BitStarz Interview: What awaits Bitcoin Gambling in 2016?
The online gambling industry has been an early adopter of cryptocurrency from the very beginning, however the next year might become the best year ever for crypto casinos. We talked with one of the industry’s major players on Bitcoin gambling prospects.
The world spins, and over the years cash payments have become mostly substituted by more convenient bank payments and PayPal. However, their huge transaction fees, red-tape verification procedures, and timing rather inadmissible in the era of the Internet transaction resulted in wider Bitcoin spreading.
The rising tide of Bitcoin popularity are probably explainable due to its similarity to hard cash, while it still can be used for cross border transactions easily. Thus, it becomes more convenient than traditional payment solutions. The reasons for that are as follows:
- a higher degree of anonymity (or pseudonymity) of Bitcoin transactions similarly to that of hard cash when you purchase something right away, instead of using a plastic card,
- your money in a chokehold: nobody can freeze your funds, you don’t need an intermediary to process your payments, and you also have 24/7 access to your bitcoins,
- minimal transaction fees: unlike many services such as credit cards, bank transfers, or even PayPal, the fees in the Bitcoin blockchain do not depend on quantity of bitcoins you want to send. You may even set the transaction fee to zero if you are not in haste.
In an exclusive interview with BitStarz casino reps, we asked a few questions about what actually happened to Bitcoin gambling in 2015 and what we should expect in 2016.
BitStarz.com main page
FL: How would you sum up the results for bitcoin gambling industry over the past year? Which tendencies do you see?
BS: Last year, when the general public and the governments both started to understand the digital currencies better, the number of bitcoin casinos has gradually increased. This tendency was supplemented by the increasing number of jurisdictions across the globe providing legal licensing for bitcoin gambling sites.
Following the price surge in the late 2015, the number of bitcoin casino players grew, as they understood that bitcoin starts to play bigger and bigger role in the world and it’s worth having some bitcoins. Bitcoin gambling becomes more profitable both for players and for casinos. At the same time major experts predict a continuous price increase in 2016.
Related: Bitcoin Halving and its Impact on the Price in 2016
FL: How would you estimate the total amount of cryptocurrencies flowing through bitcoin casinos? Have you seen any growth during recent years?
BS: According to our sources, now there are more than $30 million worth of bitcoins being wagered monthly or about $1 million each day. According to Statista – one of the most authoritative sources of statistics data over the Internet – by the end of 2015 the online gambling market has reached $40 billion, tripling its size from 2005, and is growing. We think of even more convex curve for total bitcoin gambling volumes over these years. However, while we do not have the exact numbers, it’s clearly visible that bitcoin market becomes big, so let’s see…
FL: Can you make any forecasts for the year 2016? What will happen to Bitcoin gambling this year?
BS: As Bitcoin becomes more widespread than ever before, we await many more new bitcoin casinos to emerge. Some of them will offer Bitcoin as just a banking option, other will offer Bitcoin as one and only option. The multiple cryptocurrency casinos will be also more available.
This year some major traditional online gambling sites might start to offer Bitcoin or even Litecoin and e.g. Dogecoin wagering options – so the competition will be a bit harsh. Fortunately for smaller market players, regular online casinos are hesitant to adopt the specific crypto casino features such as provably fair mechanism. We still expect the market leaders to be the same or just slightly different in 2016.
More countries will seek to regulate bitcoin gambling and online gambling in general. For now there’s no specific bitcoin gambling licensing, so it is yet to emerge.
Following the cryptocurrency exchanges, the Bitcoin casinos will improve their security to provide more reliable services as an increasing rate of cyberattacks becomes sort of an issue.
FL: Bitcoin popularity is still limited. Do you think the Bitcoin can fully replace the other means of payment in online casinos?
BS: Well, we think of Bitcoin as only one of many options to be available for users. With this being said, it would be not wise to limit the player to one or another option.
That’s why we position BitStarz as a hybrid casino – a mix of a traditional online casino and a Bitcoin casino. Here we’re talking about the mix between digital currency (Bitcoin in this case) and the major international currencies (such as USD, EUR, GBP, etc). By the way, BitStarz became the first casino to accept regular currencies along with bitcoins.
The obvious advantage of playing in a hybrid casino is the large number of payment options, but it is also much more convenient in terms of cashing out. You can cash in bitcoins or any other currency available and then easily cash out when you want. We have also included an instant exchanger to effortlessly convert one currency to another. Thus you don’t need to keep your money on your casino balance as thanks to our smart system, cashouts are processed within average 10 minutes and provided with zero fees.
FL: The Bitcoin casinos usually provide new players with some promotions. What do you offer?
BS: All new players get 20 Free Spins just for signing up (no deposit required) to try our games for free. They can easily win some real money and withdraw them. After making a first deposit player gets 180 Free Spins on top + 100% bonus on first deposit. Bonus is offered either in bitcoins OR traditional money (EUR, USD, GBP etc.). In total BitStarz Casino gives new players up to 5 BTC OR €500 in bonuses + 200 Free Spins.
About BitStarz:
BitStarz.com is a Bitcoin and regular currency casino with over 650 games from world’s best gaming providers including NetEnt, BetSoft, Amatic and MicroGaming. The casino was established in 2013. It has been developed and is maintained by a group of casino-enthusiasts.
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