Fortune Business Insights, a market research organization located in Pune, predicts that during the next six years, the worldwide online gambling business would be bringing in yearly revenues of $158 billion.
The organization attributes the exponential growth of the online gambling industry over the past few years to the development of blockchain technology, which is cited in the research Online Gambling Market 2021-2028.
Andrey Starovoitov, COO of one of the most prominent casino software providers, SoftSwiss, claims that cryptocurrencies already account for 78.5% of the interactive gaming market. Although digital payment methods are still not the first choice of most casual gamers, their use is expanding rapidly around the world.
It is clear that the potential of blockchain technology to improve the online gambling business is vast, and that we have barely scratched the surface thus far.
Blockchain Technology: What Exactly Is It?
A blockchain, in its most basic definition, is a distributed digital ledger that can’t be altered in any way to conceal the truth. In 2009, with the advent of Bitcoin, it was initially utilized.
A blockchain, as the name implies, is a chain of digital blocks, each of which stores a certain number of transactions. It’s a distributed database where numerous users take turns taking care of it.
All transactions are encrypted, users’ identities are hidden, and information is timestamped and immutable thanks to distributed ledger technology.
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that can be transferred electronically and is valued similarly to currency. Therefore, unlike conventional money, which is issued by a central authority, such as a bank, cryptocurrencies exist solely online.
Cryptocurrencies (or “cryptos”) are a form of digital currency whose transactions are recorded in the blockchain.
Online Gaming, Blockchain, and Regulatory Compliance
Realize that cryptos are merely a piece of the blockchain protocol puzzle. Although they are the most well-known use of this technology, its potential is much broader and has not been fully explored.
When it comes to having fun with interactive games, blockchain’s key function is to allow users and suppliers of games of chance to transact in cryptocurrency. However, due to the infancy of these dealings, there are a few problems with using cryptocurrencies on gambling websites.
As of 2016, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) recognized cryptocurrencies as legal tender. The four holders of Curacao’s master licenses allowed their licensees to accept digital currency for betting several years before the UKGC did so.
However, the leading international online gambling regulator, the Malta gambling Authority, has not yet made this a reality for the firms it oversees. So, while the majority of interactive gaming regulators accept cryptocurrencies, not all do so at this time.
It’s worth noting that in highly regulated jurisdictions, players may be required to undergo stringent Know Your Client processes if they make bitcoin transfers. Anti-money-laundering safeguards including Know Your Customer (KYC) processes necessitate that gamblers provide identifying information before they can make monetary transactions. They are an extremely efficient tool for preventing monetary crimes.
Bitcoin, NFTs, and the Future of Gambling on the Internet
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) could be the defining feature of 2021. While the concept of NFTs has been around since 2012–2013, it wasn’t until October 2017 when CryptoKitties was released that this category of digital assets really took off.
on its simplest form, a non-fungible token is an unalterable piece of information kept on a blockchain. It could be a video, a picture, a record, or something else entirely. What sets these tokens apart from cryptocurrencies is their incompatibility with one another.
A public certificate of authenticity is generated for NFTs using blockchain technology, but this does not prevent reproduction; it just serves as proof of ownership. The desire for NFTs is driven by the idea that they are scarce and have high hedonic value.
Metaverses allow users to own land in the form of NFTs in a shared virtual environment. Among all the online virtual worlds, Decentraland is the most well-known and sophisticated.
The pioneer of video games, Atari, revealed in April of 2021 that it has leased a number of properties on which to construct an Atari virtual casino. Atari’s metaverse venue accepts ERC-20 tokens, including those from the Decentraland platform, for gambling purposes.
Many people think that the virtual casinos found in Decentraland, which accept both fungible and non-fungible tokens, represent the future of the gaming industry.
Concluding Remarks
The world is unquestionably shifting as a result of blockchain technology. In under a decade, it has spread to other fields and won widespread recognition.
When the first crypto dice sites debuted in 2011, the interactive gaming industry was quick to get on the bandwagon.
Importantly, most casino sites now accept a variety of digital coins and appear to be shifting their focus to niche coins that are making waves with the internet culture crowd, rather than Bitcoin.
As the gaming business rapidly evolves into something nobody could have envisioned a decade ago, many developers are aiming to broaden their crypto footprint by venturing into token-based gambling and the metaverse.