Bitcoin was heavily integrated into many aspects of the online gaming sector in 2016, despite the fact that few people seemed to notice. Despite the fact that there have always been gambling websites that only accept bitcoin, 2016 was the year when the traditional online gambling sector began to embrace the digital cash system on a large scale.
Bitcoin has been integrated as a method for making deposits and withdrawals on the websites of several online gambling titans, including 5dimes and Bodog, but perhaps more importantly, the affiliate networks that the online gambling industry uses are beginning to view Bitcoin as a requirement rather than an option. This is possibly the most significant development.
Furthermore, Calvin Ayre, the founder of Bodog, predicts that Bitcoin usage will spread throughout the entire online gaming sector in 2017.
Calvin Ayre Makes a Prognosis for the Future
Ayre published a blog post near the end of 2016 in which he offered several predictions for the development of the online gaming sector in 2017. In his piece, Ayre expressed an unusually upbeat outlook for the widespread use of bitcoins.
In a written piece, Ayre stated, “Mark my words: Bitcoin will eventually eat the entire global online gaming sector, and the first dishes of this feast are already being eaten.” “The blockchain technology that underpins Bitcoin is gradually obviating the need for gaming regulators.” This is in addition to freeing gambling sites from the anti-competitive demands of government-imposed payment blocking.”
Ayre even suggested that operators of online gambling sites keep some of their capital in bitcoin. “With its finite volume hardwired into the technology, Bitcoin is increasingly seen as a safe haven more akin to gold than the highly speculative investment it once was,” Ayre wrote. “Operators who keep their loot on the blockchain will have extra capital to fund expansion plans.” “Bitcoin, with its finite volume hardwired into the technology, is increasingly viewed as a safe haven more akin to gold than the highly specialized cryptocurrency.”
Deposit and Withdrawal Transactions
Over the last few years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of online sportsbooks that accept Bitcoin as a deposit method. Anyone who has ever wagered money on sports over the internet will be familiar with many of the online sportsbooks that now accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
The UK Gambling Commission amended both its License Conditions and Codes of Practice to reflect the addition of Bitcoin as a payment method acceptable to licensees. The update now includes a provision requiring licensees to implement processes to prevent the use of Bitcoin for money laundering on their platforms.
Online Betting and Gambling Affiliate Networks
The use of Bitcoin as a digital, decentralized payment system for affiliate compensation is possibly the most exciting Bitcoin development in the online gaming sector. Because of the difficulties associated with processing payments through the traditional banking system, online gambling affiliate networks are encouraging their referrers to use Bitcoin as a payment option. Many affiliate networks associated with online gaming now accept Bitcoin as the only payment method.
Betting Partners and Winning Poker Network both switched their affiliate payout systems to accept Bitcoin exclusively in 2016, and Commission.bz is currently in the process of transitioning to a system that only accepts Bitcoin payments. Affiliate networks like this are in charge of processing payouts on behalf of some of the most well-known online gambling brands, such as Bovada and BetOnline.
Betting Partners sent a letter to its affiliates the previous year outlining some of the primary reasons for shifting their operations to Bitcoin. Among the Bitcoin characteristics discussed in the letter were the following:
Payouts are completed in less than an hour, there are no limits on the amount of money that can be delivered, and no personal information is required to receive payments.
The minimum payout requirement has been reduced to ten dollars.
Betting Partners also stated that in order to maintain privacy on both ends of the transaction, each payout will require a new Bitcoin address.
“Bitcoin has quickly become the most cost-effective and speedy method of processing cash-outs for both players and affiliates,” Winning Poker Network wrote in an announcement about the switch to Bitcoin payouts.
Other affiliate networks, such as Drake Affiliates, have not forced their affiliates to accept Bitcoin payments, but they have created strong incentives for switching to the P2P digital cash system. Drake Affiliates, for example, pays its affiliates a 5% commission on all Bitcoin sales. Individuals who received their payouts using Bitcoin within the first few months of Drake Affiliates’ integration of the P2P digital cash system, for example, received a ten percent bonus in comparison to those who received their payouts using other payment methods.
The fact that those involved in online gambling find traditional banking systems so difficult to use explains a lot about why they are pushing so hard for bitcoin as a payment option.