Learn all there is to know about using Bitcoin at online casinos in the UK. Once you have gone through this page you will:
- Get to know how Bitcoin works, including the advantages and disadvantages of using Bitcoin;
- Learn about some of the top UK Bitcoin casinos
- Understand how to use Bitcoin to transact at Online Casinos
At the time of writing there were no Bitcoin casinos licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. In fact, the Commission has just announced that Crypto Currencies will become legal tender at UK casinos on 31 October 2016. If you are from the United Kingdom, you will not see any casinos listed on this page but this will change on 1 November 2016 as many casino are sure to introduce Bitcoin as a currency option.
In the meantime if you are from countries outside of the UK, you will see a list of Bitcoin casinos available to your location.
Introduction
Bitcoin is a revolutionary crypto currency that is touted to change the financial currency market forever. It was only a matter of time before Bitcoin became a currency option at online casinos. In fact, there are now many online casinos that offer the crypto currency as their only choice.
Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that has rapidly gained acceptance in the online payment world. Each transaction is identified by a unique address (or “key”) in a distributed block chain.
Bitcoin casinos are similar to regular online that you are used to. They will offer games from many well-known providers. The one significant difference is in the way players make payments or withdraw their winnings. To understand what a Bitcoin casino is you have to first know what a Bitcoin is, how to obtain Bitcoin and how to trade the currency.
Bitcoin Casino Bonuses
| Casino | Type | Bonus | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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BitCasino.io |  |
Match | 100% up to £1 | Claim |
 |
Bitcoin Penguin Casino | |
Match | 100% up to BTC0.4 with 55 Free Spins | Claim |
 |
Sloto Cash Casino | |
Match | 200% up to $7777 with 300 Welcome Spins | Claim |
History of Bitcoin
Bitcoin's history is shrouded in quite a bit of mystery and is also somewhat contentious. The founder of Bitcoin is thought to be a man called Satoshi Nakamoto, who has never been identified. Some believe that this is just a pseudonym for a group of people who founded the currency. Over the last few years a number of people were rumored to be Nakomoto, whilst some have even made false claims that they are this man. The true identity remains a mystery.
Bitcoin was officially born on 18th August, 2008, and the domain name was registered at www.anonymousspeech.com. The first official transaction (part of the so-called “Genesis block”) using Bitcoins was carried out on 12th January, 2009 between Satoshi and Hal Finney, who is a developer and also a cryptographer activist. From then, over the years Bitcoin has traversed an interesting path, often mired in controversy.
Bitcoin in itself is is big business and the blockhain technology it uses is set to revolutionize all forms of trading with many banks and stock exchanges now investing into this type of technology.
How To Acquire Bitcoin
Bitcoin is decentralised, so there is no central authority that controls the currency, such as a clearinghouse or an exchange. Bitcoin are represented in a decentralised “register” called the blockchain, which is currently limited to just over 21 million coins. The market sets coin value, and at the time of writing a coin was worth roughly £600. The value can be tracked through a number of independent exchanges.
The value is totally market-driven, which makes the currency quite unique.
How Bitcoin Works
Bitcoins are transferred via the web from user to user, without requiring a bank or clearing authority to process the exchange.
All you need is an input (the source of the coins), an output (the address of the receiver) and the amount. The benefits of this are that the payments are quick and the transaction fees are normally tiny or even non-existent. Transactions are recorded in a public ledger called the ‘block chain', which contains every Bitcoin transaction ever processed and can be cross- referenced at any time.
The low or non-existent cost of trading coins obviously makes the currency incredibly attractive to gambling sites and their customers.
Purchasing Bitcoin
Bitcoins are purchased either through exchanges or from individuals. Once you have configured a wallet, you can join one of many exchanges and purchase Bitcoin at the market rate. You can fund your exchange account using your bank account or a credit card as well as other methods like Paypal and Skrill.
You can also receive Bitcoin into a unique address from any other party who has their own wallet, which enables them to send currency to your wallet using the unique address. The beauty of Bitcoin trading really lies in its simplicity.
There are now also Bitcoin ATM's in cities like London where you can link a debit card to an exchange account and withdraw card currency.
We won't go into much more detail on trading coins. There are many guides all over the Internet and your best starting is to visit an exchange and follow their guidelines or sing up at one of the many user forums.
Storing Bitcoin
Technically, Bitcoin isn't stored anywhere. What you store in a Bitcoin wallet are the secure digital keys used to access addresses and sign transactions. Bitcoin wallets come in many forms including hardware and software and can be used on desktop and mobile devices. They have varying degrees of security and authentication. Popular wallets include:
- Bitcoin Core
- Airbitz
- Electrum
- Hive
How a Bitcoin Casinos Use The Currency For Deposits and Withdrawals
Once you have a wallet with Bitcoin, you can send money to a casino by generating a unique address from the casino's cashier screen, and sending bitcoin to this address using your wallet. It is really that simple.
Conversely, you can withdraw money to your wallet by generating a new unique address, entering it into the cashier, and requesting the withdrawal.
People think that using Bitcoin at casinos is complicated but it really isn't! You sign up with the casino, choose Bitcoin as the preferred form of currency, and also choose the wallet you would want to use to make payments with Bitcoin. It is as simple as that.
Bitcoin Casino Costs and Fees
Most Bitcoin transactions are free and do not cost anything. There is no charge involved because of the decentralized nature of the currency and its global positioning and relative ease of use. However, there are negatives to using Bitcoins as well. Some Bitcoin casinos do charge transaction fees for accepting Bitcoins.
The fees only really start to come into play when you trade at an exchange or use a conversion facility to exchange for hard cash. Exchanges and conversion facilities vary greatly in what they charge so shop around. It is not uncommon to see charges of up to 1.5% per conversion transaction but you can find reasonable fees if you spend time looking around.
Legal Considerations
Because Bitcoin is decentralised and completely anonymous, there is an obvious concern that it may be used to fund criminal activity. However governments are starting to understand the value of this technology and regulation in many countries is becoming a reality.
It is felt that trade will force compatible regulatory frameworks but time will tell. In the meantime, Bitcoin trade is mushrooming and rather than fight it, most countries are trying to find ways of embracing it and taking advantages of the obvious benefits.
Bitcoin casino sites are now in the process of being licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, and we will feature those that are licensed here soon.
Some UK Bitcoin Casino FAQs
The Bitcoin casino is just like any other standard online casino but with a single notable difference: it accepts payments in Bitcoins. There are casinos that support Bitcoins as one of the many payment methods available, and then there are also casinos that support only Bitcoin as a payment or withdrawal sort.
Experts are slowly beginning to say that even given the fact that Bitcoin is relatively new, there is a high degree of transparency. Security is also not an issue because of the higher levels of security in place. All UK Bitcoin casinos have different security measures in place to prevent theft of personal or financial data, among other things.
The best Bitcoin wallet is purely a matter of personal choice. The best thing to do is identify what all you are looking for in a wallet and then check them against the different wallets available. We use Bitcoin Core and Electrum, but the choice is a personal one.
Coindesk.com keeps tack of the number of daily transactions taking place. The peak took place on Mar 1, 2016 at over 275,000.
14 Million Bitcoin have been mined of which an estimated 35% have not been traded.
An estimated 150 Million+ transactions or trades have taken place.
A lot. Microsoft has added it as a currency. Paypal now allows merchants to accept Bitcoin. This has catapulted Bitcoin from being a niche currency into the mainstream.