There is something afoot in the Australian horse racing industry. As the racing season in that country hits its peak, there is a tremendous amount of concern over people gambling on races using bitcoin rather than a fiat currency.
This may not sound like a big deal to people who routinely deposit bitcoin in order to play their favorite casinos such as Miami Club offering a AU$10 Free Casino Chip without deposit to trial the casino.
The dilemma they face Down Under is a perfect illustration of why bitcoin gambling is so alluring to so many people. To quote Australia's ABC news, "Melbourne Cup punters are betting with bitcoin, and there's nothing anyone can do about it."
At the heart of the problem is the fact that horse racing in Australia is suddenly drawing a lot of attention from non-Australians. People from all over the world are now betting on their legendary horse races via gambling sites located in various countries.
Gambling in Australia
Australians who appreciate a good game of blackjack or a well-designed slot game have their opportunities to gamble domestically. But gambling in Australia is highly regulated. The most difficult things to gamble on are live sporting events. Everything is tightly controlled in an effort to prevent fixing.
An example of what has regulators so concerned are offshore websites offering just about any kind of bet imaginable on Australian rugby matches. Gamblers are not limited just to picking winners and losers. They can bet on the final score, the score for each team, and so on. They can even place bets during a live match on outcomes as elementary as who will score the next goal.
This sort of live match gambling is not allowed domestically in Australia. So in order to place those kinds of bets, gamblers have to go to offshore sites. Many of the offshore sites welcome bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And that is what bothers Australian officials.
Bitcoin gambling is sort of anonymous
Australian regulators are quick to point out that, while they do a very good job regulating domestic gambling, they have no control over what happens outside their own borders. They are powerless to stop offshore websites from offering bets on their live sporting events. Making matters worse is the fact that gamblers who choose to do so using cryptocurrency are essentially anonymous.
There could be untold numbers of Australians betting on live sports using offshore gambling sites and bitcoin. There is virtually no way for gaming regulators to find out who's betting, how much they are betting, and what they are betting on. They know it is happening, but that's about all they know.
For right or wrong, this is one of the most attractive things about bitcoin gambling. There are a certain group of gamblers who, for whatever reason, want to maintain anonymity in everything they do. Bitcoin offers them what they are looking for.
The anonymity of bitcoin gambling could be either good or bad depending on how you look at it. Let's consider the perspectives of both gamblers and government regulators.
Bitcoin gamblers
A gambler looking to place a few bets online wants to do so without having to worry about personal information being revealed. So he purchases some bitcoin at his favorite exchange. He then uses that bitcoin to make a deposit at his favorite casino, whereupon he places his bets as normal. The casino does not care who he is, where he lives, or anything else about him. They only care that he is playing their games.
The gambler is thrilled because he can deposit and withdraw without having to provide the casino with his bank account information. He doesn't have to furnish a credit card number either. In fact, he provides little more than an e-mail address. Bitcoin flows directly from his wallet into the casino's wallet with nothing in between. It is simple, secure, and discrete.
Why would an online gambler want such discretion? There are as many reasons as there are gamblers doing it, but that is not the point. The point is that anonymity is a draw for gamblers.
Gambling regulators
Regulators are not as impressed with bitcoin's anonymity as players. In fact, they are downright unhappy about it. One of the tools regulators use to control gambling is the ability to follow the paper trail. They use that ability to collect tax. Unfortunately for them, there is no paper trail to follow in the bitcoin gambling arena.
Because cryptocurrencies are decentralized, there are no banks involved. Regulators cannot check bank records in an attempt to discover who's gambling. Furthermore, all transactions are encrypted and tokenized in the blockchain. That means regulators cannot even tell who is sending and receiving bitcoin. They can track neither players nor online casinos.
If they cannot keep track of gambling transactions, it is a lot more difficult for regulators to control the online gambling environment. This concerns them greatly. Should they be concerned? We are not the ones to say.
A whole new world of gambling
There are other things to consider beyond bitcoin anonymity and more difficult enforcement. At the top the list is the reality that bitcoin gambling has opened up a whole new world of options. The kinds of sports bets that concern Australian regulators were not nearly as widespread prior to the introduction of bitcoin gambling.
Yes, there were small pockets of sports gaming here and there, but not on the scale we now see emerging. Sports betting is so tightly regulated that online casinos have stayed away from it as much as possible. Now that is changing.
As previously mentioned, gamblers hoping to place bets on Australian rugby games can bet on just about every detail of a single match. Better yet, they are not limited to rugby. There are some sports gambling sites out there that cover just about every professional sport you can think of. Everything from tennis to curling is in play.
As you might expect, most of the action is on the big-name sports: American football, football (soccer), rugby, cricket, tennis, and golf. Sports betting websites track all the major leagues and sporting associations to give gamblers as many betting options as possible. And of course, there is something to bet on 24 hours a day.
Gambling on casino games
Bitcoin gambling has even helped to expand the influence of online casino games. As recent as five or six years ago, the total number of online casinos offering video slots and table games was comparatively small. They all relied on fiat currency deposited and withdrawn using traditional banking methods.
Today, what used to be a small number of online casinos has exploded exponentially. There are now so many online casinos to choose from that it is literally impossible to keep track of them all. And every time you turn around, it seems like another one is opening. A lot of that expansion is a direct result of Bitcoin gambling.
The anonymity and security of bitcoin gambling has created an open invitation to gambling site owners looking to get in on the action. They register their gambling sites in jurisdictions all over the world, seeking out licenses and certifications to prove they are legitimate operations. But because they are online operators, they have access to global players.
The end result of this global reach can be encapsulated in a single phrase: universal access. Even if you cannot legally gamble where you live, you can still do so online by visiting an offshore website and using cryptocurrency to fund your bankroll.
You can play games and bet to your hearts' content. The only things you need to gamble online are an internet connection, a device capable of connecting, and some crypto, and perhaps just to be sure, a good VPN solution, which was talked about on MegaMoolah.com.
Regulations are probably coming
Australian regulators are genuinely concerned about the proliferation of bitcoin gambling. They are concerned about illegal activity, like fixing and fraud, as a result of people being able to gamble anonymously. The question is whether they intend to do anything or not.
As things currently stand, regulators the world over are largely powerless to stop bitcoin gambling. But that doesn't mean they will be powerless forever. We are just beginning to see the early stages of regulatory efforts that seek to bring cryptocurrencies more in line with their fiat counterparts.
The unfortunate reality is that regulations are probably coming. How effective such regulations will be at curtailing fraud and crime no one knows for sure. But that is the goal. We can only hope regulators will maintain caution and a circumspect point of view so that, in the process of trying to control the people and how they use their hard-earned cash, they don't destroy all the benefits of bitcoin gambling.
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