Since the Bitcoin was launched and starting reaching the first tech crowds, it has been used for gambling. It started out with just a few dice sites, a poker site as well as a few other sort of casino sites, but it gradually grew to a multi-million industry when the Bitcoin increased in value over the course of three years.
What attracted the tech crowd to gamble with the Bitcoin was that it was anonymous, easy, secure and most of all fast. There was no need in having to keep the funds in the site as withdrawals could be paid within a matter of 30-45 minutes, allowing players to always keep their funds somewhere safe.
It took a few years, but gradually the established gambling industry began to see the benefits of the Bitcoin in the gambling market. The anonymity, the fast and cheap transactions, the security of the network and the big market capitalization has made a big impression on many sites, especially those serving customers from the US.
BetOnline.ag has been one of the biggest bookmakers in the US for the past decade, having had to change their business model several times along the years due to new laws, restrictions and so on. A site operating in the US market will always have to pay a premium fee for any company who can help process payments, whether it is a deposit or a withdrawal, given that they can even find anyone to help them.
They offer not only betting on American sports, as well as rest-of-world events, they also offer their customers the chance to play a wide variety of casino games as well as battle other players from around the world in a game of poker.
Now they finally embraced the Bitcoin and all that is good about it and started to offer it to their customers. Not only has it been a success, it has been a massive success, as BetOnline can report that Bitcoin is now their second most used payment method after the traditional credit card and it’s moving closer and closer.
When you make a deposit with Bitcoins to BetOnline, the Bitcoins will be converted into $ at the exchange rate that they provide on the screen. The exchange rate is an average rate taken from several different exchange sites, to provide a fair exchange for the users. The minimum deposit amount in Bitcoins is equivalent to $20, while users can withdraw a maximum of $2,000 per day in Bitcoins.
While deposits are almost instantly credited to your account, withdrawals may take a little longer due to the fact that they need to have time to process it from their end. Usually it will take around 48 hours, which is industry standard for sites who doesn’t only deal in Bitcoins.
BetOnline is far from the first US-facing site to integrate Bitcoins as a payment method, but they are amongst the biggest to do so. It marks an interesting time in the gambling industry, as the Americans has found a cheap, reliable and anonymous way to gamble online without being worried about the banks reporting them, while the sites don’t have to look over their backs to see if the DOJ is watching.
Due to the popularity the Bitcoin is currently experiencing in the US for the gambling industry, it is natural to believe that many will begin using their coins to pay for other things, both online and offline. This could lead to an increase in revenues for the Bitcoin accepting stores and thus attract more companies to accept it. Gambling may be leading the way for more mainstream Bitcoin acceptance and perhaps it can help the value increase over time.
