Last updated on August 4th, 2021 at 09:25 am
As cryptocurrencies become more popular, many players are wondering is bitcoin gambling legal. This is a sensitive question for both operators and crypto players.
The legislation in the area of Bitcoin gambling is very immature, as cryptocurrencies are still a controversial topic. Even though they are becoming a popular method of payment and investment for many people, authorities and governments are still not sure how to deal with them. This leads to a lot of ambiguous decisions and uncertainties in regards to crypto legislation.
Bitcoin and Crypto Casinos
In 2021 there are thousands of casino websites and the competition is bigger than ever. It is hard to become a preferred online casino website if you don’t offer the best services to your players. Apart from gaming experience, interface and so on, the variety of payment options is crucial for a gambling website.
Nowadays, players are looking for fast and secure payments. This is why most of them choose bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to play with. Furthermore, when a casino is working with Bitcoin, the payment processing can be performed internally with no third-party services involved. Bitcoins move directly between the player’s and the casino’s Bitcoin wallets which makes the transaction even safer.
A lot of gamblers own crypto currency wallets and want to be able to use their funds for playing online. But they want to be sure also if bitcoin gambling is legal.
Is Bitcoin gambling legal?
Traditional online casinos working with fiat currencies have defined regulations. These kinds of payments enable tracking and identifying individual players, as well as casino operators. However, this is not the case with bitcoin casinos.
As we said, Bitcoin and crypto overall is a controversial topic. In general, there are no specific laws regulating Bitcoin gambling. This means, that they are neither officially allowed nor prohibited. The attitude of different authorities to Bitcoin is changing quite rapidly. More and more big companies and countries are looking at Bitcoin positively and discussing regulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based services. However, most governments are still not referring to Bitcoin as to real currency. So, if it’s not a real currency, any regulations around traditional (fiat currency) online casinos cannot be applied to Bitcoin gambling websites.
Meanwhile, reputable gambling jurisdictions already issue licenses to casinos accepting Bitcoin (e.g. Curacao and the United Kingdom). This means, that they accept the responsibility of controlling the operation of cryptocurrency websites. As long as the online casino is following the rules and regulations of the jurisdiction, it operates legally.
