The debate about online gambling is still ongoing in the United States of America. So far, only six of 50 States have taken online gambling into serious consideration. On the other hand, the residents of the remaining states have taken refuge in the emerging crypto casinos. These platforms offer a secure alternative for brick-and-mortar fiat money gambling for people who have no access to gambling sites in their region. However, this rapid growth of crypto casinos has raised concerns among regulators regarding user welfare.
Gamblers, especially young people, prefer crypto casinos as it gives them a secure channel without a centralized entity. Moreover, these transactions are faster and can be sent anywhere around the globe for just a few cents. For example, a Dogecoin gambling site can process your payments in seconds, while a traditional bank would take days, if not weeks, for the same process. On top of it all, promotions and bonuses are huge in crypto casinos as they do not require huge upkeep expenses like traditional casinos.
Despite these advantages, there still are some voices of concern regarding the emergence of crypto casinos. Alex Costello from American Gambling Association believes that the lack of regulation and licenses in crypto casinos gives “punters” a way to go against the laws, making them mere suggestions. That is not all, as he believes that crypto casinos will make regulation much harder than before, and the lack of supervision and regulation will put the users of these platforms in harm’s way.
Crypto casinos do not require much background information to place the bets. As many casinos only require an email ID, it becomes even harder for people called “problem gamblers” to come out of this addiction. According to Costello, even with self-exclusion options in place, users can get right back in with a new email address at these casinos. There are verification guidelines in several casinos for US residents. However, these steps are jeopardized by using what is known as a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The regulators believe that the recent developments seem to undermine laws and regulations through technology. More importantly, it can provide fraudsters and punters a way to bypass the law, in their opinion.
Nevertheless, John Holden, an assistant professor in gambling regulation at Oklahoma State University, stated that crypto gambling has no overt connections with the criminal networks, as we are led to believe. Communities drive these communities on a public network, and thousands of people monitor every transaction every minute. According to Holden, even the governments have been sluggish as this new field has not yet posted any threats to them. However, the crypto projects are still a work-in-progress and moving towards developing cryptographic technologies to keep the environment safe and threat-free for the users.
