Why Your Next Sports Bet Will Not be with Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly popular and slowly entering the mainstream as more people start using them. Leading the way is Bitcoin (BTC), which continues to grow and is now trading in tends of thousands of dollars for a single unit. Slowly but surely, BTC has entered the finance mainstream and is now available across a wide range of services.

That includes the gambling scenes, where Bitcoin is having a massive impact. We have seen the rise of so-called Bitcoin casinos, online venues that only accept cryptocurrencies. More mainstream is the willingness of casinos and sportsbooks to accept BTC as a form of payment.

As legal sports betting both online and offline becomes more common in the United States, will Bitcoin play a role? We have seen in Europe and other regions that sportsbooks are willing to embrace BTC if given the chance. However, it seems in the US they will probably never get that chance.

Don’t expect to be redeeming your Monkey Knife Fight promo code with BTC any time soon. Luckily, you can still use traditional payment methods.

One of the reasons Bitcoin is unlikely to be adopted on the US legal sports betting scene is because regulators are unlikely to permit it. Authorities in the country still view BTC cautiously and as a disruptor to traditional financial institutions and fiat currencies. As such, there’s a chance BTC will never be allowed at sportsbook.

Offshore sportsbooks that can be accessed by people in the US are different. While some states say sports betting is illegal, those laws are for operations within state limits. There is nothing stopping people using a sportsbook outside the state and even outside the country. If you trade in BTC, it may be worth checking some venues outside the United States.

If you don’t use BTC you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, there are some inherent benefits to using Bitcoin, including at a sportsbook. Firstly, customers can turnaround cash more quickly, without needing to wait for winnings to clear like with a bank payment. Furthermore, transactions in BTC don’t incur any fees.

That’s all possible because Bitcoin removes the middleman. Traditional transactions require the use of a financial institution, such as a bank or credit card company. Naturally these providers want to be paid for the service they offer so charge fees on transactions. Bitcoin removes the intermediary, which means the cost is also removed.

Even with these benefits, that does not mean bettors should be looking to ditch traditional payment methods. Certainly, in the United States there is no way to use BTC for sports betting and it’s likely to remain that way. It is also worth remembering that Bitcoin is largely unregulated, which means if something goes wrong your money is gone forever.

Banks and credit card companies, although hardly saints, are regulated and must abide by certain laws to be allowed to operate.