How do sports betting operators combine the high-tech results of cryptocurrency exchange systems with new visual online sports betting environments?
Very carefully. But seriously, let’s talk about online sports betting and how it has evolved, with decentralized finance, frictionless transactions and other innovations playing a key role.
Sports Betting 101
What is sports betting?
Lots of us learn about it from the office pool where we predict who’s going to win the Super Bowl.
Beyond that, you have all sorts of specialty betting on an array of diverse sports, from the moneyline bets, to the over/under (O/U) where you simply predict whether a score will be higher or lower than a bookie’s average, and the parlay bet where you can strut your stuff as an expert.
Sports betting is in some ways old as the hills, but it has struggled with lots of legal restrictions. For instance, right now in the United States, only 10 states allow sports betting, and these four allow it online:
- Pennsylvania
- Michigan
- West Virginia
- New Jersey
So that’s something to think about as you make your way toward the digital sports betting table.
Crypto for Sports Betting
Why is cryptocurrency an excellent choice for building online sports betting casino venues?
It’s really a key innovation in a number of ways. The blockchain as a whole is an excellent way to facilitate inherently verified online transactions.
As an immutable ledger, blockchain processes have full transparency and consensus-based verification. Then people built on top of that with all sorts of coins and tokens that have a fungible value and various functions like smart contract handling. That’s one reason why Ethereum is such a common choice for sports betting and other kinds of online gambling. It accommodates the smart contract functionality that enhances what digital markers can do.
Cryptocurrency is a big presence in online gambling, but it can only be applied to sports betting in specific ways, as we’ll soon see.
Best Sites and Venues for Crypto Sports Betting
First of all, it’s important to understand that big venues like DraftKings have not yet brought crypto into the fold as a way to make sports betting transactions.
What’s the reason for this?
You can see in recent online conversations with head honchos at DraftKings (and beyond) that it has to do with regulation.
While it might be easy to create an online system that makes transactions with crypto tokens and coins, it’s not as easy to make that online system compliant with SEC and other agency requirements, especially as new SEC head Gary Gensler talks about all sorts of coins and tokens as “unregistered securities.”
That might have something with the slow-walking of crypto into major sports betting venues. However, you do have innovative platforms like FortuneJack where crypto sports betting is combined with provably fair gaming algorithms, all in a compliant environment. E-wallets and multifactor authentication keep player data and resources secure, and KYC/AML rules enforce compliance with relevant law.
So the bottom line is that you can practice transparent crypto sports betting on these types of venues without participating in risky or loosely regulated financial activities. Take a look at some of the modern venues allowing crypto bets, because this benefits players greatly!