Bitcoin Online Casinos

Since Q4 2017 cryptocurrencies have been continuously hitting the financial headlines with Bitcoin, in particular, being the main focal point for media outlets simply because it was the very first crypto and has the highest market cap compared to all other virtual currencies.

It is fair to say that the media publicity has worked in Bitcoin’s favour as its 24h trading volumes have skyrocketed from 1.5 million in 2017 to an average of 15-20 billion in Q4 2019.

What is Bitcoin?

The acronym for Bitcoin is BTC was created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto who wanted to create a decentralized electronic payment system based on mathematical proof and can use a verifiable payment system with immutable records.

Although BTC is Bitcoin, you may have also seen Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). These are hard forks of BTC. All these cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology. Blockchain ecosystems are a growing list of records in which each record creates blocks using a process called cryptography.

All these blocks are stored on nodes across the internet controlled by a central ledger. Bitcoin’s ledger can very quickly call upon these fragments and piece them together to process and record transactions. By using this setup, if one node goes down it doesn’t matter because the same information can be retrieved from another node, so the system is fault resilient too.

This process is known as peer-to-peer networking and the only way BTC could go down is if the entire internet crashed. Most importantly no one single entity owns or controls Bitcoin – this is the opposite of fiat currencies such as the ZAR which is owned by Reserve Bank of South Africa.

Ito cut a long story short, BTC is perfect for monetary transactions. With no banks in the middle of a BTC transaction, when you deposit or withdraw to a casino the transaction will be instant.

Advantages over other casino payment methods

BTC has several key advantages over other casino payment methods. Here is a list of the main benefits of using BTC as payment for online casino gaming.

• Instant deposits and withdrawals
• Payments are anonymous and untraceable
• Low transaction fees especially for withdrawals
• BTC bonus offers are often higher than fiat ones
• No need to store any financial information on casino servers
• Bitcoin games often have a better RTP
• Games that use BTC use a provably fair system
• Types of Bitcoin Casinos

There are generally only two types of BTC casinos. These are known as hybrid or exclusive for obvious reasons. Although hybrid casinos can be split further into Bitcoin and Bitcoin-Friendly casinos. We have outlined a list of each of the different types of casinos you will come across accepting BTC.

Bitcoin-only casinos

Bitcoin-only casinos are self-explanatory. These are online casinos that accept Bitcoin deposits only and all the games found on the casino use BTC for bets. Now you might be thinking that this sounds expensive because one BTC is worth a fair amount of cash, but in fact, you play the games using mBTC. Check out the FAQ below for more information on mBTC.

• Only accept Bitcoin as payment
• All games allow you to bet in BTC

Cryptocurrency Casinos

Cryptocurrency casinos are casinos that accept multiple virtual currencies. The most commonly accepted cryptos are Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), DASH and DOGE – although this list is fast expanding with some casinos accepting Monero (XMR), Ripple’s XRP, Tron (TRX), Zcash (ZEC) as well as stable coins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).

Some of these casinos will also have games that can be played using multiple cryptos depending on the crypto balance you hold. Check out our online casino reviews to see which casinos accept these cryptocurrencies.

• Accept multiple cryptocurrencies
• Games can be played using cryptos

Bitcoin-Fiat Currency Casinos

Bitcoin-fiat casinos accept both fiat currencies such as ZAR, EUR, or USD as well as BTC for deposits and withdrawals. The best online casino will also have online slots and table games that can be played using either BTC or fiat currency.

• Accept both fiat currency and BTC
• Games can be wagered using fiat currency or BTC

Bitcoin-Friendly Casinos

Bitcoin-friendly casinos can be ‘Bitcoin-Fiat’ currency casinos. On the other hand, there are also casinos that accept Bitcoin as a payment method, but you will need to convert your BTC into a fiat currency because the casino’s gaming technology is not equipped to allow you to play slots or table games using BTC.

• Accept BTC as payments converted to fiat currency
• Games are played using fiat currency only

Bitcoin Casinos South Africa – FAQ

Is Bitcoin Legal in South Africa?

Yes. There is a misconception about Bitcoin South Africa because the Reserve Bank of South Africa stated that cryptocurrencies have no legal status. However, that does not mean it is illegal. To set the record straight, what this means is that the South African government has no regulatory framework to govern Bitcoin as legal tender and therefore it is seen as an intangible asset. As a SA citizen, you can buy Bitcoin. Due to the fact that Bitcoin falls outside of the definition of legal tender, you are not protected by the government if you are defrauded using Bitcoin transactions.

Can I play games using Bitcoin?

Yes. However, you will need to find a casino that offers Bitcoin slots and table games specifically. Some casinos accept Bitcoin as a payment and withdrawal method, but as soon as you make your deposit, it will be changed into fiat currency like ZAR, EUR, or USD. However, there are casinos out there that allow you to keep a Bitcoin balance and play games using Bitcoin.

What is mBTC? And What does the ‘m’ stand for?

You may see casino welcome bonuses or payment options that mention that the casino accepts mBTC. As Bitcoin’s are worth thousands od Rand, it does not make sense to bet on Blackjack using 1 BTC because this could cost you in excess of 100,000 ZAR. Therefore, casinos use the ‘m’ to describe a ‘millibitcoin’ which is one-thousandth of a bitcoin. This is basically 0.001 BTC – around 100 ZAR.

What is provably fair gambling?

This is a system that will allow you to check if the results of a game you placed a bet on were fair. This reduces any margins for error and the results are stored as an immutable record on a blockchain ecosystem. This means the results cannot be faked. The player is auto-assigned a seed, the server then creates its own seed, and both are combined. On top of this, a constantly changing number is added to this equation.

This creates what is called a totally random hash which created the outcome of the transaction before the action commences. The player then clicks to go through the motions to finally end up at that predetermined result. For the very next bet, the process is repeated creating another totally random result.

Will my Bitcoins be worth the same when I cash out?

No. When you use Bitcoins at a casino, the casino does not guarantee your buy-in price. The prices of your Bitcoin is entirely down to the cryptocurrency market and its daily price fluctuations and is out of the control of the casino.