The online gambling industry has been growing at an incredible pace. It seems like every day, more and more people are discovering online casinos and creating accounts at online sportsbooks. The numbers are also reflected in the amount of revenue being produced by the iGaming industry as a whole.
With the ever-growing popularity of the iGaming industry, a lot of entrepreneurs within have decided to branch out. It is, therefore, pretty interesting that we now can see popular mobile casinos, mobile sportsbooks, live gambling, and the topic of the article, crypto casinos.
What are Crypto Casinos?
Before we delve into the main discussion, we have to address what crypto casinos are. Of course, many of you can probably gather that crypto casinos are gambling websites where people can gamble using primarily cryptocurrency. But how do crypto casinos differ from regular online gambling websites? That is what we are here to explore.
In this article, we are going to delve into the key differences between crypto casinos and online casinos, discuss the pros and cons of both sides and attempt to debunk some misinformation regarding crypto-based gambling. Without further ado, let us delve into the main topic.
The Main Differences
Despite online casinos and crypto casinos stemming from the same overall industry, there are, actually, quite a few differences that many might be curious to learn about. Some will be obvious right from the get go, while others are a bit more inconspicuous. In some instances, we may also find that online casinos and crypto casinos are not as different as some may believe.
The Currency
One of the major differences between online casinos and crypto casinos is the currency being used for gambling. While most online casinos accept FIAT money, crypto casinos, rather obviously, deal in cryptocurrency.
You could very easily find Bitcoin casinos or Ethereum casinos, as these are the most popular coins to buy and sell on the crypto market. However, in the world of crypto casinos, you will also discover some lesser-known crypto. Dogecoin casinos, for example, are quite popular.
While this may be an obvious difference, it is also a point where online and crypto casinos meet halfway. You see, plenty of online gambling websites have begun to embrace the more popular cryptocurrencies to the point that it isn’t uncommon to find mainstream gambling websites that accept Bitcoin.
The Privacy
One of the biggest draws of crypto is the privacy and anonymity aspect. Cryptocurrency transactions are nigh impossible to trace. Considering they work on a peer-to-peer system and operate using blockchains, you can also remain fully anonymous when making a deposit. That same principle applies to crypto gambling.
That is not really the case with online casinos. Indeed, most online casino websites require you to fill in a lot of personal information. Some demand a photograph of a document for identification as well. Therefore, a lot of gamblers who prefer to stay anonymous are switching over to crypto gambling.
The Regulation
In many people’s eyes, one of the biggest advantages that online casinos have over crypto casinos is that they are better organized and better regulated. To be sure, a lot of countries are doing their best to regulate the crypto gambling market. But, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency makes the process difficult.
Online casino regulation relies heavily on third-party organizations reviewing and issuing licenses to legitimate websites. Most experts in the field of iGaming, such as Steven Harper, will tell you that licensed casinos are the way to go. While in the past crypto gambling has been difficult to regulate, we’ve made a lot of progress in that department.
Misinformation Regarding Crypto Casinos
We’ve looked at some of the differences between online casinos and crypto casinos to get a better understanding of what crypto gambling is. However, as both crypto and online gambling are rather new, there is a lot of misinformation floating around about the crypto-gambling industry. We feel it is important to share the truth and debunk some of the myths in the interest of fairness.
Myth: Crypto Casinos Are Unregulated
We talked before about the regulation issue with crypto casinos. However, we don’t want to give the wrong impression. Crypto casinos are not unregulated. Indeed, many of these websites willingly and in good faith seek licenses from notable and reputable organizations, such as the UKGC.
In general, most gamblers are likelier to find crypto casinos that operate with a license than ones that don’t. So, if somebody tells you that crypto casinos work without a license, they are most likely misinformed and have been exposed to some myths regarding online casinos.
Myth: Crypto Casinos Encourage Underage Gambling
Whenever a new medium for gambling emerges, the big controversy is that it encourages underage gambling. We’ve seen the same outrage for online casinos, and now we are seeing it for crypto casinos. However, in all the rallying against crypto gambling, nobody has been able to provide data that crypto casinos indeed encourage underage gambling.
Like any online casino website, most crypto casinos demand that their players be 18 or older. In most cases, they demand some sort of proof or authentication that this is indeed the case. In other words, this is a myth at best and an outright lie at worst.
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Myth: Crypto Casinos Are Illegal
We can’t blame people for believing this one. iGaming is a brave new world for many people, and a lot still have trouble understanding the, in fairness, very complicated laws that govern the industry. However, the idea that crypto casinos are universally illegal is outright false. Some countries have legalized online gambling in all its forms, meaning that you can freely gamble both at FIAT money-based online casinos and at crypto casinos. Others have fully banned any and all forms of online gambling. The truth is, you will have to check your country’s or state’s laws regarding iGaming in order to determine whether crypto casinos are legal in your area.
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