Top Tips For Using Cryptocurrencies For Casino Games
Once upon a time, you would walk into a casino in Vegas, say, head over to the poker table, if that’s your game, and buy a bunch of chips from the dealer. Then, in the mid-nineties online gaming exploded onto the scene: now there was no need to mosey into a real casino, you could play online.
In this respect, cash became obsolete, so players would instead transfer cash to the casino in question, as many still do today. And then, in the mid-noughties, cryptocurrency began to emerge as a new way of depositing money for online casino games.
It’s getting increasingly popular to pay an online casino with cryptocurrency, as well as receive winning funds via crypto from majority of online providers including the fastest paying online casinos. Despite the growing popularity, it hasn’t superseded the increasingly archaic bank transfer. This might be down to a lack of understanding of what crypto is, how it works and, fundamentally, how you go about using cryptocurrency for online gaming.
So, let’s begin by getting an overview of crypto before diving into the reasons why you should be looking at upgrading your payment options.
What Is Cryptocurrency?
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We don’t need to get into the history of the crypto to know how it can benefit you, all you need to know is that it’s a decentralised currency. This means it’s not connected to any banking or financial institution and it’s also one of the main things that puts people off!
Let’s nip that in the bud for starters. Because crypto is decentralised you, the gamer, are completely anonymous to your online casino.
And crypto is almost instant too, you can pay the casino and withdraw your winnings in seconds. Not wait around for hours while the bank faffs about with your money.
How Does It Work?
Short answer, blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralised ledger which records every single transaction that takes place on the relative crypto network. For example, Bitcoin has the Bitcoin blockchain and Ether runs on the Ethereum blockchain, and so on.
Every transaction you make using crypto is put into blocks and attached to the chain of previous transactional blocks making up the Blockchain. Every transaction is validated and encrypted making it completely safe, certainly much, much safer than a bank transfer.
Let’s just pause on that for a moment. Would you rather an online casino have your debit/credit card information on their potentially hackable database, or would you rather be completely anonymous?
What Crypto Should I Use?
Let’s keep it simple, use Bitcoin. It’s the original cryptocurrency with a 40% market share and probably the least risky if you’re thinking of investing, but that’s another story entirely.
What Are The Downsides Of Using Crypto?
The main problem is that not all online casinos accept cryptocurrency. Though it has to be said, this is changing fast as more casinos and players get into the benefits of using a decentralised payment system.
This latter point may also be its Achilles heel. Because crypto is decentralised, it’s unregulated, so in the unlikely event you fall foul of fraudulent activities/unfair gaming practices it may be harder to hold the casino accountable.
How Do I Get Started?
So, you want to join the crypto gamers who place 337 bets every single second? You’ll be pleased to know it’s very easy.
First, you’ll need to choose a Bitcoin exchange. There are plenty out there, Kraken and Binance are both good, but Coinbase is one the largest and most popular. And it’s easy to use too.
Once you’ve chosen your Exchange you can buy crypto with your credit/debit card, or e-wallet such as PayPal. There is a small fee for transactions, for example, Coinbase charges 1%, but you can shop around for lower fees.
Now you have crypto in your Exchange, you’ll need a crypto wallet. Coinbase has one linked to its Exchange if you want to keep it simple, all you have to do now is transfer from the Exchange to your wallet.
This is easy as well, simply provide your wallet address - a long string of numbers and letters that identify it - to your crypto exchange and transfer your new currency. Again, there will be a small fee for doing this, but essentially, you just need a crypto-friendly casino you’re good to go!
Which Is The Best Crypto-Friendly Online Casino?
This is the wrong question to ask! Find the game you want to play, check out the casino and, hopefully, they’ll accept crypto. There is a high chance they will because everyone is cottoning onto the fact that crypto is safe.
With that thought in mind, even if you don’t want to use crypto, using a casino that accepts it might be a safer bet than one that doesn’t.