If someone mentioned the term ‘cryptocurrency gambling’ to you a few years ago, you most likely imagined some kind of shady operation, with hooded traders behind computers running an underworld racket.
Nowadays, it’s everywhere. As you have undoubtedly noticed, cryptocurrencies (and their analogous jargon) have caused quite a stir whether it is around the dinner table, in the media, or in the agile world of online gambling.
My Top 5 Crypto Casinos & Bonuses
Nonetheless, getting your head around it all can seem overwhelming. We’ve all been new to crypto gambling at some stage and the last thing you want to hear as a rookie in a completely new financial environment is technical dialect that is beyond your comprehension.
To make it comprehensible, however, you need to think of crypto as money. It’s been around for thousands of years whether it’s been represented as bartering a bale of straw for a pair of shoes, gold, a metal coin, a piece of paper, or a lengthy code electronically mined by a computer.
It’s all the same and has been around forever, constantly revolutionizing itself and the industries surrounding it, with the latest being the online gaming megacorp.
But, we can’t but help to ask ourselves: Do Bitcoin Casinos really deserve this much attention? Will its impact be long-term? And, should we care this much?
On this page, we will attempt to demystify cryptocurrency’s appeal, its role in the gambling arena, and whether bitcoin casinos have really revolutionized the gambling realm so extensively.
Crypto Casinos Step-by-step
If you page through the web, you’ll find hundreds of pages aiming to brainwash players into believing that crypto should be their next gambling move. These articles carry intensely complicated explanations of how cryptocurrencies work and tout words like blockchain, ether, exchanges, initial coin offerings, and provably fair like its casual chat.
We’re not that type.
Although we personally believe there are many advantages to Bitcoin Casinos, we do believe that it’s important to know exactly how it works before you fork out some dough.
We’ve found that to truly understand the concept of Bitcoin gambling, it needs to be explained in context so we’re going to take you on a crypto casino experience, from start to finish, pointing out all the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Let’s get the show on the road.
1. Register anonymously
Your first step would be to register and the number one perk of Bitcoin casinos is that you can literally be incognito. Anonymous crypto casinos don’t care if you’re really John Cooper because your personal data remains hidden throughout your transactions. You simply need to sign-up with a username, email address and password and bob’s your uncle.
2. Make a Crypto Deposit
Next up, funding your wallet.
- When you open your wallet at a Bitcoin casino, you need to choose your preferred cryptocurrency.
- After this, your private address will appear. Think of it as your wallet’s exclusive crypto account number at the specific casino.
- You then need to copy this address, go to your exchange, and transfer the crypto to this address. And, don’t let the term ‘exchange’ dishearten you, it’s exactly the same as a fiat online banking portal.
- Once you’ve transferred (they call it ‘withdraw’) the crypto to the casino, it usually reflects in your balance instantly, and ta-da! you’re ready to rumble.
It is an incredibly straightforward process if you look at it from this angle but there are many perks hidden between these small steps that would be good to know.
First up is decentralization, another bold crypto term that is often flung around in conversation. In short, this means that virtual currencies, like Bitcoin, have no connection with banks or governments, or anyone whatsoever. This means that you are in control of your own money and that no bank can freeze/block your account for example. So, when playing at a Bitcoin Casino, you can move your funds as you please without anyone watching. Come to think of it, it’s quite bizarre to think that other parties are in control of our funds in any way.
Next, transaction fees. We all know that conventional banking can be quite costly, it’s an undeniable fact. E-commerce companies need to make money one way or another which is usually through the transferral of funds. The good news is that blockchain transaction fees are much, much lower than conventional methods, which means the obvious – more money in your pocket.
Can you prove that you made a transaction? Some folks seem to think that crypto floats around in another galaxy and that it’s only by luck and chance that the coins land in the correct place when given the order. This, my dear friends, is an explicit myth. Due to the public ledger, your transactions are visible, meaning you can prove that you made a payment to a specified address.
Another perk worth a mention is that cryptocurrencies provide a worldwide payment system. This means that you don’t need to fret about fiat currency conversions (and the costs thereof) because all cryptocurrencies work exactly the same at all Bitcoin Casinos, regardless of where you reside.
3. Play Provably Fair Games
Ok, so now you’ve registered and you’ve made a crypto deposit so the fun is about to begin, but which games can you play? And, are they fair?
Not too long ago crypto neigh sayers started questioning the fairness of crypto games, Bitcoin Dice in particular, which is understandable. We’ve been trusting the random number generator used by conventional casinos for years because we know there is a watchdog, a fairness police, making sure that all casino games have a random outcome.
So, to ease the minds of (perhaps) skeptical crypto gamblers a brilliant concept – provably fairness – was born thanks to mathematics via an open-sourced blockchain allowing players to verify the fairness of games.
But, how does it work?
Provably fair gambling makes use of three pieces of technology:
- Random Number Generators
- Seed Generators
- Hashing
That just made your head spin, right? Don’t worry, there’s no need to know the entire mathematical process. We’ll rather give you an example:
Let’s say you’re playing Blackjack.
- The crypto casino will shuffle the deck and will provide you with a hash of the outcome of the shuffle, which is usually a string of characters and the hashes generated by a formula are always the same length, regardless of how much data you feed into it.
- You can then provide a seed which is a representation of a long string of random numbers. This changes a factor or maybe one of the cards of the game but not you nor the casino is aware of the exact changes.
- Then, the deck is dealt and you either win or lose.
- After the game, the deck is laid out as it was both before and after you provided your seed which means you can check that the hand was fair.
As you can see it is actually a very basic logical concept and although you can use hash calculators, most games do the work for you. In Plinko from BGaming for example, you can change the ball’s path by entering a client seed of between 0 and 16. It gives you the hash result + secret and after the game is finished, it automatically displays the final results.
This means you can verify the correctness of the game yourself whereas, at fiat casinos, you need to rely on and fully trust third parties that review casinos for legitimacy.
4. Cash out your Profits in seconds
So, what does it look like in terms of moving your money out of a crypto casino?
It’s exactly the same as when making a deposit, just the other way around. First, you need to go to your crypto wallet, copy your address, go to the cashier page on the casino site, select withdrawal, enter the amount and your address and click confirm.
And, voila, the funds should reflect in your wallet in a couple of minutes!
Our Crypto Casino Review Ethics
We’re sorry to break it to you but there are hundreds of crypto casino review sites that are in the business solely for making money. These sites don’t really care whether a Bitcoin Casino is worth your money and time and do a weak-kneed job at exploring every aspect to ensure you have a worthy experience.
We have a different approach. We leave no stone unturned and review crypto casinos in an unforgiving manner. Why? Because we want to earn the trust of our readers. When we give a crypto casino our stamp of approval, be assured that it’s good, and also know that we don’t shy away from raising our concerns when we stumble into something we don’t like.
What do we look out for when we review a crypto casino?
✅ User Experience
This might sound trivial but user experience is more important than you think. A crypto casino might tick all the boxes but if the navigation, layout, and overall user experience are poor, it will undoubtedly leave you agitated.
Sometimes we’re in awe of the user-friendliness, brilliant graphics, and seamless navigation of a crypto casino but we are also sometimes gobsmacked by crypto casino sites that completely fail to deliver and believe us, we’ll let you know either way.
✅ Bonuses
We all want more bang for our buck, especially when trying out a new crypto casino so bonuses are incredibly important. But, there are a number of reasons why a bonus is good or bad and we not only view it from the outside, we sign-up, make a deposit, claim the bonus, play through the wagering requirements and then review the entire experience.
✅ Banking Options
Again, there are a number of factors to consider when you are weighing up crypto casinos’ banking options. What’s the minimum deposit and the maximum withdrawal and can you buy crypto with your credit card directly at the casino? We also want to know which crypto the casino accepts, how long transactions take, and if there are any fees involved.
✅ Game Selection
For us, it’s not about the number of games the casino has in its library but the variation and quality of the games. Crypto casinos might have slots, table games, live games, provably fair games, and maybe even a sportsbook and although this repertoire sounds like the perfect picture, we often find that some sections get neglected because a casino might have too much on their fork. We strongly believe in quality over quantity!
✅ Customer Support
Missing free spins, technical issues, software glitches, or withdrawal restrictions. These are all problems players bump into at some stage and when this happens you’ll need to rely on customer support to resolve it as soon as possible.
You’d think that in this day and age all online crypto casinos would have 24/7 live chat, email, or phone support but the truth is, not all do. And, it’s very annoying! We test these channels, and even though we often don’t encounter any issues, we still think of a valid question or two to make sure customer support is efficient, fast, and knowledgeable.
Crypto Casino Bonuses
In recent years crypto casinos have become increasingly innovative with their promotional offers and are shying away from the conventional bonuses and we are overjoyed about this. Some crypto casinos go so far as to give you free Bitcoin every time you log in or even every couple of hours. Other crypto casinos give you free spins for simply signing up and some of these lucrative promotions are surprisingly wager-free.
Free crypto anyone? Yes sir! Let’s show you how.
Welcome Bonuses + Free Spins
Some would say the welcome bonus is a kind gesture to welcome you to the casino. We say it’s a way to lure you in. Whichever way, who cares because one thing is certain, you are able to get free crypto and it generally looks something like this:
100% up to 3 BTC + 30 free spins
If this scenario applies only to your first deposit bonus, the casino will match your deposit 100% up to 3 BTC, and they’ll throw in 30 free spins. So, when you make a 3 BTC deposit, they’ll give you 3 BTC and if you make a 0.001 BTC deposit, they’ll give you 0.001 BTC. Got it?
Now, if they offer this for your first three deposits, it will most likely be 100% up to 1 BTC + 10 free spins for each of the first three deposits you make.
Usually, the details are clearly stated but it’s always best to check because these bonuses are almost always subject to pesky wagering requirements, which I’ll explain in a short while.
No Deposit Crypto Bonuses
75 free spins 7bit Casino
What if you first want to test the casino? Then a no deposit crypto bonus will fit like a glove. We were never great cheerleaders for this bonus because it usually gives you very little, like 5 free spins or something, but a couple of crypto casinos have come up with some genius ideas that outweigh the traditional no deposit bonus far and beyond.
Some give you free satoshis by simply signing up while others have vaults where you can claim free crypto every 20 minutes. You can also get free Bitcoin if you refer a friend or follow a casino on social media. It’s forward-thinking, insanely inviting, and simply brilliant!
Crypto Cashback Bonuses
And what if you lose at a crypto casino? Then they’ll give you a percentage of your losses back. Often you’ll get more back the higher you are on the VIP ladder and it’s generally plowed back into your casino account or you might get credits to play.
The same rules apply at fiat casinos but there is one massive perk that we’ve seen at a couple of crypto casinos and that is that they’ll give you back what you would have earned by holding on to your BTC if the market price of Bitcoin rises and that’s pretty nifty!
Other Crypto Casino Promotions
We’re all aware of flyer miles or loyalty points at your local supermarket. The more you spend, the more rewards you get and it’s the same in the world of crypto casinos, except they have a more distinguished term for it – VIP CLUB.
It makes you think of high rollers, sipping pricey whiskey in smokey poker rooms in exclusive casinos but it’s nothing like that. It’s simply a tier-based program that allows you to accumulate points. The more points you earn, the higher your VIP status. At some casinos, you can only join the exclusive club if you crack an invite but that just makes it more appealing and exclusive.
The promotions and bonuses are usually not set in stone and instead tailormade to suit the needs of a player personally which is great because free spins won’t really mean anything to a poker master while 1 free sports bet won’t cut it for a crypto whale.
Wagering Requirements
It’s a boring topic but something that needs to be understood so let’s keep it short. When you accept a bonus, whether it is a match bonus, free spins, or a free bet, it is (almost always) subject to wagering requirements which look something like this:
100% up to 1 BTC
Wagering requirements x40
Now, if you make a 0.005 BTC deposit, the casino will give you an extra 0.005 BTC which means you’ll have a healthy 0.01 BTC balance. That’s awesome, right? Well, kind of.
Often players believe that they are able to withdraw the winnings made while playing with bonus funds instantly but it’s not that simple.
If the wagering requirements are x30, you’ll need to wager (spend) your bonus 30 times before you’ll be able to withdraw any bonus funds and/or related winnings.
If you think about it, it is fair and although it will make no sense to play through these requirements if you win a small amount, it might just be worth your while if you win a substantial jackpot.
Crypto Casino Games
As for the games available at crypto casinos? You’ll find exactly the same games and more but let’s show you around.
Bitcoin Dice
The most lucrative crypto game of all time saw a record win in 2016 when 250 Bitcoins were won in one single roll.
And, now that we have your attention, we’ll explain how the game works.
- First, you need to select your bet value.
- Now you select a number to place your bet on. Some Bitcoin Dice games have a betting range from 1 – 100 while other games allow you to choose 1 – to 1000’s.
- You then have two betting options – ‘Over’ and ‘Under’. If you choose ‘Over’, you bet that the outcome of the dice roll will be higher than your chosen number, and when you bet ‘Under’, you’re hoping that the dice fall on a number lower than your chosen number.
- Then Click ‘Roll Dice’ hope for the best and wait for the outcome. That’s it!
It is undoubtedly one of the simplest crypto games but has gained a respectable following among Bitcoin gamblers thanks to its low house edge that hardly ever goes higher than 1%.
Crypto Slots
Slots generally take up the majority of casino floors and it is usually the same at crypto casinos. While some have thousands of slots, others might have some hundred one-arm bandits but this shouldn’t steer you away by any means because less is sometimes more and quality far outweighs quantity.
If you’re anything like us, you’ll tend to stick to a bunch of game developers that create slots with themes you enjoy. And, there are some really good ones out there with excellent graphics and intriguing storylines or plots in the form of cut-scenes and bonus rounds.
If you prefer a wider variety you will also be spoilt for choice because, among the thousands of slots out there, almost all imaginable themes are covered, such as
Legends and Myths
Classic Cards and Fruit
Jewels and Treasures
Book/Movie/Game Characters
Pop Culture
Sports
Historical People/Events
Something that you might want to look out for when playing slots is the Return To Player (RTP) percentage. This indicates how much the slot pays back to players over a period of time, obviously the higher the RTP, the better. Generally, it is between 95% and 97%.
Crypto Table Games
Bitcoin table games are fast becoming not only more and more popular but also more and more interesting. The collection is usually much smaller but more and more casinos have started to develop their very own games which add an interesting twist.
You will still find all the originals such as Blackjack, Craps, Texas Hold’em, Roulette, Baccarat, and Poker but keep an eye out for newer additions as these table games are usually developed with crypto gambling in mind.
Crypto Live Casino and Game Shows
If you’re one that prefers interaction, the live dealer approach might be right up your alley. All the big-gun software developers have jumped on the Bitcoin bandwagon, providing live-stream crypto-friendly table games that feature a live dealer.
Again you’ll find all the classics that you’ll find at the tables but you’ll also find a couple of unusual and highly entertaining games like Money Wheel, Crazy Time, Monopoly, and Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt that have remarkably good graphics.
Crypto Sports Betting
Sportsbook is known for adopting significant innovation and this is clearly seen if you look at the way this industry has welcomed Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies as a way of punting.
When you place a bet in crypto, everything still works exactly the same with the only difference being that you place your bet in a different (crypto) currency.
The advantages are, however, undeniably more. The bonuses are bigger, transactions have much lower fees and are instant, deposits and withdrawals often have no restrictions, and the security is far better.
And, people do win big, like the rapper Drake that won over $1 Million in Bitcoin on his 2022 Super Bowl bets. He did risk over $471k to win this amount but we’re pretty sure he’s smiling all the way to the bank (or should we say crypto wallet) now.
Other Coins Widely Accepted by Crypto Casinos
Good old Bitcoin. The first, most recognized and favorite crypto accepted not only by online casinos but far and beyond is not the only coin currency that can be used at crypto casinos.
Although the majority of casinos don’t accept a massive number of cryptocurrencies, you’ll generally be able to use Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Tether.
What’s interesting is that some casinos let you make a deposit in fiat and withdraw in crypto which might seem like a convenient way to convert your cash into crypto but we wouldn’t encourage this as the rates usually offered by casinos are not really competitive. It’s far better to use a propper crypto exchange to convert your funds.
We’re getting side-tracked now. Let’s finally meet Bitcoin’s stealthy crypto friends:
Bitcoin Cash – BCH
We’re only just getting used to the whole idea of Bitcoin and the blockchain and now, to make things even more interesting, they introduced Bitcoin Cash (BCH). It’s not really that complicated, to be honest, and came about after a group of miners and developers initiated a hard fork back in 2017, paving the way for this new currency.
But why?
Transactions involving Bitcoin are processed, stored, and verified on a digital ledger known as the blockchain which exists on computers all around the world. Since the start, there have been many questions surrounding its ability to scale so the introduction of BCH was actually inevitable. It shares the same values as Bitcoin but its main aim is scalability.
Bitcoin is still the king of crypto outweighing all its peers by far but BCH is a trusted currency and accepted by almost all crypto casinos.
Litecoin – LTC
When it comes to crypto transactions, it’s a constant race for speed which is why Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer created Litecoin in 2011, only two years after the inception of Bitcoin aiming to provide a lighter version of Bitcoin whilst competing with it at the same time and it’s not doing too bad at all.
Ethereum – ETH
If there is one altcoin that is giving Bitcoin a run for its money, it is undeniably Ethereum. Since its release, it has managed to show over 2800% growth in value, stealing the show from its crypto peers. It’s also known for its consistency, that it’s a programming tool as well as a crypto platform and that it was founded by a 19-year-old teenager in 2013.
Tether – USDT
Although Tether is a cryptocurrency, it is very different from Bitcoin or the other cryptocurrencies we’ve mentioned so far. It is known as a stable coin and is tied to the US dollar.
Its aim is to maintain a stable value, unlike other cryptocurrencies that tend to be extremely volatile and are usually equivalent to around $1. It is popular among crypto players and traders that buy Tether as an alternative to fiat currencies because it still provides them with a safety net when the crypto market is volatile.
Dogecoin – DOGE
Last but not least is Dogecoin. Elon Musk, aka the Dogefather’s obvious favorite cryptocurrency, is also now widely accepted by crypto casinos.
It’s called the friendly and fun internet currency by its creators and was created in 2013 as a joke. At the time, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer decided to create a payment system, making fun of the proliferation of dubious crypto coins. Well, nobody is laughing now as this coin has gained somewhat of a celebrity status in the crypto sphere and has seen a steady rise in recent years.
Licencing and Legality of Crypto Casinos
The time has come to address the big elephant in the room, is crypto gambling legal?
It is a topic that sometimes has more questions than answers and also a matter that sees rapid change constantly and because Bitcoin is hung in so many countries globally, there is no clear-cut answer to this question.
Although it is a grey area, there are however some key points that are worth understanding:
Because Bitcoin is not regulated by law, it is neither prohibited nor allowed but this is fast changing thanks to more and more countries discussing the regulation of blockchain services and cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Although many countries are adopting a positive approach to Bitcoin, most governments still don’t accept it as a real currency, and in countries where gambling as a whole, is strictly forbidden, authorities may take strong measures against companies or gamblers that use cryptocurrencies to make wagers at online casinos.
The good news is that there are however a few international gambling jurisdictions, like Curacao, for example, that issue licenses to crypto casinos and by doing this accept the responsibility of regulating gambling websites.
So, if a crypto casino is following the rules and regulations of the jurisdiction, it operates within a legal framework. You just need to find out if gambling, in general, is legal in the country you reside in.
FAQ
Is crypto gambling a big deal, money-wise?
Yes, absolutely. In 2020 the crypto gaming industry had market revenue of $321 million and it’s growing at a steady pace year after year.
Which Bitcoin casino is the best?
Tough question. Different players have different answers so it depends on what the requirements of the punter are. If you are into slots, look for a casino that offers a good selection and if you’re into table games, aim for a crypto casino that has all your favorite table games on hand.
Do crypto casinos really have licenses?
Yes, crypto casinos are most noticeably licensed by Curaçao. The first blockchain-based casino operator got this license back in 2018.
Who’s the fairest, crypto or fiat casinos?
They’re exactly the same, but crypto casinos have provably fair games that allow you to check the outcome of the game yourself and this is something that fiat casinos don’t have.
Where do I find the best Bitcoin bonuses?
On our site! LOL, we’re kidding. When a bonus is good it is because of many factors. The details are covered on this page but in short, you need to look out for wagering requirements, withdrawal restrictions, the total value of the bonus, and how much time you have to play through it.
Which crypto game has the lowest house edge?
Bitcoin Dice. It is usually at around 1-2% but it can even be lower at some casinos.