The year 2021 has seen an explosion in the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general in online casinos and the gambling industry in general.
That is revealed in a report by Cryptogamble.tips, a website owned by FirstByte Media.
It should be pointed out that the relationship between Bitcoin and gambling is dated and is traced back to 2011 when it was already possible to play with BTC on switchpoker.com and satoshidice.com.
Today there are thousands of gaming platforms that allow the use of Bitcoin.
But what is the reason for this rise?
- Security. Transactions performed with cryptocurrencies are, in fact, secure.
- Reliability. The use of the blockchain prevents manipulation of transactions;
- Anonymity. Cryptocurrencies provide (pseudo) anonymity, which is particularly useful for those who want to protect their identity.
Bitcoin is the most used cryptocurrency in casinos
According to the analysis, the most used cryptocurrency in the betting industry is Bitcoin. There is nothing strange about this, considering the genesis of this relationship.
It is followed by Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the fork of Bitcoin born in 2017. It guarantees faster transactions, and perhaps this very feature makes it widely used in the industry.
Other widely used cryptocurrencies include Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero.
A growing industry
The report also highlights how this industry has tripled its traffic since 2020. Compared to the entire casino industry, 4% is dominated by cryptocurrencies.
It may seem like a residual percentage, but it is not. It should also be specified that the use of Bitcoin increased during 2021 due to the price hype that reached a record high of $65,000.
The number of users, in fact, marks +952.52% in the first half of 2021 compared to the last half of 2020. Taking the lion’s share is Germany, where a +1021.43% of users is recorded. That is followed by Canada (+748.98%), the United Kingdom (+615.09%), the United States (+536.96%), and finally, India (+490%).
According to the report “Global Online Gambling Market (2020-2025) by Games, Device, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis”, the online gaming industry is set to reach $97 billion in traffic by 2025, growing at an annual rate of 11.31%. What is driving the growth is the continued spread of the internet. Regulation and the rise of cybercrime may be holding it back.
As far as the use of cryptocurrencies is concerned, they are obviously affected by rising prices. When values grow, users are more inclined to use cryptocurrencies, even in casinos. Volatility for the moment has not seemed to be a factor that has worried players; however, this risk is not to be ruled out.
Nevertheless, several companies are contributing to the popularity of cryptocurrencies in the industry, such as Atari, Sportsbet, stake.com, all platforms that allow the use of cryptocurrencies.
Finally, notes the report, for the industry to grow, there is also a need for awareness on the part of users. For this, it is necessary that before using cryptocurrencies to bet, the user is educated on how the market works and how to take care of their money, sheltering them from volatility and risks. The possibility of losing one’s earnings is never too remote; this applies to players as well as top traders.
On the report, Cosmin Mesenschi, CEO of FirstByte Media, said:
“We want to make sure our users are well informed about the crypto gamble’s rise as well as the expectations in 2021 for the whole crypto industry. The results are promising, it won’t be a surprise to see this new method have positive growth in this new technologic decade”.
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