Ethereum gambling revolution
The Ethereum online casino industry is developing at an exponential rate, and has started posing a serious threat to the bitcoin gambling industry. In many cases, cryptocurrency gambling sites have taken the opportunity to bridge the gap by offering Ethereum as a payment method on their most popular games. Ethereum gambling could well revolutionize the following aspects of the industry:
- Social interaction through games
- Investment in gambling apps or games
- It could eliminate the need for casinos altogether
Later in the article, we’ll get into more of the advantages of Ethereum gambling. First, it’s a good idea to get to grips with what Ethereum actually means.
How Ethereum works
Just like Bitcoin, the Ethereum blockchain is a publicly-viewed leger containing all the transactions of its currency, in this case: Ether. Ethereum was launched in 2015, and has since grown dramatically in both size and value.
What sets Ethereum apart from other cryptocurrencies is that its economy is based on smart contracts, onto which anybody can write any code. By allowing users to create and deploy smart contracts, control over transactions is totally democratised and accessible.
These smart contracts can be used for a wide range of purposes, including revolutionising online gambling. In short, Ethereum gambling sites have all the advantages of Bitcoin online casinos, and more.
Ethereum vs Ether gambling
Included in our list of Ethereum casinos are:
- Casinos that take Ether or ETH as a form of payment
- Casinos that base their games on smart contracts on the Ethereum network.
This is the basic difference between Ethereum and Ether gambling. You can think of Ethereum as being about the gaming experience, and Ether as a potential currency of choice.
In other words, any Ethereum online casino could involve Ether gambling, but not all Ether gambling is based on Ethereum’s smart contracts. In fact, Ethereum-based casinos may evolve to incorporate payment with other cryptocurrencies.
Advantages of Ethereum gambling
If you’ve read our article on crypto casinos, you’ll know that gambling with currencies like Bitcoin have incomparable advantages for players. But what sets Ethereum apart from other Bitcoin casinos?
Faster transactions and lower fees
Transaction times on Ethereum are significantly shorter than on the Bitcoin network, which is a huge advantage. While Bitcoin casinos promise a transfer time of less than 10 minutes, Ethereum has a transfer time of an astonishing 16 seconds.
As a consequence, it is much cheaper to deposit and withdraw funds with Ethereum. In this way, smart contracts could potentially shift consumer behavior in the industry. Once players understand that an instant withdrawal can be coded into a contract, they are likely to demand it.
Unique games
If you’ve played at cryptocurrency or Bitcoin casinos before, you’ve probably heard of Bitcoin games. Bitcoin games are special because they are based on the blockchain. Ethereum games are similar, but they have the added benefit of smart contracts.
It’s almost impossible to come up with a complete list of Ethereum gambling possibilities because the network allows for an unprecedented degree of flexibility in terms of game programming through smart contracts.
Safety and security
Ethereum online casinos also make it possible for industry regulators to start playing a more proactive role. This takes a divergence from recent developments in the industry, which have seen more and more crypto casinos remaining unlicensed and unregulated. For example, authorities could actually offer best practices and advice on certain code for every smart contract. In this way, regulation could become much easier and more individualised.
Quality gambling experience
The Ethereum blockchain continuously re-invents and updates itself. The most recent Casper update, for instance, has introduced a Proof of Stake (PoS) system, which no longer requires all the nodes in the network to proof transactions. In other words, new developments in this fast paced technology will keep making Ethereum gambling cheaper, faster, and smoother.
Pure Ethereum casinos
While there are plenty of casinos that have embraced Ethereum and / or Ether, there is also such a thing as a ‘pure Ethereum casino’. These casinos offer games based on smart contracts and take payment in Ether. Clearly, the online casino industry is catching on to the diverse and innovative potential of Ethereum gambling. In fact, one of the first pure Ethereum gambling initiatives, Edgeless, brought the 0% house edge model to online gambling. This is only one of the disruptive innovations that a pure Ethereum gambling initiative could come up with.
So, if Ethereum gambling has so many advantages, why isn’t it more widespread? Smart contract casinos usually advertise using terms like ‘fair’ ‘speed’ and ‘lower house edge’. While these are all convincing selling points, pretty much all online casinos use these buzzwords to advertise their site. As a consequence, the average online casino player might not notice anything special about Ethereum casinos.
For this reason, it’s going to take ‘organic education’ and word-of-mouth for the market to really catch on to the advantages of smart contract Ethereum gambling. This is nothing unusual – even a technology as simple as email took a while to penetrate the popular demand.
Maybe, in a couple of years, online casino players won’t accept anything less than a casino with a smart contract in place.
Conclusion
Above, we’ve listed some of the most obvious advantages of Ethereum gambling, but it is not an exhaustive list. In fact, it’s impossible to list all the ways that Ethereum could change the gambling scene, because smart contracts enable infinite possibilities. The only limitation is your imagination. Why not be among the first to experience all the benefits of Ethereum online casinos?
