What Every Gambler Needs to Know Before Making a Deposit at a Cryptocurrency Casino
Cryptocurrencies have been the main point of appeal to a lot of investors out there. Naturally, this increase in popularity, and most importantly, value, has gathered the attention of casino enthusiasts as well.
Think about it, crypto enthusiasts, or in other words, gamblers, love the idea of gambling. The feeling of hitting those reels to get the jackpot. Well, when you buy a cryptocurrency, it also has the potential to, the very next day even, rise in value tremendously. A currency that was once worth $300, such as bitcoin, eventually rose to over $60,000 in value and is now fluctuating around the $30,000 mark.
On this page you can find:
- What is cryptocurrencies
- What is blockchain
- What is Bitcoin
- Cryptocurrency wallets
- How to deposit cryptocurrency
- Altcoins and other blockchains
- Why gamblers love cryptocurrencies
- Why play with cryptocurrencies at online casinos
- List of the best cryptocurrency casinos in the United Kingdom
- What to look out for at cryptocurrency casinos
- Pros and cons
- Frequently asked questions
Naturally, a lot of people even consider cryptocurrencies themselves as gambling, however, this is completely normal. They are highly speculative investments, as no one can know where the market is going. Something as simple as a social media post by billionaires, or just news headlines has been known to shift the value of cryptocurrencies at an instant.
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But before we can dive in as to why you, as a gambler, might be interested in purchasing and playing at a casino with cryptocurrencies, we’ll first need to discuss what cryptocurrencies are, and what the blockchain is.
Cryptocurrencies Explained
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll go where all of this started. Specifically, we’ll be discussing Bitcoin and its value, impact, and general appeal.
Bitcoin was originally described in a whitepaper in 2008 by a person or an anonymous group of people that went by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. In fact, the whitepaper was called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, you can freely read it online at any time if you want to go through the full 9 pages of in-depth information. However, to save you the trouble of going through all of it, we’ll try to explain this as quickly and as simply as possible.
What Is a Blockchain?
The Bitcoin blockchain launched in January of 2009 where the genesis block was mined. The genesis block is the first block with data on it. Miners, that you have been hearing about constantly, are essentially people as well as organizations that have computers, or mining hardware specifically developed for cryptocurrency mining, that run the entire network. They run this network by confirming the transactions.
To confirm these transactions, complex, cryptographic puzzles have to be solved. The computer processor or more specifically the graphics processing unit is responsible for solving these cryptographic puzzles. Once the puzzle is solved, the user gets rewarded with BTC, after which a block of data is added to a chain next to the previously mined block. The block that will be mined in the future will be added to this current block, and this, in turn, forms a chain.
This is what you know today as the blockchain, as it is a chain of blocks.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin goes by the ticker name “BTC”, and it is the native currency that runs on the Bitcoin blockchain. This is a virtual, digital currency, which means that there are no physical bitcoins that exist outside of its network.
Each BTC is a computer file that is stored on the blockchain. Bitcoin is powered by open-source code. Each miner confirmation generates a permanent record of the transactions.
As previously mentioned, miners are rewarded with BTC for confirming these transactions and generating new blocks.
So, BTC is essentially the currency through which miners are rewarded for committing hardware power in order to solve cryptographic puzzles. However, its true value is in the fact that investors love buying it and investing in it. You can view it as a store of value that can go up or down depending on how the market fluctuates.
BTC is needed to confirm transactions, and it is generated by miners that confirm transactions, it's an endless cycle. However, keep in mind that it has a cap, and only 21 million BTC can ever be generated. Once those are mined, there can never be any more BTC in existence. This scarcity is expected to raise its value even more.
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What Are Cryptocurrency Wallets?
Okay, this is by far the most important part that you need to know as a person that is going to play at cryptocurrency casinos.
You need to first purchase cryptocurrencies, from a cryptocurrency exchange, before you can send that cryptocurrency to the wallet of the casino, which can then validate your deposit.
To do this efficiently, you’ll need to create a cryptocurrency wallet.
To create a cryptocurrency wallet, you will first need to understand how all of it works.
Unlike a traditional wallet, where you literally put physical money into it, or physical credit or debit cards into it, a cryptocurrency wallet can either be a program, or a physical device that stores your private key and your passcode.
Your cryptocurrency, yes, even the one you buy, never leaves the blockchain. With your wallet, you are essentially making an address, a spot on that enormous blockchain, where you can transfer the cryptocurrency to, and then again from in the future when you deposit it at the casino.
The casino will also have a cryptocurrency wallet. Each wallet will have a public address, and this is how everyone knows where to send the cryptocurrency to.
How to deposit cryptocurrency to online casino
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So, to summarize this process, in order to play in an online casino that accepts cryptocurrency payments, you need to:
- Create a cryptocurrency wallet account
Create a cryptocurrency wallet account, or create an account at a cryptocurrency exchange that offers its own cryptocurrency wallets.
- Buy the cryptocurrency
Once you have a wallet and have created an account at an exchange, the next step is to actually buy the cryptocurrency you will be using. Note that you do not need to buy an entire 1 BTC, which is $30,000, but can buy a small chunk of it instead depending on how much money you want to invest or spend.
- Transfer cryptocurrency to the online casino account
Next, once the cryptocurrency is in your wallet, the next step you need to make is to transfer that cryptocurrency, to the cryptocurrency wallet of the casino you will be playing in, which will be the deposit.
That’s everything you need to know when it comes to making a deposit at a casino using cryptocurrencies.
One more thing, however, that you need to know about cryptocurrency wallets, in general, is the fact that there are two main types of wallets out there. Hot wallets and cold wallets.
What Are Hot Wallets?
Hot wallets are essentially all of the cryptocurrency wallets that have an internet connection associated with them.
These are exchange wallets that run on a web browser or even application-based wallets that you can download to your mobile device or desktop computer and install. They are hot wallets only due to the fact that they require an internet connection in order to function. These are excellent when you want to make deposits and withdrawals in a casino on a consistent basis, however, they do not provide you with the maximum level of security, which is a job for the cold wallets.
What Are Cold Wallets?
Cold wallets are essentially all of the cryptocurrency wallets that do not have an internet connection associated with them.
These can be in the form of a USB, hard drive, or even paper. The idea here is that you can transfer your cryptocurrencies into an offline, cold storage device, which is password protected. This means that no one can ever access those cryptocurrencies except for you, which saves you from online hackers and gives you an added peace of mind.
Paper wallets are essentially two QR codes that you generate on a piece of paper, one is to read the status of the wallet, and the other is to transfer the contents, or in this case, the cryptocurrencies of the paper wallet back into an exchange. Remember, in neither wallet are you actually, digitally moving the assets from the blockchain to the wallet, you are just storing the keys, so this is a possibility.
Altcoins and Other Blockchains
Naturally, over the years, as something grows, there is bound to be some competition.
Altcoins are all and any cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin. That’s it.
The most common one is Ethereum, which has its own blockchain that runs on smart contracts, and this enables the creation of decentralized applications or dApps.
Then you have meme-based cryptocurrencies, made just for fun, that have sky-rocketed in value such as Dogecoin.
Each and every one of these currencies can be used to deposit funds at an online casino that accepts cryptocurrency deposits.
This is due to the fact that, even if a casino does not specifically support DOGE or ETH, you can convert both DOGE and ETH into BTC at an online exchange through trading them, and then simply deposit BTC into the casino. This level of flexibility is what makes cryptocurrencies an appealing option for a lot of gamblers at online cryptocurrency casinos, and will prove to be quite useful the more you get into it.
Why Gamblers Love Cryptocurrencies
If you haven’t realized it by this point, let us explain it further.
Each and every cryptocurrency out there will shift its value, be it in smaller sums, or in extremely large sums. The most stable cryptocurrencies out there are stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by real-world currencies such as USD. These typically remain at the $1 mark, with differences in +/- $0.010 for example.
However, most other currencies, especially ones with their own blockchain, can sky-rocket or dip in value on a daily, hourly, or even by minute basis. The more popular a cryptocurrency grows, generally, the higher in value it goes.
So when a new cryptocurrency and blockchain project pops up, and they launch their initial coin offering (ICO) at $1, you could buy it, and think of it as a “gamble”, where that currency can either get to $100, $1,000, $10,000, or go under and fall to 0.10$ for example.
This is one of the main appeals of cryptocurrencies for most gamblers.
Think of it this way, you can essentially both buy the cryptocurrency and use it at a casino and by the time you cash it out and withdraw your funds from the casino, the value of that cryptocurrency could have sky-rocketed. It could also fall in value. This adds an extra layer of gambling, alongside your main gambling within a casino.
This will keep things interesting for a lot of casino players out there, as not only will the reels you spin, or the cards you get define your luck, but so will the value of the cryptocurrency you end up choosing to play with.
It’s a fascinating thing to think about, and definitely something that will bring even more appeal to cryptocurrency as a whole when it comes to gamblers.
Why Play with Cryptocurrencies at Online Casinos
Aside from the underlying fact that it's double the gamble, so double the fun, you do indeed gain benefits at specific casinos, however, this will be highly dependent on the casinos you end up playing in.
Let us explain things further.
FIAT currencies are your traditional currencies that are backed by a government. Thin along the lines of GBP, USD, AUD, and so on.
When using these, you will typically get a 100% match bonus. This means that, when you make a deposit of $100, you get $100 more to bet with, which results in a total account balance of $200. This is excellent; however, many cryptocurrency casinos will push this up to a 200% bonus, or even a 500% bonus if you really find a solid casino.
This, obviously, boosts your odds of winning tremendously.
Aside from that, cryptocurrency casinos have a reputation for providing generous amounts of free spins. From 50 to 150 FS at times, you will have a lot to play the slots games with, and that’s honestly one of the most amazing aspects of it.
Furthermore, there are even online casinos out there that provide you with specific VIP programs or Loyalty Schemes that are tailored towards cryptocurrency users. What this means is that, you can level up, the more cryptocurrency you play with, and as such, earn even more bonuses, free spins, or at times even cashback.
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What to Look out for At Cryptocurrency Casinos
When playing at cryptocurrency casinos, safety should be your number one priority.
In other words, first, when you sign up for an exchange, make sure that it is a fully regulated exchange so you do not get hacked, or have your cryptocurrency stolen.
Second, when you sign up for a cryptocurrency casino, make sure that it is also a licensed casino, so you do not run the risk of yet again having your cryptocurrency stolen or account hacked.
The licenses are typically shown on the bottom of the page, known as the footer of the page, or in the “About us” section of the page. In any case, you should have no issues finding the license and regulatory bodies, assuming it is a legitimate casino as well as a legitimate exchange or brokerage.
Pros and Cons of Cryptocurrency Casinos UK
Pros:
- You can access a casino from any country due to the fact that cryptocurrencies are full decentralized
- You can enjoy instant deposits and withdrawals through blockchain technology
- You can receive far better bonuses
- Everything is fully anonymous
- You get an increased level of security
Cons:
- Cryptocurrencies can change in value at an instant, at times even in the thousands range
- Jurisdictions in some casinos might limit your options
FAQs
Many modern casinos that accept cryptocurrency payments are built as “instant play” casinos, which means that they can adapt to any screen size and orientation with ease and be fully optimized for it. In other words, what this means is that you can play it on a mobile device without any worries of needing to download a separate application.
You are required to have a cryptocurrency wallet, due to the fact that the wallet will be the means through which you will send cryptocurrency to the casino, and withdraw cryptocurrency from the casino.
As long as the casino is fully licensed and regulated, you are at no risk of fraud or hacking.
Each and every casino out there will typically have a minimum deposit associated with it, luckily, this minimum deposit is low, in the range of $20 at the most.
This will depend from casino to casino, however, many casinos do offer it, and the ones that do not will often offer better deposit bonuses.
