What’s the Market Share of BTC Casinos in the UK?
Use of bitcoin in online casinos is growing rapidly, and BTC casinos may be slowly taking over the iGaming industry in the UK. To be clear, this hasn’t happened yet, but statistics show that BTC casinos may become just as relevant, if not more relevant, than those that only accept fiat currency.
How many BTC casinos are there in the UK?
Before answering this question, it is important we clarify what we’re trying to establish. There are currently no BTC only casinos regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, which means that there are no licensed BTC only casinos in the UK. However, there are very few regulated BTC only casinos around the world anyway.
In the UK, it is possible to bet through a BTC online casino that is not regulated by the UKGC, probably one that is not even regulated at all. Optionally, more regulated iGaming companies are starting to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. Hence, many companies can offer BTC gambling for the people looking for the best UK online casino, even though such casinos are not strictly BTC only casinos.
Now to answer the question – there are probably a dozen iGaming companies in the UK that are regulated and licensed by the UKGC, which also accept bitcoin. On the other hand, UK residents can sign up and gamble through any iGaming company in the world that accepts bitcoin. You see with bitcoin, there is no restriction to borders, which allows gamblers to participate from wherever in the world.
Use of bitcoin also presents another problem, anonymity. Researchers and gambling regulators are able to tell how much market share a particular company has in the industry based on an analysis of cash flow. With bitcoin, this is nearly impossible to do since bitcoin strips transactions of the users’ identities. As such, it is impossible to tell exactly how much of a market share BTC casinos have in the UK.
However, we can use global trends established through surveys and financial statements to interpolate UK data. An example of how popular BTC casinos are can be seen through SatoshiDice, which only lasted 15 months before being sold for $11.5 million worth of bitcoin in June 2013. Between its inception in April to the end of 2012, the site had more than 2 million clients with a monthly growth rate of 78%. Revenues for the year 2012 reached ฿33,310.
Other similar BTC casinos like bitZino and Seals With Clubs, which were launched in the same year as SatoshiDice also recorded similar growth patterns, although they did not match the latter’s profits. Back then, BTC casinos were unique, but today they are more common, especially now when iGaming companies are accepting bitcoin. This means that there has been an even more robust growth of the market share for BTC casinos worldwide and, subsequently, in the UK.
Why are BTC casinos growing in market share?
Gamblers are always trying to get the best deals possible, and the BTC casinos have a lot more to offer than conventional iGaming companies. Furthermore, gamblers enjoy the anonymity and flexibility offered by bitcoin that makes it a more favourable mode of payment