Why Gamblers Now Use Bitcoin
Placing a bet should be a hassle-free experience. Snacks, big screen TV, check. Depositing to a sports betting site without headache? Not so fast.
Gone are the days where you can whip out your wallet, plug in your credit card numbers and have action on the Sunday night hoops game. However, the industry has evolved to the point where new technologies are being incorporated aimed at improving gamblers’ experiences, and that is where bitcoin comes in.
The industry watchdogs at Sportsbook Review (SBR) have covered that over 45 online sportsbooks integrated bitcoin to their cashier in 2016 alone. This number is expected to continue to grow as sportsbooks realize that pesky third-party processors do more to hurt than help their bottom-line; plus, traditional options that involve banks directly involve red tape and hoops that neither sportsbooks or players want to jump through.
Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency that allows individuals to make transactions without a middleman as the public ledger or blockchain does the heavy lifting. Sound complicated? It doesn’t have to be, as bitcoin exchanges/wallets such as Coinbase require an individual to have no knowledge of bitcoin before getting started. This is the exchange that SBR showcased in its tutorial for first timers acquiring bitcoin.
The downside to bitcoin is that players are exposed to at times volatile swings in its value; one morning bitcoin may be trading at $1,000 per coin, and in the blink of an eye may drop to $800. While BTC has been relatively steady to start 2017, sports gamblers who aren’t keen on doubling as currency speculators have remained skeptical about making the transition on account of not wanting their bankroll to be worth less overnight without even losing a bet. There is a solution: sports gamblers can choose betting sites that convert bitcoin to traditional currency like USD, EUR, GBP, or other. The SBR sportsbook rating guide has a filter showing these companies. By using sportsbooks that make this conversion, players avoid the potential rollercoaster of bitcoin’s value swings and can focus entirely on making a bet.
While bitcoin may sound funny at first, at the end of the day players would probably deposit with monopoly money if sportsbooks would accept it in an easy and cheap manner, so why not? Get started with bitcoin and save yourself the hassle of having a deposit rejected.