Online Poker Ethereum
With ease of access to Acebusters and low-rake structures, online poker looks attractive again. Players around the world can compete against one another anonymously and don’t have to worry about hurdles to jump in order to withdraw their funds. A simple conversion to Ethereum and you can safely ‘walk away from the table’. As we mentioned previously Ethereum was created only a short time ago, in the mid-Summer of 2015, on July 30th to be exact. The first projects and teams that thought of implementing Ethereum to online gambling, and especially Poker rooms, didn’t start appearing until a year or so ago.
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All real-money poker rooms have requirements for establishing an account as a new customer. Those can include presenting various forms of identification to prove age and country of residence, or an email address for contact verification, or the choosing of an online poker screen name.
Then there are minimum deposits. Obviously, this does not pertain to free poker sites that allow competition for only coins or play chips. But real-money poker is always going to require a minimum deposit in order to play. This is a standard industry practice established for the primary purpose of preventing customers from making small deposits that cost more to process than the amount of the transaction itself.
There are other reasons for minimum deposit requirements, and there are also ways to avoid them.
What are Minimum Deposits?
Online poker sites that are set up for real-money games will require some kind of minimum deposit, which is usually displayed prominently on the cashier cage or, at the very least, in the terms and conditions established by the operator.
The minimums typically range from $10 to $25 or the equivalent in other currencies. The amounts are set so as to be realistic for accounting purposes but not to turn away customers who cannot afford to play.
For example, PokerStars only requires a minimum deposit of $10, Bodog lists its bottom line as $20, and Bovada is $10 when you use Bitcoin.
The sites below are our top 5 small deposit poker sites. The minimum deposit amounts are listed as are the bonus offers available to you once you make your first deposit.
With a surfeit of cryptocurrencies available today, it is safe to say Ethereum (ETH) is one of the big three. In fact, Ethereum is only behind the good old, unrivalled Bitcoin (BTC). However, this piece is geared towards the emergence of Ethereum in the online gambling world and not the ranking of virtual currencies. While the number of online casinos that accept Bitcoin as a deposit method (industrially called Bitcoin casinos) is greater, Ethereum casinos are worth a mention as well.
And to reiterate, Bitcoin casinos are significantly more common than Ethereum casinos. This is mainly because Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies—considering its cardinal longevity, price, market capitalisation, and volume. (According to cryptocurrency data extractor CoinMarketCap, BTC has a market cap worth approximately $150 billion while the market cap of ETH is just above $54 billion.)
In addition, Ethereum casinos became a niche of their own when the price of an Ether went up in mid-2017—which is considerably recent. Prior to the time, ETH casinos were generally merged with—and called—BTC casinos. And even till date, the concept of ETH casinos is not impeccable yet. For one, there are only two ETH-only online casinos: Etheroll and SmartRoulette.io. In contrast, there are currently more than 50 BTC-only online casinos in addition to over 10 BTC-only online poker rooms and over 10 BTC-only online sportsbooks.
Nonetheless, Ethereum is on its way up to becoming the feasible locum tenens of Bitcoin so the number of casinos that accept ETH is increasing and anticipated to continue increasing rapidly, without looking back. Now, here is a comprehensive piece by WCI offering a guide to Ethereum casinos.
Safe 2018 Ethereum Online Casinos
First, the word ‘safe’ is a strongly attentive word. And to confidently say a particular online casino is linked to the aforementioned consideration is serious. But the truth is, there are many safe ETH casinos though the niche is still young and eager. However, we like to streamline our list by recommending just three online casinos we believe are the safest for you to transact ETH. In the course of selecting just three, we had to consider industry reputation, “real” customer reviews, lack of genuine complaints, gameplay, and even overall value to the player.
1.) Wild Casino
Online Poker Ethereum App
While FortuneJack is the youngest among our list of reputable casinos, Wild Casino has earned a spot on our top three list with its prestigious longevity. WildCasino.ag is the only non-cryptocurrency-only online casino on our list and has been satisfying players for years—even before the days of cryptocurrency—i.e. 2004. Actually, BO accepts deposit and pays via Bankwire Transfer, Neteller, Skrill, Courier Cheque, Book-to-Book, Person-to-Person, MoneyOrders, VISA, and MasterCard. (However, the last two are deposit-only.)
Wild Casino added Ethereum to its cryptocurrency selection in Q4 2017, which makes it more recent than FJ’s move. Prior to that time, Wild accepted only Litecoin and Bitcoin…and even today, the three are the only coins accepted. WildCasino.ag is a casino only operation with a focus on accepting cryptos like Ethereum.
Particularly, there are many varieties of Slots, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, and Video Poker. Furthermore, there is an impressive number of mouth-watering promotions waiting for players to grab and they are all casino specific. The first awards players up to $25 for their first time playing at Wild Casino’s Live Dealer Casino. The second is a 10 percent return on all losses within a week, but a minimum of $1000 must have been spent. The last one is exclusively for high rollers as the minimum amount is a whopping $75,000; the promo pays players to play. These particular promotions are subject to change, but you should expect the current promos to be similar.
Online Poker Ethereum Game
Lastly, Wild Casino’s fame is procured through everlasting security, safety, and fairness. Our research found Wild Casino to be what it is said to be: one of the safest casinos for real money and Ethereum gambling.
2.) FortuneJack
With such prominence and fame, FortuneJack (FJ) is like the Mucho Vegas Casino of the cryptocurrency world. And to think its existence debuted in 2014, this online casino becomes a thing of intrigue. FortuneJack earned most of its popularity in 2017 as it “made history” by adding more coins to its catalogue. Its forerunner is Bitcoin, of course, but its Ethereum processing—added in May 2017 alongside Monero, which makes it one of the first casinos to accept ETH—is gradually becoming a replacement. This can be linked to the high price of BTC, which makes say $100 a tiny fraction. ETH, on the other hand, has a lower price and $100 is more noticeable. Speed and security are other reasons.
Interestingly, FortuneJack has been competing with older casinos since its emergence and seems to be winning the race. Being on top of our list is one reason to note and being usable by anyone from any territory is another. Couple these with its Law of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis licence, and its acceptance of some of the biggest coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, Dogecoin, Zcash, and Dash.
In addition, FJ offers over 800 slots provided by Microgaming, GameArt, Pragmatic Play, Amatic, Playson, SoftSwiss, Tom Horn Gaming, IgroSoft, and Endorphina. Accompany that with its Live Dealers for about 15 games and its many varieties of Dice, Blackjack, Poker, Roulette, Keno, and Bingo. About safety and fairness, we found FortuneJack to be trustworthy and prompt regarding payouts and complaints…and the website is McAfee and GoDaddy secured. About promotions, a player can get up to 15 BTC and 250 Free Spins with FJ’s first deposit bonus of 110 percent and up to 1 BTC depending on the player’s next consecutive deposits. (However, terms and conditions do apply.)
3.) Bitcoin Penguin
With such an authoritative and self-explanatory name, BitcoinPenguin (BP) was a Bitcoin-only casino until it became a cryptocurrency-only casino. One of its selling points is its nonchalance towards players’ location; BP offers a brilliant online casino no matter where you are situated. There are more than 200 HD, 3D Roulette, Poker, Blackjack, Slot, and Baccarat games provided by GameArt, SoftSwiss, BetSoft, Mr Slotty, Habanero, Amatic, Belatra Games, and Ezugi.
Right from the start, BitcoinPenguin was a very promising casino powered by the SoftSwiss casino software. Its advocacy to Bitcoin has made it widely known…and it shortly added Litecoin and Dogecoin to its list. Ethereum, on the contrary, was added recently. (In fact, the addition of Ethereum is still ineffective on the banners of the website as they simply state BTC, LTC, and DOGE).
Additionally, BP processes deposits and withdrawals almost instantly. This is a perk; every account holder has a unique address, so when a player transfers to the address, the amount reaches the player’s account without any mish-mash. Pertaining security and safety, the website uses high-level SSL encryption to prevent eavesdropping and other data theft, and is verified by iTech Labs to be provably fair.
BitcoinPenguin also offers a 100 percent first deposit bonus up to $1,000. Chaperone that with a 20 percent cashback on bad Mondays, 30 Free Spins on Fridays, and huge amounts of money to the top 10 slot players on Saturdays. (And of course, terms and conditions apply.) However, BitcoinPenguin has a handful of shortcomings. For one, there is no phone support…so players are left with email and live chat, which we think is enough since correspondents are swift and up to the task.
Volume of Ethereum Online Casinos
Unfortunately, the Ethereum online casino market is still on a meagre scale. Bitcoin stays on top of the chart with hundreds of casinos that accept it either as their only payment method or alongside fiat currencies (such as USD, GBP, and EUR) or virtual coins (such as ETH, LTC, DOGE, and BCH). The concept of BTC and ETH casinos, however, is very similar as they both process payments with anonymity, ease, speed, and security.
With such benefits, operators are opting for ETH as an additional deposit method and more ETH-only operators are expected to emerge in the nearest future. At the present, no regulated casino in the United States process deposits or withdrawals via Ethereum.
Speed of Ethereum Casino Deposits and Withdrawals
Deposit and withdrawal speed boils down to the particular casino most of the time. Casinos use different mechanisms so some will process ETH transactions faster than others. Rest assured, the speed will be faster than BTC’s no matter what. In addition, some casinos do accept deposits in ETH but do not process payouts in ETH…mostly BTC, USD, GBP, and/or EUR.
Meanwhile, there are two different ways in which players can use ETH. First, you can deposit and withdraw ETH to online casinos just like you do with traditional currencies and Bitcoin. This is the industry’s favourite for it is easy and simple to execute.
The second is called smart contracts gambling, which is more complex and requires a guide on its own. As a quick overview, you—as a player—would send an amount of Ether to a smart contract instead of the operator’s address. This means there is a degree of randomness and transactions are processed by the smart contract code and not the casino…so, the casino has nothing to do with your Ether and transactions are practically abrupt regardless of the amount.
Notwithstanding, the process is technical—thereby not recommended for casual players—and even takes time to process each bet since each block must be confirmed individually. The two aforementioned online casinos (Etheroll and SmartRoulette.io) are the only websites where smart contract gambling is supported. Also, FunFair.io and other protocols are working to reduce the time it takes for block confirmation. Therefore, block confirmation will be a thing of the past anytime soon.
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Besides, the cost of Ethereum transactions is somewhat minute. The cost, according to the Ethereum Homestead Documentation, is called a gasPrice and is variably determined by miners. That is if you decide to transact with a miner. Concurrently, you can buy Ether from an online crypto-exchange (Coinbase, Bitstamp, LocalEthereum, and eToro as prime examples) by connecting your debit/credit card or bank account.
Accessibility of Ethereum
What most people do not understand is that ETH has been growing more rapidly than BTC recently. Yes, the price is significantly different but the percentage growth falls in the favour of ETH. In addition, ETH is more secure because of its Solidity language, which allows people to write smart contracts for Ethereum…and its supply is simply unlimited while that of Bitcoin is technically limited.
However, BTC is significantly more accessible than ETH. As stated earlier, BTC has a market cap almost 3X that of ETH (though this is prone to change). Still, ETH is the second most accessible coin available today.
Dozens of online exchanges exchange Ethereum for fiat currencies and other coins. So, you can actually exchange your BTC for ETH and vice versa. Pertaining the fiat currencies, turning them into ETH is not as easy as with BTC. This can be linked to the low exchange availability of ETH. If you are not in the US or UK, some exchanges will not sell you Ether.
But, there is a trick crypto traders generally use. Most traders buy BTC with fiat currencies, then convert it to ETH. So, everything is intertwined. As a US player, for example, you can buy ETH with USD (or from USD to BTC to ETH), then make your deposit. And when it is time to receive your payout, you can withdraw ETH (if you go with any of our top three picks). Alternatively, you can withdraw BTC if ETH withdrawal is not supported, then convert the BTC to USD and transfer it into your bank account.
On a concluding note, ETH is not as popular as BTC yet but its popularity keeps growing day in, day out and expected to be an infinitum. With all pros and cons explained, Ethereum gambling is the new trend.