Crypto Casino: Information about crypto casinos and crypto gambling in the UK

Key Takeaways for Crypto Casinos UK

• Legal Grey Area: Crypto casinos operate in a legal grey area in the UK. Only offshore casinos allow UK players to gamble with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• Advantages: Crypto casinos offer relative anonymity, lower transaction fees, larger bonuses, transparency through blockchain technology and global payment accessibility.
• Disadvantages: Challenges include lack of financial regulation, price volatility of cryptocurrencies, no chargeback options, limited choice compared to traditional online casinos and absence of UKGC licensing.
• Safety Tips: To ensure safety, players should look for licensed casinos, check for SSL/TLS encryption and be cautious of the inherent risks associated with unregulated crypto transactions.
• Types of Crypto Casinos: The article distinguishes between pure crypto casinos, hybrid casinos and Provably Fair casinos. Each of these offers different levels of cryptocurrency integration and gaming experiences.
• Mobile Compatibility: Most crypto casinos are mobile-friendly. This enables players to enjoy their favourite games and manage transactions conveniently on their smartphones.
• Game Variety: Crypto casinos provide a wide range of games. These include slots, table games, sports betting and live dealer games, making crypto casinos comparable to traditional online casinos.

💚 Relative Anonymity at Crypto Casinos

Some crypto casino sites enable you to play without giving any personal information away. And because cryptocurrency blockchains only log transactions (without any information about the source of funds), it's possible to play online casino games without anyone else knowing. That's not the case if you're using a regular bank account or an alternative form of payment.

In this way, many players are able to join online casinos even if such sites are banned in their country. This doesn't apply to players based in the UK, of course, but it's still a nifty feature.

💚 Lower Fees Overall at Crypto Casinos

Transaction fees for converting UK pounds into Ethereum, for example, can rack up hefty fees during peak times. But online casinos love cryptocurrency transactions.

That's because the fees for each transaction from one crypto wallet to another are minimal. This is especially the case compared to something like a credit card transaction. Therefore, crypto gamblers won't get a nasty shock when depositing Bitcoin into their casino account – nor when withdrawing their winnings!

💚 Larger Casino Bonuses at Crypto Casinos

Related to the above, an online casino is incentivised to pass on savings from cryptocurrency transactions to the players. Crypto casino offers come in many forms, as you would expect. Some of the most popular casino promotions are Bitcoin welcome bonuses, a no-deposit bonus on sign-up, unlimited reload bonuses, and free spins each and every week.

You might even be lucky enough to receive something like 100 free spins just for playing casino games regularly. Then there are free bets for sports betting, too. In fact, it's not uncommon to see a Bitcoin casino welcome bonus worth up to several BTC. And if you know anything about how much that equals in regular fiat currencies, you'll know that it's a very large amount of money!

💚 Transparency via Blockchain at Crypto Casinos

We mentioned that the blockchains, which rule over several different coins, don't feature personal information about the sender or receiver. However, another feature of the technology is that transactions are permanent. So, anyone can look up what has been transferred from one wallet to another.

Therefore, if someone disputes a payment, you can show them exactly when and where it happened on the decentralised digital ledger. Also, no one can manipulate the previous records. You can only add to the blockchain. So, no one can change what's happened.

💚 Crypto Casinos and Worldwide Payments

Another important facet of blockchain is that it's available to everyone and their mother, no matter where they live. Sure, some governments have tried to ban cryptocurrencies and/or the mining of coins.

However, with a little computer know-how and a VPN at your disposal, there's nothing to stop you from using crypto to play at an online casino. All you need to ensure is that the online casino in question accepts UK players and you're good to go! Awesome, right?

💔 No Financial Regulation in Crypto

While anonymity and decentralisation are seen by some online casino players as positives, they can also be a downside. Online casinos that use fiat currencies need to funnel money through banks, so governments will know about it if they look into the details.

However, a pure crypto casino does not need to engage with the fiat financial institutions of the world should they choose not to – nor do they need to follow KYC or AML regulations.

This could possibly lead to you being caught up in an exit scam or rug pull. Therefore, it's wise to read plenty of our casino reviews before signing up at a cryptocurrency casino. In this way, you can ensure that it's on the level.

💔 Crypto Casinos and Price Volatility

If you follow the news, you've no doubt seen some rather alarming price fluctuations over the years. Sometimes this is very positive for those holding Bitcoin or any of the altcoins that tend to surge in value along with the most popular form of crypto.

However, if you happen to be holding onto a lot of coins in one form of cryptocurrency or another, a sudden or unexpected crash could lead to you losing a lot of money. So, do keep an eye on those crypto price changes.

💔 No Chargebacks at Crypto Casinos

When using a credit card from a major bank, chances are they have a chargeback mechanism in place. This is a key feature of the fiat currency system. Chargebacks, essentially, enable you to ask your credit card provider to recall funds if you believe you have been scammed by a rogue actor.

However, with Bitcoin transactions, that would be impossible because all transactions are permanent and there is no one to whom you can complain if something goes wrong. Sure, you can speak to the customer support team at your crypto exchange or your crypto casino. However, it's highly unlikely that you will be getting your money back in a similar fashion.

💔 Limited Choice of Crypto Casinos

Yes, there's more than enough choice when it comes to picking a top Bitcoin casino. However, compared to traditional online casinos, the options you have are rather limited. Therefore, you are somewhat constricted and you might not be able to get all of the features you want compared to playing at a regular fiat casino or sports betting site.

Having said that, more and more crypto sites are launching all the time, so this one is a bit of a niggly complaint at best.

💔 No UKGC Licensing at Crypto Sites

This is a big one. The main UK regulator, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, has specifically ruled that online casinos wanting the coveted UKGC license cannot offer deposits or withdrawals in cryptocurrencies.

UKGC licenses are required by any UK online casino, so you will not find a legal crypto casino based in the United Kingdom. As a knock-on effect of this, you will not be enjoying the level of safety and security provided by this world-class regulator.

What Are the Differences Between Crypto Casinos and Hybrid Casinos?

There are several types of online casinos, as you may already know. And all of them vary in how dedicated they are to cryptocurrencies – and some don't allow cryptocurrency payments at all.

For example, some online gambling websites may accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for depositing and withdrawal but then convert these amounts into regular fiat money like the UK pound or the US dollar – and they are otherwise no different to a multitude of more traditional online casino offerings in terms of how you play slots, poker, and live casino games, etc.

Other brands will go the whole hog. They not only provide a gambling site that accepts Bitcoin and all the others, but everything from the initial deposit bonus to the crypto casino games themselves will use nothing but cryptocurrencies.

And then we have Provably Fair Bitcoin casino games that utilise blockchain technology to run the casino games. Here's a breakdown of the many forms you'll find out there in the wild…

Online Bitcoin Casinos

BTC casinos are the most widely used forms of cryptocurrency gambling websites, so you're bound to come across plenty of online Bitcoin casino sites when searching for a new place at which to play.

Another thing you'll notice about these sites is that all welcome bonuses, free spins and other promotions are given in BTC – but there may or may not be Bitcoin games available. To get a better understanding of why this may be, then, we need to explore two more main categories…

Pure Online Crypto Casinos

Then we have the types of gambling sites that not only accept Bitcoin and other versions of cryptocurrencies but also do not deal with fiat currencies in any way, shape or form.

Additionally, the casino offers (along with their wagering requirements) and the games themselves might all be shown in BTC, ETH, or any number of other altcoins.

Therefore, players deposit in their chosen cryptocurrency, play the games and choose their casino offers in the same coin. They will then withdraw any winnings at the end of it all via exactly the same crypto wallet should they choose to do so, or else designate another wallet. Essentially, fiat is completely ignored and users of a crypto site need not engage with real money at all.

Online Hybrid Casinos vs. Crypto Casinos

As you might have already guessed, hybrid casinos are a little bit of everything but they do not offer the full experience of a Bitcoin casino site that is dedicated to that coin alone. Instead, they are more like traditional casinos. But, crucially, they offer the ability to take up deposit bonuses in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

The biggest difference is that they do not offer any dedicated crypto casino games such as Bitcoin slots, Bitcoin poker, or other forms of Bitcoin gambling. Also, while most crypto casinos only show deals in BTC, these sites may well display UK pounds or US dollars as well.

In many ways, then, these sites offer a kind of best of both worlds for those who like to mix and match their money. But purists probably want the full experience offered by crypto casinos.

Provably Fair Online Casinos

For the ultimate crypto gaming experience, you need to take advantage of a growing genre of casino games that take advantage of the foundations of cryptocurrencies. These are called Provably Fair games, and they pretty much do exactly what's written on the tin.

So, as you can imagine, they use blockchain technology that powers crypto to show players exactly how much has been won by other gamers in all of the previous rounds since the title was first launched.

To put it another way, in much the same way as cryptocurrency transactions are shown on the blockchain for all to verify and nothing in the past can be amended, Provably Fair games show everyone exactly what has happened in the past. Because of this, players can verify that the return to player (RTP) percentages are dead on.

We fully expect that these fair gambling games at crypto casinos will get more and more popular over time, although their number is relatively small currently.

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