Online Gambling is helping Bitcoin
Bitcoin had a rough start. It’s no surprise why – it’s a virtual currency. Groups of computers work together to unlock segments of data that release coins. The value of each bitcoin fluctuates daily. In late 2013, a single bitcoin was worth over $1,000. Last week, it was down to $440. This week, it’s up to $510.
What saved it? Online gambling.
People prefer Bitcoin for various reasons. First and foremost, it’s a completely anonymous currency. You have your bitcoin wallet, which is just a string of random numbers and letters. It’s a fairly secure way to identify the money that you have. However, there’s a huge downside: If you lose that string of numbers, it’s near impossible to get your money. There have been multiple instances of someone putting $10 into Bitcoin several years ago, losing their wallet key, and essentially missing out on hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. If they had cashed the virtual currency in during the fall of 2013, they lost out on more than $10,000.
Players that use Bitcoin to play games online also do so for the immediacy and finality it provides. There’s no chargebacks on any transaction done via Bitcoin. Once the transaction is complete, there’s no going back. Also, if the player bets with Bitcoin, or uses it for a deposit or withdrawal, the exchange rate risk will stay with the player.
Online gambling sites have struggled with this for some time, but everything is finally working itself out. Sites that offer payment via Bitcoin do so because it significantly cuts back on the amount of fraudulent charges.
It’s not completely accepted in the industry, though. Larger sites have started the trend, and hopefully smaller sites will soon follow. As you can imagine, the issue becomes extremely complicated when dealing with other countries.
Internet gambling, until it’s hopefully and eventually legalized, operates in a grey legal area. Site owners host their sites in other countries, such as Costa Rica. They’ll offer a no deposit bonus for new users, and it can become problematic since Costa Rick doesn’t require sites to obtain and verify the identity of its users. In fact, all you have to do is register with an e-mail address and a password.
The thing that’s annoying about Bitcoin, though, is that the market is in a constant state of fluctuation. Players that plan to use Bitcoin to gamble online need to stay on top of their winnings, because their winnings or the amount in their wallet can drop significantly from one day to the next.
What’s clear, though, is that Bitcoin is an extremely popular choice for betters thanks to the security and anonymity it provides. In this multi-billion dollar industry, the choice is clear: the players choose Bitcoin.