Introducing Blockchain into iGaming
iGaming has been around for decades. How it operates has not changed much during this period. Sure, it’s made some advancements but overall, how players fund their accounts, how they are paid, and how data is tracked has not changed. That is until now. Blockchain has begun to be realized by operators, players and even regulators (somewhat) to be the future of the iGaming space.
For as long as online gaming has been around, Nick Hill (Director of Premier Consulting) has been a part of it. From the early days, he knew this space had a lot of opportunity for growth. The past few years he focused on the processing side of the business which ultimately led him to blockchain.
“In my mind there’s two sides to blockchain. You’ve got one side, which is your payment processing which is crypto, and you’ve got the other side, which is blockchain, which is being used for utility applications,” said Nick.
Nick took part in a recent episode of Hashing it Out with Becky Liggero. The two discussed where the online gaming community stands today and where he sees it going with blockchain technology. One interesting piece of the discussion involved a survey that was sent out to existing online gambling companies. In the hundreds of those surveyed, only 38% said they are currently accepting digital currency. Of that group, they are only using digital assets to acquire new players’ deposits. Subsequently, the casino exchanges that into fiat or casino cash for the players to use for wagering.
There are a few online and other traditional brick-and-mortar casinos accepting digital assets and paying out with them as well. This is a new breed of casino that is looking for a specific audience. The player that is targeted is usually a high roller that wants to stay fully emersed in digital assets. Onboarding and offloading payments happen with the click of a button.
This is where blockchain, more specifically BSV blockchain, provides an advantage. Building on top of this platform provides for greater security, unlimited vertical applications and scaling, and speed of processing payments, all at a lower cost compared to other blockchains. It enables operators to protect themselves as well as the player. All transactions are timestamped and stored on chain. This gives proof to all parties including regulators who can access the information nearly real time for auditing and compliance purposes.
While this may seem like a straightforward solution, or more of a “no brainer”, not everyone in the space is willing to move forward with blockchain. Some don’t feel it’s a proven technology or have a trust in the process. Others have expressed it’s an overwhelming and costly process to completely change their operating systems. Add to that the regulators’ lack of establishing clear guidelines for using blockchain with iGaming.
It’s a good bet that BSV blockchain is here to stay and sooner or later, the gaming community will have to embrace it.
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