Gambling With Cryptocurrencies: Stakes Are Getting High

From cold hard cash to cryptocurrency, the stakes are now higher in gambling. Cryptocurrencies are now being widely accepted in casinos around the world because its statelessness. Moreover, it is highly sought-after because its more suitable for cross-border transfers than fiat currency. Before the advent of cryptocurrencies, junkie organizers suffered exorbitant fees in arranging for high volumes of stake monies to be ready for use by a VIP gamer upon arrival. The VIPs also incurred similar high fees in the repatriation of their winnings. To tackles these issues and more, companies have found respite in blockchain technology.

Online companies are already reaping the benefits of employing blockchain technology. Now many web-based sportsbooks and casinos are accepting cryptocurrencies. A fintech company, Dragon Inc., with its niche in Macau, has firmly planted its footing in tokens. Gambling is a huge industry in Macau. Forbes has rightly stated that hundreds of high rollers travel to this place to gamble away millions of dollars at a time. Dragon Inc. in its whitepaper highlighted that “a major junket (private room in a casino) in Macau might be hosting more than 100 elite gamers at any one time, often producing a rolling turnover in excess of US$250 million a day. With this level of play at the tables and he constant churn of players, the frictional costs suffered by both junkets and their discerning elite gamer guests related to the positioning of stake money and repatriation of winnings are both huge and punitive.”

To make the flow of cash easier for the players and the gambling industry as a whole, Dragon Inc. came up with a digital value platform – Dragon Platform, where gamers can easily convert fiat money into digital tokens. The digital tokens are securely registered on a blockchain, each token having its own numerical representation. And this could be displayed in the gamer’s cold wallet via the smartphone. The whitepaper says “whenever necessary, the gamer could effortlessly convert his Dragon Coins (DRG) to fixed-value digital Dragon Global Chips (DGC) for use in the junket. After gaming, DGC could be converted back into DRG and further converted to fiat money or any other digital currency when needed, all on demand and via the touch of the screen on a smartphone.” Moreover, if gamers choose to keep stake monies and winnings in digital form ready for the next visit to the gaming tables, they could do so securely and at minimal cost. This brings the cost from 5 per cent to a mere 1 per cent, a significant saving that boosts profitability. Dragon Inc. says if the digital financial platform is managed and operated with sound corporate governance, then the use of digital value tokens within an industry, in this case casinos, can greatly assist in the global drive to eradicate money laundering.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will surely revolutionize the gambling industry as well as bring about the much needed transparency. And it will also add that techno-edge to it.