In the early days of the cryptocurrency boom Bitcoin gambling sites were niche, unreliable and untrustworthy. They weren’t tightly regulated as few regulators wanted anything to do with the currency and as a result they existed in a grey area.
Fast forward a few years and Bitcoin gambling sites are now all the rage. There are plenty of Bitcoin options for gamblers, including stacks of slot-heavy sites, sports books, bingo rooms, poker rooms and more.
In this guide we’re going to focus on Bitcoin sports betting in particular, teaching you the hows and whys and giving you an in-depth explanation of how this industry works.
How Does Bitcoin Sports Betting Work?
Bitcoin sports betting works just like any other kind of betting. You make a deposit using your Bitcoin wallet and you use those funds to play. Of course, a single Bitcoin is worth thousands of dollars so they can’t be gambled like Dollars or Euros. Instead, they will be converted into another currency when the deposit has been made.
They may be converted into a fiat currency (USD, GBP, EUR), into fractional amounts of a Bitcoin, or into casino credits. These can then be used to gamble, after which they can be converted back to Bitcoins and withdrawn to a Bitcoin Wallet.
How to Use Bitcoin for Sports Betting
There are a few steps involved with using Bitcoin for sports betting:
- Get a Bitcoin Wallet: You can download a Bitcoin Wallet for free. You will be given a randomly allocated string of numbers which others can use to send you funds. This wallet will be virtual and should be kept safe, preferably in an external hard-drive or cloud.
- Acquire Bitcoins: If you don’t have Bitcoins already and are relatively inexperienced in this area, then this can be the trickiest part of the process of betting with Bitcoins. You will need to join an exchange, where cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold with traditional payment methods. These exchanges often require advanced ID checks and prolonged waiting periods.
- Find a Bitcoin Sports Book: There are many top Bitcoin sports books out there. Right now most of these are specialist sites created solely to provide Bitcoin sports betting, but the bigger and better known brands are beginning to move into cryptocurrencies as well.
- Get a Bonus: Bitcoin sports books are often very generous when it comes to bonuses, so make sure you’re getting one when you sign up.
- Play: Once you have your coins and your account, you’re ready to start placing some bets using your digital currency!
Bitcoin Sports Betting FAQ
Still got a few questions about Bitcoin sports betting? Take a look at our frequently asked questions below.
Do All Sites Offer Bitcoin?
At the time of writing, many gambling sites do not offer Bitcoin as an option, but it’s no longer a minority payment option and is growing all of the time. What’s more, the nature of the gambling industry means that Bitcoin could be widespread very soon.
Sports books are basically turn-key websites provided by major operators. These operators work with developers, payment providers and licenses to acquire a complete turn-key operation that they can then sell to the end-user, which is the sports book.
This means that the sports book does not decide individually if they are going to accept a new payment method, but rather they take what they are given by their operator. If these operators embrace Bitcoin, as many of them are now looking to do, then overnight we could see this cryptocurrency being added to thousands of sites.
Do I Need to Prove my ID?
Most sports betting sites will ask you to undertake KYC verification, whereby you will be required to submit proof of name and address. This has little to do with whether you use Bitcoin or not and concerns anti fraud and money laundering measures that are being implemented by regulators all over the world.
If you gamble on a site regulated by authorities in the UK, Sweden, Malta, Gibraltar or Alderney, you will almost certainly be asked to do this at some point. In the past they left the KYC requests for when the player made their first withdrawal, but the regulators saw this as a deceptive practice and forced through a change.
The truth is, no legitimate site will let you gamble without providing the most basic of details. And if you find a site that seems to let you do as you please without providing a shred of information, you should be wary of its legitimacy.
Is Bitcoin Betting Legal?
Bitcoins still have a shadowy reputation within some demographics as many people associate them with the Dark Web and with illegal activities. However, this would be akin to saying that PayPal is corrupt just because it’s the method of choice for many fraudsters.
Bitcoin is a legitimate, safe and secure cryptocurrency and it can be incorporated safely into many gambling sites. Those sites will still need to be regulated by a gambling authority (such as the UK Gambling Commission, Malta Gaming Authority or Curacao Gaming Control Board) and they will also need to adopt certain security protocols, but Bitcoin will not impact on this one way or the other.
Is Bitcoin Betting Anonymous?
The notion that Bitcoin is entirely anonymous is a misconception. Some transactional data will be stored in the blockchain and it is theoretically possible for this to be tracked if there is enough of it. However, it’s considerably more anonymous than other popular payment methods.
To put it simply, a lot of your information, most of it in fact, is not connected to your Bitcoin account and cannot be seen. However, if someone wanted to do some digging they could find some data, especially if your Bitcoin wallet was connected to an exchange that had used the Know Your Customer protocol.
As far as Bitcoin betting is concerned, your bets and activity are not recorded outside of the betting site and Bitcoins are more anonymous than traditional payment methods.
Can I Deposit in Bitcoins and Withdraw with Another Method?
This is a valid question and you might think that it should produce a simple “Yes” answer. But it’s actually a little more complicated than that. Most Bitcoin sports books only provide Bitcoins as a payment method and even the ones that don’t won’t let you withdraw via another method due to the risk of fraud.
Fraudsters like to use gambling sites to process stolen money. They deposit using methods like Bitcoins or PayPal, place a few big bets without a care (easily done when it’s not your money) and then withdraw to their bank account.
It’s a huge issue that the industry used to unwittingly facilitate, but these days they are clamping down on it and that’s why you can’t withdraw via another method when you deposit with Bitcoins.
Conclusion: The Future of Sports Betting
Bitcoins are not going to revolutionize the sports betting industry, but they will almost certainly improve it. They offer a faster, safer and easier way to move money between accounts and could make things like debit cards and even PayPal a thing of the past.