Crypto-powered casinos are getting a lot of attention right now and for good reason. As well as catering to fans of Bitcoin who also enjoy gambling, they are arguably the main proponent of the argument that cryptocurrencies should be more than just value stores, and must instead have proven utility equivalent to fiat currencies.
As with the rest of the growing online casino market, complex software solutions and cutting-edge algorithms lurk beneath the user-friendly surface of crypto casinos.
To get a better understanding of how these gambling sites work, let’s dig into the issues with standard online casinos which crypto equivalents solve, and also explore their underpinnings and examine what we find there.
The problems of online gambling
Sign up for an account with a mainstream casino site, and you’ll typically receive a welcome bonus as an incentive to secure your patronage. This sounds good on paper, but the fiat currency you pay in is usually locked down until you’ve wagered over a certain amount.
The amount of the minimum wagering requirement varies, but it’s not unusual for it to be tens or even hundreds of times the scale of the original deposit or bonus.
Not all casino operators use this approach, of course, but it does mean that you don’t get the flexibility you’d enjoy from playing at a land-based casino.
Then there’s the question of the games themselves. They attempt to emulate real-world randomness algorithmically, and while random number generation (RNG) has come on in leaps and bounds over the years, it is still imperfect.
Indeed some experts have managed to crack the RNG code and exploit this to win big, which is obviously bad news for operators.
The other side of the coin is that there’s no transparency for the average player. Sure, you can get a sense of how likely it is that you’ll win a given game based on the variables involved, such as the number of reels, symbols and pay lines on a slot.
But casino game developers are not always required to reveal the exact winning odds to players, nor publish information about actual payout rates.
This creates a sense that online casinos in particular are so stacked against players at a software level that they don’t really deserve all the hype. Crypto casinos aim to do things differently, and here’s how.
Embracing the blockchain
As you’d expect, blockchain technology forms the foundation of crypto casinos, and this is very relevant from a player perspective.
First, there’s the system of making deposits and withdrawals. You can send cash over to a site from your own crypto wallet, and of course so long as you get the address of the receiving wallet right, this will happen swiftly and securely. Indeed this is arguably a lot faster and safer than equivalent experiences on fiat-focused casino sites.
The infrastructure here is generally handled by a major exchange, although of course the same blockchain infrastructure harnessed by whatever coin is being transferred will be responsible for processing and recording the transaction, making it visible to all other users.
As you’ll see from the sites found on casinoscrypto.com, deposit bonuses are available for players. But while transactions elsewhere are free from outside scrutiny, the transparency of the digital ledger makes up for this. So if you have any concerns, raising them with the operator is easier.
Then there’s the impact that the blockchain has on the casino games themselves. While this is not universally the case, some crypto casinos have rolled out schemes by which the ins and outs of the odds of games are effectively exposed because each aspect is written to the ledger as it takes place.
So if you want to find out what went on when you spun the reels of a slot, or played a hand of blackjack, you can go back and review everything at your leisure.
This is not something that every player will need or want to do, of course, but it’s a nice feature to have, and one which is sorely missed from standard casino sites.
It’s essentially equivalent to playing at a land-based casino, where you can see a flesh and blood dealer handling the cards, chips, roulette wheel, or any other physical apparatus in front of your eyes.
There’s much less room for deception and much more accountability as a result. This is what the software foundations of crypto casinos aim to replicate, and in the best cases, they do this successfully.
Providing further player convenience
So far we’ve touched mainly on the aspects of crypto casino software that make it unique, but there is ample overlap in terms of the user-friendliness and accessibility of these platforms which brings them more in line with mainstream casino sites.
Most importantly, there’s the mobile compatibility they bring to the table. Some have standalone mobile apps, while others focus on providing a compelling in-browser experience. In either case, you can be confident that the top operators in this space will not be hesitant when it comes to bringing smartphone users under their wing.
Creating increased fairness
It’s not only the transparency of crypto casinos and their software that adds to their overall appeal; the way that players are treated as customers deserves to be celebrated.
Again, this is not true of every operator in this niche, but there are sites that aim to be as fair as possible when it comes to creating favorable outcomes in games of chance.
This is partly possible because they have lower operating costs than other casino brands, but also because of the way that games are organized. Rather than having it be a case of the player taking on the all-powerful ‘house’, instead, it is players being pitted against other players.
The upshot is that whether a game is won or lost, there will be a genuine human user who walks away with a prize pot. The house doesn’t need to loom large over every single roll of the dice, spin of the reels or reveal of the cards in this scenario.
The intriguing future of crypto casinos
There’s no doubt that casinos which let you gamble with crypto are still fairly rare and little understood, even with cryptocurrencies themselves managing to make more of a mainstream splash.
Even so, the solid software foundations and the promise of better fairness and transparency in this market is a good sign for the long-term viability of the scene as a whole. So now is a good time to test out crypto casinos if it’s an area that piques your interest.
