcoins were the default form of currency used for black market exchanges and dark web transactions. The main reason for this is their anonymity.
After all, while viewable to everyone, a crypto exchange hash isn’t going to list that someone bought a weapon or illegal substances with their bitcoins. It’s also a known fact that ransomware hackers only deal with crypto exchanges so they don’t get caught.
Most Common Cryptocurrencies Accepted by Online Casinos
Now that you’ve learned about the good and the bad as well as how to become a proud owner of cryptocurrency, it’s time to talk about some of the better-known cryptocurrencies you can buy. While these may not be the most valuable cryptocurrencies you can buy at the moment, they have stood the test of time and have proven to be stable enough that most online casinos will accept them.
Bitcoin
The best known and most valuable cryptocurrency as of writing this. Bitcoin paved the way for the entire crypto market. While it used to be worth less than a dollar, after over a decade, it’s become one of the most valuable currencies in the digital world.
All crypto casinos will accept bitcoin as a payment method but chances are that you’ll only be buying fractions of a bitcoin because of how expensive a single coin is.
Ethereum
Arguably, the second most popular cryptocurrency in the world, Ethereum has proven to be more than just a valuable cryptocurrency.
While users are able to trade with Ethereum just like with any other currency, the Ethereum network is also home to the NFT market and pay-to-earn video games, for better or worse. Regardless of how you may feel about NFTs, Ethereum is widely accepted in almost all crypto casinos.
Litecoin
Identical to bitcoin in almost any way except for its value, Litecoin stands as a very stable cryptocurrency that has stood the test of time. While this crypto never grew much beyond its initial value, it’s still a widely accepted currency that many crypto casinos will gladly accept.
Bitcoin Cash
Don’t let the “Bitcoin” part fool you as Bitcoin Cash is an entirely different currency. Created as a successor for bitcoin in order to match the prices of most fiat currencies, Bitcoin Cash is another widely accepted currency in the online gambling industry.
Dogecoin
Originally created as a joke, the original creator of the Dogecoin put on the face of the popular Shiba-Inu dog in order to prove that literally, anyone can make a cryptocurrency. The coin was originally worth no more than one cent but over time gained a lot of popularity which grew substantially in it’s value.
While it never got to the point of being worth more than a single USD dollar, the dogecoin has also proven to be a very beginner-friendly cryptocurrency among users and crypto casinos alike.
The Best Bitcoin Gambling Sites
To help you get started with crypto gambling sites, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite crypto casinos.
Bitstarz Casino
One of the pioneers of the crypto genre in the world of online gambling sites. Bitstarz Casino not only offers its players a way to deposit funds using their cryptocurrency but also a chance to experience some fantastic crypto games.
While the website isn’t too generous with its crypto bonuses and promotions, Bitstarz has proven time and time again that it’s a very reliable casino to gamble your bitcoins away. Bitstarz accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Tron and Binance Coin.
Check this Bitstarz Casino review for more details!
MyStake Casino
This Crypto Casino site is not only home to a casino with lots of great games, but also a home where they accept and even award users who spend in bitcoin. They offer a bitcoin cashback system and even a special bitcoin deposit bonus.
A great place if you are looking for more than just a casino that accepts crypto as a payment method. MyStake also offers its crypto users to bet on sports betting and even esports betting using their favorite crypto tokens.
Check this MyStake Casino review for more details!
Casinoin Casino
Casinoin casino is another great online casino that awards Bitcoin owners with a decent deposit bonus and some free spins for depositing in bitcoin. Not to mention, this is a very well organized casino with lots of great games to play.
Check this Casinoin review for more details!
Online Casino Crypto Gambling – Summary
Ultimately, crypto gambling is quite similar to regular online gambling but with a different payment method. Regardless of its fluctuations in value, cryptocurrency isn’t going away anytime soon and an increasing number of casinos are getting in on the bandwagon. The Bitcoin casino sensation is still taking shape so it may take some time until we fully understand the two sides of the same coin.
If you feel like you are ready to start your journey with crypto gambling sites, take a shot and try your hand with crypto gambling. We hope this guide has helped you better navigate the complex landscape that is crypto gambling. Play smart!