The Not-so-Cryptic Impacts Cryptocurrencies Will Have on the Online Gambling Industry
Is there anything as mysterious as a cryptocurrency? As the name suggests, there’s nothing transparent about the new payment method, which is the main reason it’s becoming a reliable part of society. Back in 2016, Bitcoin’s share value hit £20,000, and people thought it was a bubble. In 2020, four years later, it’s fallen to £10,000 per coin, but that’s not a bad day’s work considering all you did to mine it was tweak your computer settings!
So, it should be no surprise that the likes of Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP are making their way into the online gambling industry, otherwise known as iGaming. PewDiePie only recently promoted a crypto-related game to his reported 100-million-strong YouTube following where users collect cryptos in the real world. With this inevitable development, it’s worth considering what the industry will look like in the future as non-traditional payment methods get more popular.
Here are the features you should expect to be commonplace in the next couple of years.
Crypto Payments Will Come as Standard
The Gamer highlights how microtransactions already play a significant role in the gaming culture. Currently, around 90% of massively multiplayer online gamers pay for purchases in-game. https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/06/superdata-millennials-spend-average-of-112-a-month-on-gaming-content/ estimates that millennials spend as much as £100 every month on gaming content.
At the moment, traditional payment transactions dominate the landscape due to the fact that cryptocurrencies aren’t as accessible across the board. However, the tide is changing – BitPay has announced blockchain-based videogaming contracts recently, while PayPal has recently made strides to allowing its customers to accept and spend Bitcoin from within their service. As https://www.onlinecasinos.co.uk/blog/e-wallets-paypal-casinos.htm shows, PayPal has over 260 million active users, 25% of which are linked to gaming accounts. Paypal itself is widely used within the iGaming industry, to the extent that sites such as this support and provide guidance to customers who take into consideration their payment methods.
For companies where online transactions are essential, such as iGaming developers and online casinos, it’s a billion-dollar cash injection that can’t be ignored.
Games Will Focus on Currencies
The reality-based game recently advertised by PewDiePie isn’t the first of its kind. It may be a game-changer in the sense that it uses virtual-reality technology to enhance the player experience, but crypto-centric games are more popular than you think. For example, a popular Bitcoin RPG encourages users to battle each other to collect trophies, medals, and orbs. Unlike most games, it’s based on Blockchain technology, which means that players can keep the assets they collect and exchange them outside of the game.
However, the trend won’t stop at gamers collecting non-traditional currencies. With so many people spending money regardless of whether the game is free or charges a fee – Finextra says Fortnite’s creators make £250 million-plus per month from in-play spending – the developers and hosts will want a piece of the pie. https://medium.com/swlh/top-3-cryptocurrencies-in-gaming-industry-to-buy-for-2020-21c0df190356 points out how iGaming already has new currencies, from Theta Tokens to Enjin Coins, and that these are potentially lucrative avenues for the industry. The same article reports that gaming cryptos could generate £140 billion in revenues by 2021.
Compared to the film and music sectors, which are set to record revenues in the tens of billions, it’s easy to see why game creators will concentrate their efforts on cryptocurrencies in the long-term.
Fees Will Disappear
In 2018, Telemedia Online highlights that free-to-play gaming revenues hit £62 billion, made up of strong performances from the mobile (£44bn) and PC and console (£18bn) markets. While the business model for free-to-play games revolves around a variety of features, including sponsorship led by an influx of users who find them more accessible, cryptocurrencies are at the heart of the shift. This is because non-traditional payment methods cut costs for all parties involved. For the player, their earnings are paid directly into their account with no intermediary’s expenses, letting them keep all of their money. On the other hand, creators can demand higher pay-outs as they can advertise bigger profits since there is no reason to worry about users’ splits declining.
Of course, mobile and online casino games prove this model is incredibly lucrative because both are valued at £1.2 billion and £3.2 billion, respectively, according to http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/Statistics-and-research. Even with such high gross gambling yields, they are beginning to utilise cryptocurrencies to boost their profits, which goes to show how free-to-play platforms and modern payment methods go hand-in-hand.
You should never say never, not in an unpredictable market such as gaming. Still, the facts don’t lie, and they say cryptocurrencies are going to take the sector to another level. Watch this space.
