The previous article on “Blockchain: The Future of iGaming Revolution?” mentions that blockchain technology is likely to revolutionize iGaming industry. Whether or not will it revolutionize the iGaming industry, it is inevitably true that blockchain technology is already making huge impacts on various stakeholders.
Through this article, Omni Gaming will reveal the impacts of what blockchain technology contributes and how it benefits the players, and impact the iGaming industry
Psychological Risk Reduced
1) Fairness
One of the main concerns for players about online gambling is fairness. When players lose they often question the fairness of the game, they will have all sorts of accusations towards the game, they will never consider it to be their own fate of luck.
However, iGaming through blockchain changes the perception of fairness for players completely. Simply because program codes are required to be shown, so it’s more reassuring for players. In addition to that, historical betting records of all players are also listed out. So players can view previous betting records and analyze before they invest, enhancing player’s trust towards the game leaving no room for fraud.
2) Safety
There are certain steps required to iGaming websites before players can begin to bet, steps such as: opening an account, recharge, transfer, betting, and withdrawing cash. During these process, there are many security risks that could encounter. For example, when a player opens an account, it creates the risk of their data privacy being exposed. And safety is the major concerns for players especially when it comes to money.
Once when player’s real currency is recharged on to their iGaming website account, there is no guarantee of full access, if the website shuts down players will no longer have the ability to trace their money. Even if the website doesn’t shut down, there are still plenty of restrictions and making the withdrawal of players’ money very difficult. For example, some iGaming websites have wagering requirements, which forces all accounts to bet before they can cash out their money from their account. But such problems no longer exists in blockchain iGaming. Players can directly place their bets through cryptocurrencies, omitting the process of creating accounts, recharging, withdrawing, and etc. It directly eliminates the risk of exposing financial or personal information of players. The result leading to a more direct transaction, when a player wins a prize, the player can directly receive their win, the process of withdrawal process will no longer be needed.
Affected Behavioral Variables
1) Monetary Psychological Value
An article we’ve mentioned in “20 Years of Prophecy: iGaming”, that electronic money, debit cards, tokens, and etc, will disguise the actual value of money and reduce to a psychological value towards currency, so a person will neglect the value of currency while spending.
Although cryptocurrency in blockchain is essentially close to the real currency, the fact that it only exits in the characteristics of network, allowing it to retain its influence of monetary psychological value. Therefore even when gamblers aren’t betting through iGaming platform sites, any transfer of money for gambling through blockchain could still influence the gamblers in having low psychological value towards their currency splurge.
2) Elastic Currency
In UK idle accounts in iGaming industry have an average balance of £15. Through Zelizer’s “Social Meaning of Money Theory” explains that all currencies are treated differently based on the connotation of its use. For example, the balance of an account on iGaming platform sites are often considered as a currency that is only used for gambling, it should not be used for other purposes, so as long as the balance is sufficient, players will be happy to re-enter their gambling activities (re-bet). However, if players enthusiasm towards gambling lessens, the balance of the account will most likely become an idle account. And this is somewhat considered as betting still, whether or not if the player has any intention to continue, the money will remain intact.
When players use cryptocurrency for iGaming platform sites, there will no longer be a demand to recharge, and naturally, there won’t be any act of withdrawing cash. The currency becomes flexible, and be used on other activities besides gambling, so the perception of an account currency just for “gambling” will be reduced, which will scale down player’s tendency of excessive gambling.
Summary
Overall, when blockchain technology is applied to iGaming industry, the impact towards players are mostly positive. Improvements towards building fairness and security for players, and effectively alleviate the psychological risk of players and help players increase their willingness to invest.
The account balance on iGaming platform sites and cryptocurrency are all virtual currencies, so player’s psychological awareness of currency value is low which encourages players to bet more; however, due to the flexibility of cryptocurrency, it will lessen player’s willingness to excessive gambling.
References Sally M. Gainsbury &Alex Blaszczynski (2017), How Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Technology Could Revolutionize Online Gambling, Gaming Law ReviewVol. 21, No. 7 图片取材自 Supply Chain 24/7
