The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, which resulted in the closure of casinos and brick-and-mortar betting stores, proved to be the tipping point for online gambling. The demand for digitalization provided tremendous opportunities for the growth of this industry. Therefore along with the current situation and the growing interest in cryptocurrencies, the question of how to develop a crypto casino is gaining more and more popularity. In this article, we’ll share with you our experience in crypto development and give you an overview of the steps you need to go through when setting up a crypto casino.
Table of contents:
- Benefits of using blockchain in gambling
- What is an online crypto casino
- Advantages of the online crypto casino
- How to develop a blockchain casino
4.1 Features
4.2 Legal requirements
4.3 Development process - IdeaSoft experience
Benefits of using blockchain in gambling
Global Market Insights Inc.’s report on the online gambling market suggests that the market value of online gambling will continue to grow, exceeding $160 billion by 2026. According to the report, the online gambling market has risen lately thanks to smartphone and IoT adoption, improvements in internet infrastructure, and the introduction of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
However, online casinos still have to face concerns such as money laundering prevention, gambling addiction, and users from countries where gambling is illegal. In addition, they also face regulating, taxation, and complying with local and international laws. However, let’s confess that these problems arise because most online casinos are centralized, and the majority of the issues mentioned above can be eliminated thanks to decentralization.
Let’s take a closer look at the main challenges of online casinos and how blockchain technology addresses them.
Transparency
Many people just don’t trust online casinos, and they believe that the casino system is programmed to eliminate the possibility of winning and stealing their money. Blockchain allows looking through the history of all operations and has crypto-empowered open-source algorithms which ensure that all the random number generator (RNG) fraud or any tricks will not go unnoticed.
Security
The enhanced blockchain security eliminates fraud, ensures secure transactions, and prevents data from being changed or deleted. Thus the history of victories and payments is not only open but also well-protected and immutable.
Payout process
The withdrawal process has always been a challenge for online casino players. Trying to get the money, one could face the necessity to deal with different intermediaries and time delays. Blockchain introduces smart contracts to the gambling industry that perform specific actions (e.g., money transfer) when the required conditions are met. Empowered by blockchain, the process of withdrawing money becomes quick and simple.
Anonymity
Blockchain technology allows keeping your information private so that operators wouldn’t know who is playing via their platforms. Also, it protects your private data from getting to third parties.
What is an online crypto casino?
Before you find out how to develop a crypto casino, you need to know what a crypto casino actually is and how it works. This will help you create all the necessary business environments for casino development.
So, the gambling sites that accept cryptocurrencies fall into three common categories:
- crypto casinos (blackjack, slots, video poker, craps, baccarat, and table games)
- crypto poker (specialized poker rooms for crypto gamblers)
- crypto betting (politics, financial, and sports betting)
In general, a crypto casino is an online blockchain-based gambling platform that offers an opportunity to make deposits and withdrawals in various cryptocurrencies and use traditional payment systems for fiat money transactions. Another distinguishing feature of crypto casinos is the use of smart contracts to block bets while playing games or processing payments. This makes the process automated and reliable.
Advantages of the online crypto casino
The primary advantage of operating a crypto casino is that it attracts many players who appreciate the unique benefits of cryptocurrency. These advantages include but are not necessarily limited to the following:
- Privacy – The client data and payments remain confidential as players can make transactions without being tracked because bank account information is not needed. Some cryptocurrency-only casinos don’t even require players to register to play, further increasing anonymity.
- Low or no transaction fees – Some casinos offer no transaction fees but those that do offer lower fees than those associated with traditional payment methods. The fact is that there are no financial institutions involved, so there is no need to pay higher commissions for making deposits or withdrawing money.
- Low deposits – players can make bets much lower than traditional minimum deposit limits.
- Near-instant payments – You can deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies quickly, with little or no waiting.
- Global access – cryptocurrencies are available worldwide, so players all over the globe who use them can play at any crypto casino at any time of the day or night. And it is possible to convert them into any existing currency.
Crypto casinos also provide legal and tax independence and ensure financial security without the threat of fraud. All these advantages make crypto casinos attractive to users around the world.
How to develop a blockchain casino
Now let’s move on to the question of how to develop a crypto casino. The stages of launching a blockchain casino are not very different from starting a traditional gambling platform. They include:
- Analyzing the market and target audience
- Composing exact project requirements
- Ordering a development and crypto casino software
Software development is the most complicated part of the process, so choosing an experienced software development team is crucial here. Make sure you hire developers who know all specifics of the industry and can implement your idea with the best ratio of price and quality. To do this, check the company’s portfolio, talk to the specialists and find out if they have experience in implementing such projects.
After selecting a development team, the next key point is to choose the features that your blockchain casino will have. The choice of functions for a casino is a separate detailed issue since their number and complexity affect the development process of a crypto casino. In addition, the features selected determine the value of your platform to users, the experience they will get when using it, and hence popularity in the market.
How to develop a crypto casino: Features
We have prepared a list of the most popular and useful features for a successful crypto casino. They include but are not necessarily limited to the following:
- Cryptocurrencies support – Build a financial infrastructure with an integrated cryptocurrency system that allows users to make deposits using Bitcoin and other popular crypto payments.
- Fiat multicurrency acceptance and convenient payment options. Platforms with fiat multicurrency convenient payment options enable users to facilitate transactions without any frets. However, you should keep in mind that usually introducing fiat money into casinos requires registering a casino and obtain a gambling license.
- Anti-fraud system. The anti-fraud system enables you to prevent breaches and keep a platform safe and secure.
- Real-time chats. Real-time chats boost engagements and enable players to interact with each other, exchange ideas, and socialize better.
- Live dealer games. Live dealer games are in high demand as they create a real casino atmosphere and make the casino even more enjoyable for users.
- Random number generator. A random number generator system helps to remove biases and maintain reliability and fairness in the ongoing games.
- Multi-lingual support. Multi-lingual solutions provide ease of access and enable players to access platforms in the languages they prefer and are fluent in.
- KYC system. The KYC (know your customer) system is designed to store comprehensive information about players, thereby ensuring the security of the platform. You can implement KYC if you don’t plan on making anonymity your killer feature.
- Cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. Cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility offer a smooth gaming experience to the players irrespective of the browser or device they are using (desktop, mobile, and tablet).
- Leaderboards and achievement badges. Leaderboards and achievement badges boost player enthusiasm by showing the ranks of the best players and helping players recognize each other by their achievements.
Legal requirements
Legislation in the field of crypto-gambling, like fintech regulation in general, is not very clear and leaves a lot of gray areas. As a result, entrepreneurs are often confused about how to develop a crypto casino, taking into account all the conflicting facts and ambiguous decisions of the authorities regarding cryptocurrency. Desiring to operate business legally, they try to determine if offering gambling services for crypto is legal, whether a blockchain casino needs to be licensed, and players from what countries can be accepted.
Thus far, there are no single, clear-cut answers to the questions above, but here are some key facts on crypto gambling legality that need to be taken into account before planning to open your crypto casino:
- There are no specific laws that mention that offering players the option to wager cryptocurrency requires a gambling license or that this business is illegal. Therefore, it is neither officially allowed nor prohibited.
- Currently, more and more countries are looking at cryptocurrency positively and discussing cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based services. However, there are no specific laws that recognize cryptocurrency as having real money value. Therefore, if crypto is not a “real” currency, any regulations around fiat currency online gambling should not be applied to crypto gambling services.
- All the cryptocurrency transactions are private, and the reason or source of how you get crypto cannot be back-traced.
- Several authoritative gambling jurisdictions already issue licenses to casinos accepting cryptocurrency (namely Curacao and the United Kingdom), which means they are taking charge of controlling the operation of crypto casinos.
All the same, returning to the question, should a crypto casino have a gambling license?
The gambling license is necessary for an iGaming business to apply for a merchant bank account and officially work with electronic payment systems. When the casino website works only with cryptocurrency, all payment processing is performed internally with no third-party services to control the crypto payment infrastructure. Deposits and withdrawals are transferred almost directly between the player’s and the casino’s crypto wallets, so the obligatoriness to present a gambling license to any financial institution is eliminated.
Therefore, if the casino’s work is carried out only with cryptocurrency, usually, a gambling license is not a prerequisite for accepting payments. However, we always advise you to study the regulatory framework of the regions you intend to work with.
On the other hand, many players similarly perceive a crypto casino as any traditional online casino. Thus, players want to feel confident when transferring their funds to an online platform and know that their rights are protected by an independent regulator. In this case, a valid gambling license becomes an important marketing tool that promotes player loyalty and significantly enhances the casino’s reputation.
Development process
In this part, we will consider the step-by-step process of developing an online crypto casino.
Discovery phase
The discovery stage starts with the process of collecting and analyzing information about a project, its intended market, and the audience to find out its needs and requirements better. It allows gaining a well-rounded and in-depth understanding of the project goals and scope of work.
The analytical part is followed by the technical part of the discovery phase, during which our team will answer the question of how to develop a crypto casino from the technical side. Considering the time, budget investments, and analytical part outputs, we will prepare a technical plan, which includes project features, suggested technology stack, architecture overview, suggested team lineup, and budget.
UX/UI design
During the design phase, a design team determines the crypto casino’s look and feel. This process includes visual content like images, logos, photos, graphics, and video, and logic of placing all elements of the user interface. The quality of user experience affects the time and frequency of users using your platform. Experienced designers will help you create inclusive design and a user-friendly interface utterly responsive to the users’ needs.
Development
The development stage is generally the longest as it’s the backbone of the whole process. It’s run by a dedicated project manager who ensures smooth cooperation between a development team and a client. This is where we integrate the information collected during the initial stages, create the product logic and animate the user interface.
The development part includes:
- The back-end and front-end development
- Creating database
- Features implementation
- Game API integrations and customizations
Once the complete architecture and planned functionality of the blockchain solutions are built, the testing stage starts.
Testing and launch
Final testing is done to ensure that the system works as intended and is free of vulnerabilities. For this QA specialists conduct testing of security, compatibility, functionality, usability, and more. The testing phase will allow you to make sure that your crypto casino is ready to launch, performs all the necessary functions, and is secure for users. Since gambling is already associated with certain user concerns, you can afford to release an unreliable system to the market. Therefore, we don’t recommend skipping the testing phase.
IdeaSoft experience
Now even when you know how to develop a crypto casino, we are sure that you still have questions, because each project is unique and requires an individual approach. And we are here to help you.
At IdeaSoft, we offer blockchain development services tailored to the needs of each client. Over the past 5 years, we have successfully completed over 250 projects, including cryptocurrency exchanges, NFT marketplaces, DeFi lending protocols, DeFi wallets, issuance platforms, DeFi aggregators, and more. IdeaSoft is a team of over 140 in-house software development specialists. We provide a full cycle of services for creating a product from business analysis and design to development, testing, and support.
Feel free to check out our portfolio and contact us to discuss your crypto casino project. IdeaSoft specialists will be happy to answer all your questions, select the best technology stack and provide an estimate for your project. Let us bring your ideas to life with advanced technology!
