Why Payments Are the Real Killer Feature of Crypto Casinos

Crypto casinos have taken the online gambling industry by storm over the last 5-7 years.

While the entire iGaming industry is growing by double digits year-over-year, crypto casinos have been able to outpace traditional operators in growth by a significant margin. Tanzanite estimates that the cryptocurrency gross gaming revenue (GGR) will reach an impressive $10-11 billion by 2024, accounting for 10-15% of the total iGaming market.

Several explanations have been proposed to account for the rise and popularity of crypto casinos, including anonymity, provably fair gaming, token incentives, and airdrops, among others.

Stake.com undeniably succeeded by pioneering streamer partnerships as an effective user acquisition method.

While the influence of all the aforementioned factors can’t be dismissed, there is still something more foundational and obvious behind the fact that users prefer wagering with crypto: its exceptional nature as a medium of exchange.

Impulse Meets Instant: The Power of Frictionless Play

At its core, gambling as a leisure activity is a process driven by impulsive behaviour that often happens on the spur of the moment.

The smoothness of transactions is a key quality that prevents interruptions to the flow, stemming from the sudden urge to gamble. Using crypto enables quicker deposits and withdrawals with far fewer clicks than traditional payment rails used by other operators.

The ability to move funds frictionlessly provides instant gratification, enhancing the user experience. It also enables features like tipping, where players can send money between each other or support their favourite creators, popularized by famous streamers such as SteveWillDoIt and Togi.

This creates a form of gambling economy where the frictionless transfer of money boosts the experience and advances the availability of the entertainment product.

Why Crypto Is the Perfect Betting Currency

In the crypto world, stablecoins are recognized as one of the most significant applications of blockchain technology.

For the unbanked and underbanked people around the world, especially in developing countries, easy access to dollar-denominated stablecoins as well as other cryptocurrencies is a game-changer.

No currency conversion charges or international transfer fees – the advantages of cryptocurrencies now extend to gambling. The ongoing redefinition of money, driven by the growing adoption of crypto, has implications for society and is also reflected in the player preferences in iGaming.

Using cryptocurrency as a wager asset removes geographical barriers by serving as a transnational payment standard and increases accessibility by circumventing banking restrictions.

The accessibility of crypto casinos is not only about often lighter KYC requirements, but also about global, widely accepted, and low-cost payment rails that serve customers around the clock in an uncensorable manner.

What’s interesting is the growing popularity of altcoins as a wager asset, as recently reported by SoftSwiss, for instance. The popularity of different crypto assets fluctuates due to cyclicality.

However, the main takeaway is that crypto casinos offer multiple currency options, and adding new ones is relatively straightforward. The ultimate way to serve customers is to give them the option to use whatever asset they prefer, which is increasingly becoming some form of cryptocurrency.

The use of crypto also raises an interesting perspective on responsibility. When players wager with crypto, they are often wagering with money they can afford to lose, outside of their traditional checking accounts used for daily expenses.

How Crypto Unlocks a Player-First Casino Model

According to Nigel Eccles, the co-founder of multiple well-known iGaming brands, “traditional gambling operators live at the mercy of their payment providers”.

The costs of payment processing, KYC/AML compliance, high credit card chargeback rates, and operational overhead related to payments can add up to 10-15 % of an iGaming company’s GGR.

These costs are necessary to run the business, but they do not add significant value to the customer.

With significantly reduced payment-related costs, crypto casinos can choose to use the excess funds to the benefit of the user in the form of enhanced odds, RTP, rakeback, or VIP perks.

That way, the value created by using crypto payments flows back to the user, making crypto casinos a more attractive choice with the most appealing loyalty programs, which incentivize engagement and commitment. It also makes business sense to invest in user retention rather than in payment infrastructure.

Payments, Players, and the Future of iGaming

Bitcoin was created with the idea of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, and its fundamental concepts have been widely appreciated throughout the cryptocurrency industry, now also visibly so in the online gambling space.

Convenience drives user adoption, and crypto has enhanced the user experience, from efficient payment processing to global accessibility, ultimately benefiting both businesses and end-users.

The innovation of crypto casinos disrupts the whole industry and forces traditional operators to either adjust to the new environment or lose market share.

The new era of iGaming has just begun, fundamentally reshaping how players engage and how businesses operate. To stay at the forefront of these changes, iGamingCrypto offers ongoing insights into this dynamic journey.