The global online gambling market size is projected to hit the $150 billion mark by 2030, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.7% during the forecast period. Undoubtedly, crypto casinos are one of the most important engines driving that gambling train full steam ahead.
North Americans spend the most time playing on crypto gambling sites, with average daily gambling time capped at 107 minutes per user, even though these sites are not regulated by government agencies and bodies in states that allow online casinos. Things such as improved safety due to the blockchain, transparency, and anonymity, not to mention lucrative no deposit Bitcoin casino USA promo deals that are second to none in the market, make online crypto casinos the talk of the town and give them an upper hand on the traditional online casinos.
Stay with us as we explore the future of crypto online casinos in the US, their legislation, and their impact on traditional online casinos as they battle for supremacy in the market.
Crypto casino legislation in the US
The US has not yet regulated or banned crypto gambling on a federal level, leaving the licensing prerogative to each state individually. The IRS sees cryptos as digital assets rather than legal tender. However, cryptocurrency exchanges can legally operate as long as they abide by the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), register with FinCEN, and other regulations.
So, all online crypto casinos that wish to perform Convertible Virtual Currency (CVC) money transmission must get the appropriate certificates from financial authorities, not to mention the local gambling jurisdiction.
Currently, only six states in the US allow online casinos:
- New Jersey;
- Michigan;
- Delaware;
- Connecticut;
- Pennsylvania;
- West Virginia.
Not one has yet approved the usage of cryptocurrency. The fact alone pushes users towards offshore online crypto casinos catering to customers from North America. According to the NBC poll, one in five Americans have invested, used, or traded cryptocurrency, and the majority of those users have done so in order to play in Bitcoin and other online gambling platforms.
Advantages of Bitcoin casinos vs. traditional online casinos
On the surface, Bitcoin casinos are not much different than traditional online casinos; only they support payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Nonetheless, the implementation of blockchain technology opened the doors for further technological advancements that your classic online casinos cannot possibly support.
Improved safety and security
The basis of all Bitcoin online casinos is blockchain technology. The very nature of blockchain makes it virtually impenetrable to outside hacker attacks, so as long as you keep your crypto wallet credentials to yourself, you will be completely safe.
What is more, when you make a transaction, you never disclose any banking data to a Bitcoin online casino, unlike traditional online casinos, where you need to make payments through bank cards or accounts, thus effectively divulging sensitive details. Of course, these classic online casinos employ encryption and other safety features to safeguard your details, but your data is still recorded somewhere. With online crypto casinos, such worries don’t exist.
Transparency and anonymity
Legal online casinos in the US require you to enter personal information during registration, including the last four digits of your Social Security Number. Consequently, your personal information will get stored on their servers, not to mention that licensed online casinos in the US report your gambling winnings to the IRS.
On the other hand, Bitcoin online casinos registered offshore are under no legal obligation to report your gambling winnings. Furthermore, their registration procedure is much simpler, as is the Know Your Customer policy you must abide by. You will not have to send copies of your personal IDs to withdraw the winnings so you can retain anonymity.
Game fairness and payouts
Bitcoin online casinos are the only places where you can play provably fair games. These games include unique algorithms you can use to verify and see how a specific round outcome came to be. This feature brings an unprecedented level of fairness and transparency and only pertains to blockchain casino games.
What is more, the return to player (RTP) percentages of provably fair games are in the neighborhood of 99%, as opposed to around 95% RTPs we see in games found in traditional online casinos.
Immediate withdrawals
While deposits get processed almost instantly in both crypto and classic online casinos, the situation with withdrawals is far from it. Namely, cashouts in Bitcoin casinos are completed almost immediately. In contrast, those in fiat online casinos are subject to long pending times and will arrive in your account no sooner than 72 hours on average, no matter which payment method you use.
On the other hand, the average transaction confirmation time for Bitcoin payments is around 10 minutes, and that is not to say that BTC is the fastest cryptocurrency on the market.
Better bonuses
One of the best ways to start your crypto-gambling adventure is to claim the welcome bonus deals casinos offer. Since they don’t have to foot the bill for your transactions or pay hefty license fees, these casinos can redirect the funds towards more generous bonuses for users.
More often than not, these bonuses have more lenient wagering requirements so that you can actually cash them out as real money faster than you would those in regular online casinos.
What does the future hold for crypto casinos in the US?
There is no saying which road the state gambling regulators across the US will take when it comes to cryptocurrency. Should they decide to take a leaf out of the UK Gambling Commission’s book and approve the use of cryptos, with all the same account holder verification requirements, we may as well see licensed crypto online casinos in the US in the future. The said inclusion would undoubtedly propel the online casino market to an even greater market size than the current estimate of USD7.61 billion by 2028.
In the meantime, Americans can resort to reputable offshore online casinos that accept cryptocurrencies, offer a great variety of games, and top bonuses.