Casino operators and cryptocurrency enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Blockchain tech allows websites to provide a provably fair experience, while the casino industry’s trust in Bitcoin and its rivals has engendered crypto to a wide audience. 

This partnership isn’t accidental. Flexibility is critical to a casino’s online success, especially if it accepts players from one or more states or countries. Sticking to traditional plastic even as people start paying with their phones might be viewed as odd.

Lots of people pay with a swipe of their watch, after all. 

“Year of Limitations”

The CasinoStake website claims that “crypto reigns supreme” in the casino industry, noting in its Fortune Tiger slot review that transactions are encrypted and discreet. Lower fees and a choice of coins make crypto one of the more useful inventions of the new millennium.

Still, it’s not without its problems. Forbes described 2023 as the “year of limitations” for crypto gaming, as developers realised that they could no longer survive on the sheer force of novelty. This statement referred specifically to non-casino gaming but many of the same issues lurk for gambling pages, too. 

Source: Pexels

Let’s define the non-gambling arm of crypto gaming, first. In the case of CryptoKitties, one of the first popular blockchain titles, players essentially occupy an online marketplace where they can collect and breed virtual cats. They can also trade them for the digital token Ethereum.

Of course, blockchain-based gambling is mostly the same as the conventional hobby, albeit with Bitcoin instead of dollars and pounds.

As for its problems, crypto gaming (of all kinds) has long struggled beneath the weight of its jargon, which ultimately degrades the customer experience. It’s easy to demonstrate this problem in a single statistic from Game Analytics, namely, that a good tutorial improves player retention levels by 50%. 

Jargon-wise, casino operators on the blockchain arguably have an easier time than video games doing the same because there’s no need to explain things like NFTs and play-to-earn models. Casual players and newcomers to cryptocurrency often need some guidance.

CryptoKitties

Crypto video gaming began 2023 on a low and seems to have exited in much the same position. Game7, quoted by the Decrypt website, seemed to have found an industry in managed decline, with 157 blockchain games scrapped in 2022 followed by 43 last year.

Source: Pexels

The IEEE Spectrum website outlined CryptoKitties' “spectacular collapse” in 2022.

In this case, the cause of the 2022/23 collapse appears to have been a lack of funding (many are “indie” projects). Game7 reports that just 5% of crypto games are AA-standard, which places them a little behind the scale and quality of mainstream titles like Assassin’s Creed or Bethesda’s Starfield.

Overall, the gambling and non-gambling crypto industries have experienced different fortunes to date, although, as mentioned, the complexity of CryptoKitties, Axie Infinity, etc. does place the genre in an awkward position when it comes to appealing to a mass market. 

Money is still flowing into the latter area, to the tune of $2.3bn in 2022/23, so crypto gaming may just be in the awkward phase of its long life ahead. It's going to need those casual players, though. 

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