The trend towards cashless payments is picking up pace across the globe, and the global health pandemic over the past year has only quickened the pace at which this is moving.
Some countries, such as Sweden, are well on their way to being cashless societies, while others lag behind. The fast adoption of digital currencies like Bitcoin is speeding up the transition to cashless payments, which now seems unstoppable.
Recently, the Australian State of New South Wales announced it would pilot a cashless payment program for gamers in the state. This will enable players to use digital wallets to make payments during a trial period at the end of 2021. It will also potentially bring benefits to regulators and gaming authorities by making the enforcement of KYC/AML regulations easier.
What is the New South Wales program all about?
For the first time, New South Wales is going to pilot a cashless payments system for real money gamers.
During the trial, Australians will be able to use Aristocrat’s PRIME mobile system to pay to play casino games. This will allow players to pay with their digital wallets without the need to handle cash. It will also make it easier for the operators involved to comply with KYC/AML regulations and gather data on player activity.
The trial will take place at West Group’s New Lambton venue in Newcastle, NSW. It will take place in Q4 2021 and will answer questions about how cashless payments might work on a larger scale across the state and what impact the frictionless nature of such payments could have on player’s behavior.
Aristocrat Australia’s director of commercial strategy, Craig Butler, will lead the trial. He called it an “exciting development” and emphasized that regulators and governments expect cashless payments to help them identify and stop illegal activity and aid responsible gambling efforts. This comes at an important time after the recent revelations regarding alleged money laundering at Crown Resorts.
How can BSV blockchain amplify these efforts?
Those familiar with BSV enterprise blockchain will recognize that cashless payments and the other stated goals of NSW regulators, such as greater enforcement of KYC regulations, is the near-perfect use case for this technology.
As well as offering frictionless payments with fees of fractions of a penny, BSV has been purpose-built for data storage. Unlike many other blockchains, it has also been designed from the outset to comply with existing regulations and the law. In short, it is an enterprise blockchain.
BSV also allows for unprecedented changes to how data is collected, stored, and used. All data related to player activity would be stored securely and privately on the BSV blockchain. This would allow regulators to run AI programs to spot problem gambling or suspicious activity in real-time. Since the data stored on BSV is immutable, there would be an evidence trail that can’t be altered, making it easy to prove any illegal activity or violations of regulations.
BSV and responsible gaming
BSV can also help with responsible gaming efforts. The sophisticated data collection capabilities of BSV blockchain would allow for mapping individual player journeys and sending alerts to operators when a player’s behavior suddenly changes, such as they start betting more aggressively. In turn, this could allow operators to take steps to reign in problematic activity via means like suggesting a time out or ceasing bonus offers.
Since it’s estimated that 0.5-1% of Australian adults are problem gamblers, many of whom play pokie machines with physical cash, which makes it difficult to track their activity, the potential benefits of these real-time tracking and alert systems are self-evident.
Provably fair gaming on the Bitcoin blockchain
Another potential benefit of running Australian gaming activity on BSV is the ability to check that operators are playing fair. While most licensed operators do play by the rules, disputes with players do happen. Many operators have been on the receiving end of accusations of cheating, fraud, or running rigged games.
As data regarding player activity can be collected and stored on BSV, so can data regarding game outcomes and payouts. The “house edge” of most casino games is known, so regulators could immediately identify any unusual deviation from statistical averages related to payouts, win/loss ratios, and other game elements.
Of course, any mathematical anomalies could also be down to malfunctioning machines. The ability of operators to audit payouts and see whether games are over or underpaying players is another benefit of utilizing BSV blockchain in the gaming industry.
Real-time revenue collection
Nobody likes tax time, yet taxes are necessary to enable regulators to function, keep the gaming industry safe and fair, and move the industry forward. If New South Wales wanted to collect a tax on every wager made on the spot, it would be hypothetically possible to do so using BSV. Tax revenue could transfer from the operator’s wallet to the tax authority’s wallet as each wager is settled. This is only possible when lightning-fast payments are possible at fractions of a cent.
Since Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin specifically to solve the problem of micro-payments, previously unimaginable use cases such as real-time revenue collection, refunds, and more have become possible.
BSV can revolutionize iGaming
A betting man would probably wager that the digital payments trial in New South Wales will be to the regulator’s liking. The benefits of such a system to players, operators, and regulators are too many to dismiss. The Aristocrat PRIME mobile system is a good start, but the benefits of running all such systems on BSV blockchain would take the existing benefits and amplify them tenfold.
Using this revolutionary blockchain technology will enable gaming regulators, governments, operators, and other stakeholders to revolutionize the gaming industry. Criminal activity can be easily identified and stamped out. Disputes can be settled instantly thanks to an immutable on-chain evidence trail that can’t be altered. Problem gambling can be spotted and reduced. Audits can be simplified and automated. Payments and payouts can be frictionless and immediate. All of this is possible on BSV, the only proof-of-work blockchain that scales to over 50,000 transactions per second and growing.
The New South Wales pilot will likely shed light on the benefits of cashless payments in Aussie gaming. The BSV enterprise blockchain could help take them to a whole new level.
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