In January last year, news broke out that Golden Gate and D Las Vegas, two casino establishments along Fremont St. in Las Vegas, had started to accept Bitcoin as payment for hotel services, restaurants, and souvenirs or gifts.
Excluding the casino floor from their list of services to accept the digital currency, the two, however, reportedly were not going to keep the bitcoins but use a payment processor to convert the cryptos into dollars immediately they are received. This essentially means that all their financial record keeping remains in dollars.
Nevertheless, this was big news back then because many Bitcoin enthusiasts saw it as one step towards having the crypto currency accepted on the gaming floor. In fact, other establishments in the strip followed suit, even installing Bitcoin ATMs in their lobby.
But does Bitcoin have a place in the physical casino?
It is interesting to think of a time when you can walk into a casino in Las Vegas or anywhere else in the world armed only with a Bitcoin wallet on your smartphone; no dollar bills, no credit cards.
Bitcoin has had a long relationship with gambling in general
Of course, cryptocurrencies and gambling have been bedfellows for a long time now. In fact, close to 50% of all crypto coin transactions have something to do with Bitcoin gambling.
Wagers in the US, where transmission of money for online gambling purposes is prohibited, have found a convenient mode of cash transfer in Bitcoin. They can gamble on casinos operating from far corners of the Earth while assured of their winnings.
It is safe to anticipate that Bitcoin is going to hit the gaming floors of physical casinos in the not so far future. Perhaps, all it will take is one forward-looking casino entrepreneur making an application for a betting authority in one of the cities around the globe.
The technology to implement this kind of gambling is available, going by all the innovations that have been made around cryptocoins. And, of course, there is no short supply of people who will find it both convenient and highly social—the best of two worlds.
How about gambling in physical and online casinos having a single playing ground?
Bitcoin in physical casinos could lead to other possibilities
Bringing Bitcoin to a brick-and-mortar casino may also open doors to having gamblers behind personal computers playing with wagers in Las Vegas casinos. This is a little far-fetched but, nonetheless, possible with a little tweak to regulation and infrastructure.
Bitcoin stands with several benefits that can be transferred to physical casinos.
First, it makes gambling not only faster but also more secure. It also removes the bulkiness that is experienced when using cash and credit cards. Moreover, the use of digital currency in brick-and-mortar casinos a new frontier of hardware and software innovation will be opened. And this, on the other hand, will open new line of businesses.
Indeed, Bitcoin gambling has a place in the physical casino. However, until someone makes that leap forward, we will keep waiting while gambling online or in the physical casino every time an opportunity presents itself.