Bitcoin Gamblers Have Wagered $4.5 Billion in BTC Since 2014

Bitcoin gambling has continued to rise in popularity over the years. Many people believe Bitcoin is the perfect currency for online wagers and cryptocurrency-based gambling statistics have shown that the market agrees.

Also read: Lucky Week at Bitcoin Games Roulette Table as Players Win 154 BTC

$4.5 Billion in Bitcoin Wagers Since 2014

It is clear that Bitcoin gambling is just one of many excellent platforms that demonstrates the cryptocurrency’s real-world use cases. Using bitcoin has allowed for more privacy-centric gambling, alongside quicker ways to fund casino accounts, pay out jackpots and reward players. Online gambling is a huge industry with a volume of $45.86 billion in 2016 and Bitcoin has captured just a tiny fraction of this market so far.

Nonetheless, the use of Bitcoin at online casinos has steadily risen every year with many people placing their bets with cryptocurrency daily. Bitcoin gambling has been around since the currency’s inception and in 2013 Bitcoin betting accounted for over 50 percent of all Bitcoin transactions. A research report released that year detailed “online gambling represents at least 10x the transaction volume of Silk Road and the other Bitcoin drug marketplaces.”

According to the Bitcoin Strip, a website that tracks online Bitcoin casino statistics, over 24.5 billion bets have been placed with bitcoins over the past two years. In 2017, the popularity of Bitcoin gambling continues to grow as there are now hundreds of cryptocurrency gaming destinations on the web. According to statistics throughout sixty cryptocurrency-based gambling sites, people are placing 337 bets per second and are wagering three BTC per minute. Moreover, since 2014, roughly 3.7 million BTC has been wagered equating to $4.5 billion USD at the time of writing.

Bitcoin Gambling Site Domains Sell for Big Money

Last month a domain called “bitcoin.casino’ sold for a record sale of $28,000 for the .casino extension portal. A Florida-based firm called Casino Holdings bought the bitcoin.casino domain and the website hosts reviews of Bitcoin gambling sites found online. According to statistics, searches for .casino domain extensions have been on the rise this year. Furthermore, Bitcoin based casino-style gaming sites have been selling like hot cakes for quite some time. Shapeshift founder Erik Voorhees sold his website, Satoshi Dice, for over $11.5 million (126,315 BTC) back in 2013.

Regulatory Restrictions

Bitcoin and online gambling has increased in nearly every country in the world bar the U.S., Russia and a few other regions. Currently the U.S. has significant regulatory policies against online gambling in general throughout the country. Most of the restrictions stem from the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that was created back in 2006. According to the act, the UIGEA “prohibits gambling businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.” As a result the vast majority of Bitcoin casinos and cryptocurrency wagering sites refuse to operate in the U.S. to this day.

Hurdles Aside Bitcoin Gambling Continues to Grow Beyond 2017

Using Bitcoin to play classic casino games such as blackjack, roulette, dice and more will likely continue to increase as statistics have shown. Some residents from countries with stricter regulation may not be able to participate, but many other regions are seeing a lot of growth in the gambling market.

Regardless of regulation issues, cryptocurrency gambling continues to rise every year, and 2017 is no different. Three bitcoins gambled per minute over the past two years shows cryptocurrency and online wagers are working quite well together.

What do you think about bitcoin and gambling? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay, the Bitcoin Strip, and Bitcoin.com.

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