Bitcoin Casinos Market in UK

[santomarco]

Hello,

I make a related study about Bitcoin Casinos Market in UK. I would like to know if it is a growing market in UK, and what they think members about this.

From what I've seen this market is not important enough in the UK so far...

In the future I would like to create a website about this (bitcoins casinos in UK), and started wanting to do my homework

Waiting for your opinions about this.

[JackTenSuited]

I'm not sure why people would use bitcoins to gamble in the UK? it's a lot more effort to deposit with and with less safety if a casino does a runner with your money.

[Sherlock]

It would be nice to post a link here. Either way the people who write articles about bitcoin betting and the UK are pulling it out of their asses. They usually do not know anything about bitcoin and for sure they do not know anything about betting on regulated and heavily marketed markets namely UK.

UK is the worst of the worsts markets for bitcoin. Even leading btc spostbook: nitrogen, who does not ask customers for any details, asked me to promote them anywhere, but not in the UK. Because they were warned by authorities and UK is country with one of the most developed internet censorship.

UK is a "corporate state", where especially online police and ISP's does the job for the big corporations. Bitcoin bookies are illegal, because the significant ones do not have a licence. Even that would not be a problem, but people in the UK do not have a bitcoins. What they have are accounts at regulated, taxed and protected UK bookies. They have no reason to switch to bitcoin: it is just annoying to have additional layer for them before they bet (to buy btc somewhere, somehow and move it to the bookies). And the nonregulated bitcoin bookies do have neither budget nor access for marketing on UK market.

Simply put everything is against bitcoin betting in the UK. People who do not see this should educate themselves and not touch gambling affiliate or bitcoin, because most likely their perception of reality is way off and it can cost them a lot. The things that are least suitable for bitcoins are: coffee, microtransactions and betting at regulated and working markets. There is a huge difference between betting in the US and in the UK. About the same as between MDMA Extacy pill and Prozac pill.

[Sherlock]

Disclaimer: Like this really pisses me off. 5 years or so there was a group of bitcoiners who had the silly idea that bitcoin will be a payment system fr buying the coffee or giving tips online etc. They were so noisy that they even get a lot of VC and many completely useless startups were build with the intention to use the bitcoins in this way.

Of course they all failed.

And what the people do now? They put a shame on bitcoin. Their enthusiasm evolved into rage. So if you read something negative about bitcoin, it was eiher from someone who never touched bitcoin or from those people, who blame their fails on bitcoin, while the problem is that they never understood what is bitcoin good for (to serve as alternative and costly currency at markets, where law restricts the use of normal money).

Bitcoin and gambling fits well. Only at some markets. There is no way in short or mid term future that bitcoin betting might have success in the UK (although there is maybe a space for affiliate payments in btc from UK bookies). The next wave of enthusiasm can again turn into the rage against bitcoin. There is no need for that.

[baldidiot]

I don't see what the appeal would be for UK punters to use bitcoin. We can pretty much any wallet (inc paypal) or even walk into a bookies and deposit in cash. It's all regulated and legal so not like it needs to be hidden.

Having said that though some UK-licensed bookies have started accepting bitcoin (eg: netbet) so maybe I'm wrong...

[Sherlock]

Sorry, but Netbet who? I mean they are below 5000 UK alexa, so what they do in the UK is insignificant. Almost any other country makes more sense for bitcoin betting.

Apart of UK there are big markets like Turkey, where gambling is banned and moving money is a problem.

Or South America, where people are forced to use Bitcoins if they want to move money abroad or if they do not want lose value of their money (much more than post-brexit GBP).

Or even France would make sense, becaue the market is simply dead by overregulation and overtaxation. Portugal might be the same case.

There is maybe room for bitcoin betting in post-communist countries (Romania, Czech, Poland-not sure) that have quite a big base for online betting, but recently they came with strict regulation. Namely Bet365 is very popular, but will probably withdraw or be blocked by ISPs. The average population is a bit more tech savvy also. Russia too (Russian aimed bookies offer cryptos).

Maybe bitcoin betting might have sense in Switzerland, because there is really a big BTC hype and it is possible to buy Bitcoins on trains.

It might make sense to use bitcoin for betting on Iceland, becaue it is quite btc friendly country with bitcoin mines, Pirate party in parliament and they have capital control laws.

It may be suitable for Africa, where bitcoin starts to provide access to electronic money to unbanked.

But for UK (and other developed Commonwealth countries) is btc a pure nonsense.

[baldidiot]

I'm agreeing with you, I think bitcoin is a non starter in the UK.

My only point was that some are starting to accept it for whatever reason.

[Sherlock]

The reason is the bitcoin hype, where marketing departments who promote name-any-product, think it is cool to add bitcoin as a banking feature. Sometimesss because they hope it will draw attention (Netbet score here). The same companies then after 1, 2 or 3 years quietly withdraw Bitcoin as an option, because they see that just 0-2 customers used that option.

But overall it is just a nonsense that btw. harms the bitcoin. Because then other people, like online affiliates, read that "bitcoin does not work for bookies" and they will refuse to cooperate with bookies that use btc where it makes sense.

The OP of this thread probably read some low quality text about bitcoin, betting and UK. So I think it is not only important to point out how useful bitcoin is, but also how useless it can be. For bitcoin's sake. Bitcoin is not a cure for everything. It is a weapon of mass destruction against state interventions.

[Jackpro]

Some interesting stuff about Bitcoin on here, some mixed views. I think one point here is it could be a good hedge against the pound falling on Brexit. Bitcoin is controlled by the market but it does not have any particular country or financial services regulation. It operates like a free spirit but is dependant on what happens the world over. It could therefore be described as one of the first world currencies. Given that it doubled in value during 2016 it maybe something which might appeal to Brits. Regarding gambling, it can be used as a cloak. The Chinese are already widely beginning to enjoy the benefit of that. Currency controls in India and Venezuela have also helped Bitcoin rise in value. I am not an expert, just been following it with a bit of interest. The continued success of Bitcoin will depend on what happens all over the world. It is very volatile by nature.

[Sherlock]

It is a very good hedge against any currency. GBP has already fallen a lot, so there are probably other currencies that will fall down more. US president just said he wants USD weaker. Currency war intensification is almost a sure thing. Bitcoin as "the hedge of assets" is an excellent synergy to "bitcoin as a speculative investment with high ROI". This is why people who already have some bigger money saved should invest proportionally more than people who saved just small money.

This is also what just few multimillionaires and billionaires understand and this is why the bitcoin is so incredibly cheap. Once they understand that, we will see a real bubble.

[Jackpro]

Hi Sherlock, I agree with what you say, we have to wait and see but the investment potential is huge. The limited supply might well cause a hike too. Maybe a dangerous bubble though, fluctuation rates have been quite dramatic compared to most real currencies. I think many investors will wake up to the potential.

Incidentally, did you know the banks and other organisations have been buying up Bitcoin to pay ransoms to cyber attackers. The attackers will only accept payment in Bitcoin

[Sherlock]

Yes, it is common. I particulary like how they hacked SF trasport system run on 20 years old Windows, so they had to let people travel for free.

New age: it may sound cruel, but anonymous payments bring in a way innovations, because people move from "we should protect ourselves" into "we must protect ourselves". The smarter will be even more rich, the dumber will be even more poor. The inefficient companies will have bigger problems, the efficient will survive.

And owning bitcoin is like to own a stake in this ransomware business - without risk of being prosecuted. It is sweet. I saw a server that was attacked like that - no actual harm happened, because backups were set up. People who complain about hackers should think about their IT habits in the first place.