The Importance of Blockchain and Crypto for the iGaming Market
When Mike Reaves and George Weinberg founded CashBet back in December of 2012, blockchain technology and Bitcoin was just emerging onto the scene. In fact, one of our engineers even built a Bitcoin wallet in 2013. Over the past several years, we’ve been operating our iGaming platform to provide real money gaming in multiple gaming jurisdictions, including the U.K. Gambling Control Commissions Jurisdiction, as well as under the Alderney Gambling Control Commission Jurisdiction. And, since then, the potential for the interactive gaming market has risen to $91 billion, outgrowing the banking and regulating systems in place to support it.
Until 2016, none of the licensing regions overseas and locally here in the US have provided a way to AML (Anti-Money Laundering) procedures when cryptocurrencies are being used. This changed in 2017. The Isle of Man, which is also what we call a Tier 1 gaming jurisdiction (Tier 1 meaning that they’re on the U.K. whitelist of approved providers to provide into the U.K.), became the first Tier 1 regulator to adopt AML standards around the deposit and wagering capability for virtual currencies, cryptocurrencies, and skins. As a result, we decided to move in the direction of supporting cryptocurrencies and launch our ICO for CashBet Coin.
The Underbanked
Today, there are hundreds of millions of players around the world who could be playing in the iGaming market on our software, but they’re underbanked, meaning that they don’t have a payment solution available in their market for iGaming. Alternatively, there’s a system of proxy betting that takes place in a lot of developing markets around the world where people will pay cash to a bookie, and that bookie will create an account for them to play, but there’s no use of credit cards or wire transferring available to bring the process online and streamlined.
This is why we’re integrating blockchain and adopting cryptocurrency into our platform. We’ll be able to expand into developing markets and offer the first crypto-friendly content distribution system. And, in so doing, we will also become the first casino licensee of the Isle of Man under their new cryptocurrency regulations. We see massive potential in the growth of the industry with the roll-out of our complete crypto-ready platform as a result.
What’s Next
Looking ahead to 2019, we’re planning to launch a state-channel-based play-as-you-go platform. What that basically means is that instead of today’s typical banking delays for a payout, which may involve the player requesting a withdrawal, this will instead be approved by a live customer support system and a payment processor instantly. Removing the delays of banks, which can take up to 10 days currently.
Stay tuned for more updates on our CashBet Coin ICO at https://coin.cashbet.com, and continue following our blog for updates and insights on the iGaming market.
