Online casinos that accept Bitcoin are becoming more popular today. One reason for this could be that online gamblers in the US are having more difficulty finding casinos that will allow them to play for real money. Playing blackjack online for money is only legal for residents in a handful of US states. The same applies to online slots and other table games.
Using Bitcoin to gamble at a casino online might be a better option for players in the US. Even this can be tricky. Counting Edge has composed a little guide which will help you know what to expect when you attempt to deposit or withdraw Bitcoins at an online casino.
Why Use Bitcoin for Online Gambling?
Cash is still king in the world of live casino gaming. There’s nothing quite like the feel of cold hard cash in your hands when you win. But today we live in a digital age which has witnessed the rise of cryptocurrency, or crypto as it is popularly called. Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money that has no physical existence. Bitcoin is the most recognized example.
Digital tokens like Bitcoin were made for online gambling. They afford a small measure of privacy when used properly, and it is becoming easier to trade the coins for fiat currency. Bitcoin can even be traded on exchanges just like stock shares or Forex. Best of all, the use of Bitcoin is unregulated for the most part. That means that someone in the US can sometimes find online casinos which will accept the token. It can be far harder to trace Bitcoin transactions than it can to substantiate transfers of cash.
If you live in the US, you might want to consider creating a Bitcoin wallet and investing in some of the tokens. You’ll likely find some casinos like Miami Club Casino that welcome US players and accept Bitcoin. The rules about wagering with digital money still haven’t been clarified to the fullest in the states, so it’s less likely that you’ll encounter a problem with cryptocurrency.
Another advantage of using Bitcoin for online gambling is that the limits on deposits and withdrawals are fairly comparable to those of other deposit and withdrawal methods. For example, at Miami Club you can deposit as little as the Bitcoin equivalent of $25. You can also withdraw up to $2,500 a week. It is not possible to make withdrawals to a credit or debit card that you use to deposit fiat, so having a Bitcoin wallet lets you deposit and withdraw with the same method.
Here’s something else. Bitcoin may be safer than using actual money. Cryptocurrencies have numerous security protocols enabled which prevent someone from accessing your digital wallet. It’s very hard for someone to steal your personal details when you use Bitcoin.
How to Deposit Bitcoin at an Online Casino
Once you have identified which online casino you would like to play at, it’s time to prepare to make a Bitcoin deposit. Before you do, you’ll need to take the first step of creating a cryptocurrency wallet. A Bitcoin wallet consists of two keys which are referred to as a send address and a receive address. Your public, or receive address, can be shared with anyone so that you can receive a payment in cryptocurrency. Your send address uses private keys that allow you to send tokens to others or to make a deposit at an online casino.
There are several different types of Bitcoin wallets available. Some of them are more secure than others. For someone that is planning on investing in Bitcoin over a long period of time, a hardware wallet which one keeps on their person might be best. For those who just plan on doing a little online gambling, a wallet that is stored in the cloud might be a more practical option.
Cloud wallets are provided by exchanges such as Coinbase, or you can visit Blockchain.info to get a wallet that has been around since the earliest days of Bitcoin. Either way, your Bitcoins will be stored in that wallet until you need them to make a deposit. While these wallets are generally safe, it still pays to remember that they are maintained on the Internet and thus vulnerable to security breaches. Thankfully, this is very rare.
Next, you’re going to need to put some Bitcoin in that wallet. What we recommend is that you only put enough Bitcoins in your wallet to make your gambling deposits. You can reload a wallet at any time, and wallets don’t expire.
Here’s the tricky part. While Bitcoin is very popular today, obtaining Bitcoins has never been the easiest thing to do. You can’t walk into a bank and exchange money for Bitcoin, not yet anyway. Other methods must be used. Here are some that work pretty well.
Ask your friends and family with an interest in cryptocurrency to send you Bitcoin in exchange for cash. You give them fiat currency, and they send you cryptocurrency. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get coins. There are usually no fees when you get Bitcoin from your family or friends.
There are some websites such as LocalBitcoins.com that will also help you find sellers of Bitcoin. There is usually a fee involved with this method, of course, and some people have been scammed when using these services. It’s very hard to guarantee a transaction with someone that you have never met and may never encounter offline.
You could use a cryptocurrency exchange to make your Bitcoin purchase. If you are only planning on gambling with your Bitcoin, we’d advise finding a service that only allows you to buy and sell Bitcoin rather than trade it as an investment. The fees at full-scale trading exchanges are usually much higher than they are at platforms which let you make a quick exchange.
Now you have a wallet and you have some Bitcoin. The final step of the process is to make a deposit at the online casino of your choice. Before you can do that, you’ll need to create an account with the casino. The process requires you to enter in some personal information and an email address, and it takes only a few minutes. If you choose one of our recommended online casinos, you’ll also get a nice welcome bonus when you make your first deposit.
Once your account is created, you will go the online casino and log it. On the main page of most online casinos you will see a tab labeled CASHIER or BANKING. This is the tab you want to click to reach your options for deposit methods. Once there, you will see an option to deposit with Bitcoin. The minimum deposit, if any, will be clearly displayed. Simply click on it the Bitcoin option to proceed.
The online casino also has a wallet for Bitcoin, just like you do. They have their own public and private keys. The casino’s public key, or receive address, will be displayed in a long string of seemingly random text. It may also appear in a QR code that you can scan with your phone if your wallet has an Android or iOS app.
You will enter how much you intend to deposit. You will then go to your cryptocurrency wallet and use the send function to transfer the appropriate amount of Bitcoin to the online casino. You’ll be asked to input the casino’s receive address. Or you can scan the QR code for easy sending. Once you initiate the transfer, the process should be completed in a very short period of time. In some cases, it can happen within minutes. In rare events, it might take 24-48 hours.
That’s pretty much it, but you do need to be aware of a couple of things. First of all, don’t use a cryptocurrency exchange wallet to make your transfers to the online casino. It is entirely possible that the exchange could ban your account if they discover that transfers are being made for the purposes of online gambling.
Second, be sure you understand the difference between Bitcoin and fiat currency before making a deposit. Sending the equivalent of 25.00 in Bitcoin to the casino does not mean that you will have 25 Bitcoin in your account. At the time we shared this article, 1 Bitcoin was valued at just a little over $6,000. In six months that same Bitcoin may be worth $16,000 or $60. The market is volatile and ever changing.
You will generally be provided the current exchange rates for Bitcoin when you initiate your deposit. You can always check the cryptocurrency markets for an exchange rate before you send, and there are also calculators online which can tell you how much a certain amount of money equals in Bitcoin.
How to Withdraw Bitcoin at an Online Casino
Once you have made a couple of deposits with Bitcoin, you will find that the withdrawal process makes more sense. It is basically the same process we described above, in reverse. You are going to have the online casino send winnings to your cryptocurrency wallet.
When logged into your online casino account, you’ll once again navigate to the CASHIER or BANKING tab. Once you have reached the cashier, you will click on WITHDRAW. The casino will ask you how you would like to receive your winnings, and you will select Bitcoin as the option.
You will then be asked to provide your public key, or receive address. This is required so that the Bitcoins sent to you by the casino end up in your Bitcoin wallet. Once you have entered this information and the transaction is initiated by the casino, your Bitcoins will be on the way.
Be aware that it is standard for online casinos to take about 48 hours to process your winnings. It can happen sooner, but don’t count on it. In general, you could expect to receive your Bitcoin winnings in your wallet within 72 hours or it could take as much as a week.
So, are you ready to play online casino games with Bitcoin? If so, check out the casino we recommend for special promotional deals!
Other resources:
- Bitcoin Casino Forecast
- Betting with Bitcoins – Short Guide
- Why Bitcoin Gambling? 5 Reasons
- Bitcoins and Blackjack
- Bitcoins and online casinos
- How To Deposit And Withdraw At An Online Casino Using Bitcoins
- Best Bitcoin Casino Guide (2021)
- Online Gambling with Cryptocurrency