How crypto continues to affect the gambling industry

(MENAFN- Bazoom Group)

Even after being bashed after their launch, digital currencies have continued to make waves in many sectors – not just the gambling sector. And you could actually be wondering why that has been happening. Well, you don’t have to worry if you are such a one because this article will go into the depths of that.

Surprisingly, recent studies valued the crypto gambling market at about $250 million, anticipating that it could grow more in the coming days. And you may actually be surprised to learn that players gambled close to $4.5 billion in Bitcoin between 2014 and 2017. But why has crypto been receiving such a welcome in this sector? Well, read on to discover the reasons why.

The growing need for immediacy

Anyone who has been in the casino industry for a long time can agree that instant gratification is one of the industry’s driving forces. Players want to access games immediately after depositing funds. At the same time, they don’t expect lags in customer support. These are just a few of the prevalent needs of many players.

Crypto’s technology allows for near-instant withdrawals at cheaper costs. According to PYMNTs, nearly 78% of respondents claimed that instant payments greatly contributed to their satisfaction. Realizing this, operators like FortuneJack are now adopting crypto technology to cater to such needs.

Never forget that acquiring new customers is becoming more expensive than retaining existing ones. The industry is growing quickly, and you might need to do a lot to stand out. But if you take advantage of technologies like crypto to meet customers’ needs, you can surely improve your competitiveness. 

In fact, a study by SuperOffice CRM noted that companies that offered more customer-centric experiences were 60% more profitable than those that didn’t. And one way of doing this is actually offering instant payments. Can you imagine the benefits you can reap from offering such, given that, according to FRBservices, almost three-quarters of consumers claimed to have used instant and fast payments in 2023 alone? 

This statistic is evidence enough that instant payments are a growing preference among modern consumers. That provides good grounds for the further spread of crypto in the gambling world.

The appeal of security and privacy

Security and privacy are among the highly sought-after features in the gambling sector. Especially now that cybercriminals are really targeting the sector, the need to ensure safety can never be overemphasized. Remember, as many individuals join this industry, the amount of customer data available also increases significantly.

In fact, a recent study noted that more than 176 million people gambled online actively and expected them to increase to 210 million by 2025. And before they gamble, most online operators often request different customer data aspects that malicious individuals also seek. That makes online casinos a prime target. Just in 2023, close to 70% of online gambling platforms were targeted by cyberattackers, making the sector the third most sought-after industry by cyberattackers.

But amid these, casino providers are not left without hope. Crypto, for instance, has a proper infrastructure that can help minimize exposure to attacks. The pseudonymous identities generated through public keys improve privacy as they facilitate the transaction of assets on the chain without revealing any personal information. Plus, asymmetric cryptography uses public and private keys that are mathematically related and are difficult to guess.  

And by the way, have you heard about the power of privacy coins like Monero and Zcash? Monero, for example, uses ring signatures to mix transactions with others, making it difficult to trace their origin. On the other hand, Zcash uses ZK proofs to verify transactions without your details.

Reaching diverse audiences

In any business, nothing beats the power of understanding customers. After all, the main reason why people do business is to meet customer needs profitably. So, you don’t want to have a stall in which no one is coming to buy just because their needs won’t be met. It’s a similar thing in gambling, especially for operators targeting the global market.

Do you actually know that, as per a FinDev Gateway study, only 76% of the global adult population was financially inclusive? You can imagine what this means for platforms whose main target is among the remaining 24%. That means a good number of them might hindered from participating on platforms that require users to have official bank accounts to participate.

But with crypto, such challenges are eliminated. Once they have created their crypto account, they won’t need an official financial account to participate again. Plus, the need for intermediaries to process transactions is eliminated, as players can access funds without third parties. That way, transaction costs are greatly reduced, making crypto platforms a convenient option for financially exclusive regions.

It might have been quite unreasonable to imagine that digital currencies could have such an influence in the gambling sector, especially after several individuals criticized their launch. But apparently, this is exactly what is happening. Operators are now turning to this intriguing technology to meet the needs of the modern-day player.

Features like fast and cheap payments and privacy are very important in the gambling industry. And given that crypto’s infrastructure allows for that, it makes sense to see it widely accepted in the sector. Since we are just in the infancy of what could become a new norm, we might see more crypto innovations in the gambling sector in the years to come.  

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