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Yahoo Finance reporter Daniel Roberts writes that a decentralized platform for online gambling operators run on the Ethereum blockchain is seeking to eliminate the typical middleman between a game-maker or betting operator and the player or bettor.
BetOnline now offers Litecoin transactions
From Yahoo Finance:
DAO.Casino says it can solve common headaches of online gambling that afflict both game developers and game players, such as: fraud risk; hidden fees; high cost of entry for game developers; operational overhead; player access to funds; player withdrawal delays; and general lack of trust.
Roberts notes that the price of Bitcoin rival cryptocurrency, Ether, has risen an eye-popping 174% in the past month alone. Bitcoin is up 200% this year.
Ethereum, unlike Bitcoin, runs on its own blockchain specifically designed for smart contracts. These contracts are coded and live within a permanent address on the Ethereum chain.
In other words, “smart contracts” is a fancy way of saying “computer programs”, Roberts suggests.
He also points out that there appears to be more excitement right now around the uses of Ethereum when compared to Bitcoin, being that it was created specifically for smart contracts, as opposed to the currency.
As of January, nearly 25% of all smart contracts on Ethereum were game-related.
The use of a decentralized network can add transparency and, thus, enhance the trust factor when gambling online.
The Yahoo Finance piece looks at how DAO.Casino (not an actual casino itself) could solve a common problem of using Ethereum.
DAO.Casino is an open protocol for online gambling companies (like an online casino, blackjack game operator, or sports betting site) to build on. (DAO.Casino will also build its own branded games.) It isn’t aimed at the end user—if an online betting site were to use it, the bettor wouldn’t have to know or see that they’re using a system built on Ethereum. (I could even develop my own gambling site on top of DAO.Casino’s protocol and pay out users in BET tokens, but rename them Dancoins.) The company’s hope is that online betting sites will integrate with its network to offer games without the casino, a middleman that takes a big cut and may not always be trustworthy.
DAO.Casino CEO Ilya Tarutov explained to Coin Telegraph: “Game outcomes are determined by equally unpredictable pseudorandom values, and anyone can audit this. Once the game software is audited and deployed, no one can fiddle with it and change it.”
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
