Blockchain supports surge in online gambling and gaming

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This is a guest post contribution from Daniel Lipshitz, CEO of GAP600.

The global COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns and shelter-at-home orders, which shuttered casinos and brick-and-mortar betting stores, could prove to be the tipping point for online gaming and gambling.

A Gamesindustry.biz analysis showed that game sales across 50 key global markets rose by 63% in 2020, with sharp spikes experienced as countries went into some form of lockdown. For instance, digital downloads increased by more than 180% in France during the country’s first week of lockdown (16 – 22 March). Similarly, digital sales rose 142.8% in Spain and 174.9% in Italy as these countries went into their respective lockdowns.

Gaming portals such as Paytm First Games and Gamerji also experienced significant increases in online gaming portal users, with 200% and 50% spikes, respectively.

And while regulations constrain online gambling growth, the sector has also surged after the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe.

For example, a report published on Nasdaq.com shows that internet gambling revenues (excluding sports betting) in New Jersey rose 66%, to $65 million in March. Revenues are on track to exceed $700 million this year, up from $483 million in 2019.

A joint study conducted by AlphaBeta Australia and credit bureau illion Australia Pty Ltd., also revealed a 67% increase in online gambling in April 2020, following the shutdown of all non-essential services in Australia.

Furthermore, a recent Global Market Insights Inc. report on the online gambling market suggests that the market value of online gambling will continue to grow, exceeding $160 billion by 2026. The report attributes this continued rise to smartphone adoption, improvements in internet infrastructure, easy accessibility to casino gaming platforms, and advances in technologies such as virtual reality (VR), the Internet of things (IoT), and cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Cryptocurrency-based gambling and gaming sites have increasingly gained favor among punters and players. As an example, CoinTelegraph reported that U.S.-based crypto gaming company Bling experienced an almost 50% increase in users during March, with the platform “reaching 70,000 users per day and over 400,000 active users per month.”

There are many reasons for crypto gaming’s rise in popularity, including the blockchain’s ability to provide secure and transparent transactions, with better house odds over conventional gambling sites—around 1.5-2%—and with provably fair results that are recorded immutably on the blockchain and are therefore easily auditable.

Many players also prefer to transact using digital currencies like Bitcoin for enhanced security to minimize the risk of hacking and identity theft, while the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency also provides anonymity to gamblers and players.

Bitcoin SV ($BSV) in particular is an increasingly popular industry option. BSV offers a compelling use case due to its superior back-end security, its tokenization capabilities, robust authentication protocols, transparency and its cost and operating efficiencies, which is why more gambling and gaming platforms choose to set up their operation using the BSV blockchain.

A prime example is BitBoss, which is leveraging the BSV network to revolutionize the online gaming industry. The company offers bridge technology for casino games, which proves games are fair by allowing players to reproduce results on the WhatsOnChain third party website.

BSV also offers unbound scalability as the blockchain can handle a significant volume of transactions simultaneously while keeping fees low and the blockchain secure, stable and efficient.

Also, it is a smart contract platform, which offers benefits over more traditional blockchains. In addition, and possibly most importantly, making gaming work on the BSV blockchain delivers a better user experience, which helps to drive adoption and usage.

The traditional gambling and gaming industries have always focused intensely on delivering exceptional customer experiences, and the online crypto gaming sector must meet customer expectations around transaction speed and safety.

Punters and gamers want to make deposits or withdrawals instantly. However, this can prove exceptionally challenging for cryptocurrency payment gateway providers because multiple confirmations may be required before a transaction can be processed. This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours, which severely compromises the customer experience.

But by combing the strengths of the BSV blockchain with a solution like GAP600, which has already been implemented and tested in real-world crypto gaming platforms and casinos (read more about how we helped DuckDice and CoinsPaid revolutionize their CX), platforms can create a customer experience that meets player expectations and their demand for instant gratification.

If your transaction enablement partner is not able to deliver instant recognition for deposits and payouts, then contact us to find out how we can transform your customer experience.