Bitcoin (BTC) Casinos and Gambling Sites

A Short History of Bitcoin

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper as a response to the global financial crisis of the time. His goal was to provide an alternative to the traditional financial institutions that had failed people and devastated the market – proven by the global recession.

The following year, Satoshi officially released Bitcoin by mining the genesis block of the cryptocurrency, which had a reward of 50 Bitcoins. Embedded in the block was the text, “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” in reference to a headline that The Times published on the same day. This is seen both as a timestamp and a comment of the fragility of global banking.

When Bitcoin was first released, it was worth only $0,008. Don’t you wish you’d invested 10 years ago? We sure do.

While prior attempts were made at creating a digital currency in the 1990s, nothing ever stuck. It wasn’t until Bitcoin came along that we saw the birth of an entirely different financial system – the cryptocurrency market.

How to Start Playing at a Bitcoin Casino

To actually start playing at an online Bitcoin casino, you’ll first need to acquire Bitcoin. Long gone are the days when you’d have to know someone who owned Bitcoin to buy your own. Now, you can simply head to an exchange or marketplace and purchase Bitcoin almost instantly with your credit or debit card.

Top exchanges include Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. These exchanges sell to you at the latest price of Bitcoin. The sites are incredibly user friendly. They are responsible for facilitating your transactions from start to finish, and often have built in crypto wallets for you to store your Bitcoin.

Alternatively, you can head to a P2P marketplace like LocalBitcoins to buy Bitcoin. A P2P marketplace facilitates transactions between traders. The site will usually take a small fee to cover their costs and make a small profit. The fee is totally reasonable, since they’re not technically benefiting from any of the transactions that move through the system. Traders, however, set their own prices so you may be able to pick up a bargain.

Advantages of Bitcoin Casinos

Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology, which enables a peer to peer payment system that does not need to to rely on third parties. In other words: Bitcoin lets us sidestep the big banks and financial institutions in our everyday transactions. That sounds cool, but what does it actually mean for the online gambling community?

Privacy and anonymity

The decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies gives players the advantage of complete anonymity and total privacy.

Lower fees

Since crypto-based transactions are not carried out through any external banking system or service, there tend to be incredibly low (or totally negligible) fees attached.

Super-fast transactions

The decentralisation of cryptocurrencies also makes transactions incredibly fast. With no intermediaries involved, your currency can be withdrawn (or deposited) as fast as the casino takes to authorise your request. While fiat currency can take up to 3 days to be transacted (sometimes longer), cryptocurrencies can be processed within 10 minutes.

Get more out of your bonuses and promotions

Bitcoin casino sites are usually the online casinos with the best bonuses. This is no coincidence. While traditional gambling establishments generally offer a (50% – 100%) match bonus up to a couple hundred of USD, the bonuses offered by Bitcoin casinos are rarely less than 1BTC which equals over 50,000 USD.

Provably fair

Bitcoin’s innovative blockchain brought us another benefit, and this time it’s not financial. Bitcoin casino games are designed to be “Provably fair”, which ensures that every outcome is totally random. Provably fair technology is totally unique to Bitcoin gambling. It’s thanks to Bitcoin’s cryptographic algorithm (blockchain) which is almost impossible to decode or hack. Each game or transaction has its own algorithm and it can be verified to determine its fairness.

Disadvantages of Bitcoin Casinos

It’s important that we look at this topic with a measured view and also take into account some of the downsides to playing at online Bitcoin casinos.

Bitcoin is volatile

2021 has been a great year for Bitcoin, leading the cryptocurrency to hit record highs of over 60,000 USD.

On the flip side, the value of Bitcoin can drop

Limited game collections

A number of Bitcoin casinos have decided to offer proprietary games exclusively. FYI, proprietary games are built in-house for the casino. While it’s fantastic that casinos are using new blockchain technology to develop their own games, these casinos often have a very limited selection of offerings. Variety is important when it comes to online gambling, so this can’t be overlooked.

More unlicensed casinos

As you probably already know, a gambling license sets the rules and regulations for a casino. A license is pretty important, because it keeps players safe. In addition, a gambling license permits a casino to work with electronic payment systems. All this changed when Bitcoin hit the gambling scene

The decentralisation of crypto means that all Bitcoin casinos can perform their transactions internally, without the involvement of any financial institutions. This means that the importance of a license becomes redundant, or at least optional, for online casinos working with Bitcoin.

Higher minimum wager requirements

One of the pros of Bitcoin casino sites is that players are guaranteed higher bonuses. On the flip side, the minimum wager is usually higher than if you’re playing with fiat currencies.

Most online casinos won’t let players redeem a bonus without paying the entire wager, but there are still plenty that will let you take part of your earnings based on a percentage of the minimum wager. Often, these can be as high as 35x-40x times rollovers.

Bitcoin Deposit Bonuses

When you first start hunting for a good Bitcoin casino, it’s important to check out what BTC deposits they offer. You’ll find that many casinos offer welcome package deposit bonuses in Bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies and even some fiat currencies. You can choose your preferred currency upon sign up, and then play with it and score deposit bonuses.

For example, a casino like CryptoWild offers a 150% match deposit bonus plus 150 free spins with your first Bitcoin deposit (or deposit in your currency equivalent). This is just one of hundreds (if not thousands) of match deposit bonuses you’ll find online. Basically, it’s best to check out the promotions page of any Bitcoin online casino.

Types of Games at Bitcoin Casinos

Virtual casino games

Here, the outcome of each game is purely dependent on the data produced by a PRNG (Pseudorandom number generator). This concept is utilized in online casino games such as cards, dice throws, roulette wheels or even a spinning slot machine. When properly implemented, it ensures fairness and unpredictability in the game. With the audited results, the player can be assured that the software has not been rigged.

Live dealer casino games

Live dealer games are an incredibly popular online gambling offering. Bitcoin online casinos are at the forefront of innovative gaming, so it’s no surprise that the best Bitcoin casinos all feature a Live Casino. In live dealer games, a real-life human dealer runs the game, in real-time, from a casino dealing table. It’s basically the IRL casino experience, but live-streamed. Then, players can proceed to place their bets via a console on their computer screen while communicating with the dealer through a chat text function.

Players love live casino games, partially because the outcomes of the game are determined by real-life actions. There’s something unique about watching this process unfold, and it just can’t be compared to the automated processes in virtual casino games.

Live casinos offer hundreds of games, so you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll like.

Games on offer may include: blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, poker, and, of course, slot machines. Slots continue their reign as some of the top Bitcoin games, so the best Bitcoin casinos always host a wide selection to keep their players happy.

Bitcoin Casinos vs Regular Casinos

The main difference between top Bitcoin casinos and other casinos is, of course, the fact that you can gamble with BTC. However, there are some other key differences, although it will depend on the platform you play on:

• Many Bitcoin casinos offer provably fair games and gambling, compared to other (fiat) casinos which do not.
• Proprietary games are common at the best Bitcoin casinos, while most fiat casinos outsource their games from software providers.
• Transactions are made over the Bitcoin blockchain rather than through third-party payment providers.

How to Get Free Bitcoin

We’ve covered how to go about buying Bitcoin, but what if you want to come into it for free?

All the best Bitcoin casinos and trading platforms offer Bitcoin giveaways. Players can compete in competitions or promotions to score free BTC, which you can then use to play on the site. If you’re lucky, you could land up winning loads more Bitcoin in return.

Some casinos offer Bitcoin faucets which allow you to play for free with the chance of winning Bitcoin totally on the house. These faucets are a perfect way to test out a platform before investing any real money.

Match deposit bonuses are another way to score free Bitcoin. Of course, you’ll still have to put your own cash in, but you stand a chance of getting a decent amount back. For example, KingBit casino offers a 110% first deposit bonus up to 1 BTC.

Online Bitcoin Casinos

Even though the Bitcoin casino industry is relatively new, the software is developing at an exponential rate. As a result, more and more of the biggest names in online gambling are welcoming Bitcoin payment methods. Even traditionally fiat-only casinos are catching up with the trend.

If you’re worried about the legality of Bitcoin casinos, let us put your mind at ease. Most Bitcoin casino sites get their software through lease or purchase from companies such as SoftSwiss. It’s all completely legit.

Bitcoin casino guides

We have a number of different guides that look into specific aspects of Bitcoin casinos and the information that is important to people playing at them.

• Bitcoin casino facuets
• Bitcoin mobile casino
• Bitcoin casinos with no minimum deposit
• Casinos with instant BTC deposits