Press Release: Blockchain as the Hopeful Future of Internet Gambling

The iGaming industry’s defining characteristic has always been innovation. Gamblers turn to the internet where options proliferate, alternatives are always around the corner, and where time or distance cease to be an issue. For all its advantages, this dynamic and ever-changing sector is not without its problems, particularly the mutual relations of regulatory requirements, secure payments and hacking hazards. In this regard, the emergence of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies extended the frontiers of online gambling, introducing potential solutions and addressing underlining issues traditional gaming platforms have been facing since the beginning.

No Weak Links

Conventional gaming platforms operate from a central server, the main hub where all sensitive information, transaction data and gaming software are stored and controlled. As such, online casinos are vulnerable to attacks from hackers, confidential data breaches, even mishandling and ill intent on the part of employees or owners themselves. Encryption technologies do not default components and although very important, many companies choose not to include them whatsoever.

Owned by Everyone

Unlike traditional platforms with these historically present shortcomings, blockchain iGaming platforms are largely unaffected by such problems. The main reason they’re being hailed as harbingers of a new gambling era is their decentralized structure. Faster, secure and public database, without the need for accounts, third-party permissions or intermediary banking institutions, is in a broader sense of the term more compatible with the notion of free markets and democratic values. The blockchain itself is processing transactions, which become quick, easy and anonymous.

Safe and Anonymous

Being a continually growing chain of records linked via cryptography and independent of each other, blockchain platforms are extremely hard to breach into and hack. There is no need for additional security protocols either, since such inherently secure. Financial abuse cannot be so easily perpetrated by criminal groups, as opposed to vulnerable funds controlled and managed by owner companies of traditional platforms. One would correctly assume that the same principle applies to gaming software, and by extension, game outcomes – if there’s no central server, there is no owner to alter to gaming commands or logs to disadvantage customers. Publicly available information is among the primary blockchain advantages.

iGaming Jurisdictions and Upcoming Changes

While traditional platforms still more than hold their own, due to players understandably varying of any new, complicated to understand or use technologies, their implementation seems imminent in the near future. For now, the existing regulatory frameworks and laws do not recognize blockchain platforms. Official regulators and licensing bodies have been formed and organized in accordance with the needs and pressing issues of the traditional gaming industry. To embracing cryptocurrencies, the existing jurisdictions would have to face a series of challenges in revising and adjusting their requirements to fit a fundamentally different virtual environment. For starters, mandatory background checks and KYC protocols do not go hand in hand with the principle of anonymity, with millions of potential users who are both owners and consumers of one such gaming platform. Furthermore, the nature of Bitcoin, Ethereum makes enforcing many existing technical standards completely unnecessary: proper handling of player funds, transaction logs or fair gaming conditions are all solved and supported by blockchain platforms themselves.

The Malta Gaming Authority, one of the oldest and best-known iGaming regulators in the world, has already understood the implications of the growing cryptocurrency trend. Although they have yet to implement significant changes, the Authority is considering how best to introduce digital currency regulations in the near future.