Bitcoin blackjack is taking the iGaming industry by storm, and many online casinos are including the game in their systems. If you are a newbie, worry not because your first attempt at this game will be exciting after you read through our ultimate guide. You will also meet top-rated Bitcoin blackjack casinos based on our analysts’ research results to kickstart your igaming experience.
The online gambling space has been around for decades. For the better part of these years, you played online blackjack (a popular casino game) with fiat currencies. While fiat currencies are still an option, you can now participate in Bitcoin blackjack.
Though it’s yet to attain industry-wide acceptance, many online casinos are incorporating it into their system. If this will be your first rodeo with Bitcoin blackjack, you might feel a little lost. This guide delves into the basics of blackjack crypto you need to know, including what Bitcoin is, how to play blackjack, and the currency differences you’ll experience.
Online blackjack is a common feature in online casinos. Some casinos now accept Bitcoin payments. Though Bitcoin has been around for a little over a decade and has almost become a household name, it is still experiencing some resistance.
Generally, Bitcoin is a form of digital currency, also known as cryptocurrency, that operates free of central control and oversight from governments or financial institutions. It operates in a decentralized system that records transactions in distributed ledgers called blockchains.
When a transaction is made, the blockchain is updated by the addition of a new block. While general blackjack rules remain the same, there are some differences between Bitcoin blackjack and traditional online blackjack, evident from their pros and cons.
The benefits of Bitcoin blackjack stem from the benefits cryptocurrencies offer. These benefits include:
Bitcoin blackjack sites work hard to safeguard your identity and protect your financial details. And while they’ve done a great job so far, it’d be even better if they didn’t have your financial details. With Bitcoin’s decentralized system, you can make deposits without sharing these details.
Regular casino payment options apply hefty fees, especially on withdrawals. This is understandable since the different payment processing companies need to keep their lights on. With Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals, you save a lot of money since you only pay a fee to the miner validating the transaction. Usually, this fee is <1% of the money you’re moving. On the other hand, credit cards and e-wallets charge about 3% of the amount withdrawn and take a couple of hours, if not days, to complete the transaction.
The blockchain system creates the possibility of provably fair gaming. This means you can check results to ensure fairness through blockchain technology. Online casinos don’t give such chances to verify. Instead, players have to trust software gaming developers and online casinos to play fair. While many popular online casinos and gaming software developers are dedicated to providing a fair gaming experience and are regularly regulated and inspected by third-party bodies, it’s great to have an option to guarantee the results yourself.
Unfortunately, it’s not all roses. Below are some drawbacks Bitcoin blackjack deals with.
Traditional online casinos need licensing to operate in different regions, including UKGC, Curacao, Malta, Gibraltar, and the AGCC. To get licenses, traditional online casinos have to adhere to KYC regulations.
Cryptocurrency makes it easier for Bitcoin blackjack sites to run without licenses. This increases the risk of the casino acting unfairly or scamming players. To counter this, you should only register on a reputable and licensed Bitcoin blackjack site.
A chargeback is generally a request for a refund of deposited funds. After payment, you can claim your money by filing a dispute if it was an unauthorized transaction or an unintentional payment. With traditional online casinos, your payment provider will refund the money and resolve the issue with the online casino.
With Bitcoin blackjack sites, you don’t have such luxuries as there’s no financial intermediary. As such, you need to be more careful and responsible when sending Bitcoin as you cannot retrieve it.
A quick look at Bitcoin price charts in the past year, month, or week will shed light on Bitcoin’s volatility. Its volatility is a problem because the value of your wins is never guaranteed. For instance, if you bet Bitcoin worth $10,000 and win $4,000, it won’t feel like a win if Bitcoin’s price drops to make your withdrawal worth $6,000.
Because of this, we recommend betting with Bitcoin amounts you are okay seeing fluctuate in value.
Through crypto exchanges work hard to develop intuitive and easy-to-use platforms; for beginners, they can be slightly confusing. You have to learn how to buy Bitcoin (explained below), deposit Bitcoin into your crypto account, and the bet sizes. Luckily, the learning curve isn’t steep, and you’ll be caught up after several guides.
Playing fiat blackjack is straightforward as you have fiat currency in your bank or e-wallet. With Bitcoin blackjack, you first have to purchase Bitcoin. Below is a quick guide on how to do it.
To purchase Bitcoin, you have to go through an exchange like Kraken, Binance, and Coinbase that allows the purchase of Bitcoin using fiat currency. Some exchanges only accept trading Bitcoin with other altcoins.
Create an account in the exchange you choose and enter your banking or deposit information to link the two accounts. During a purchase, define how much you want to spend. You’ll receive a breakdown of the amount of Bitcoin you’ll receive depending on the prevailing Bitcoin value. Once you complete the transaction, you’ll have the Bitcoin.
At this point, you can opt to leave the Bitcoin on the exchange or transfer it to your crypto wallet. It’s advisable to transfer Bitcoins to a wallet.
Note: some exchanges like Binance have built-in wallets you can use to store Bitcoin.
To play blackjack, you have to create an account with a crypto casino. Navigate to the banking section and choose the Bitcoin option. This process will generate a casino wallet address that’ll serve as the recipient address when depositing Bitcoin.
Go back to where you have your Bitcoin, either in your wallet or exchange, and initiate a transaction to the crypto casino using the wallet generated. Key in the amount of Bitcoin to transfer and confirm the transaction.
To understand the legality of playing crypto blackjack, we have to consider the legality of crypto casinos as a whole.
• Generally, the opinion of cryptocurrency gambling is changing fast, although some countries remain mute on the issue. As such, there aren’t clear answers to the issue of legality. However, some points may shed light on the matter:
• Generally, there aren’t specific laws that regulate Bitcoin gambling. As such, it’s in a large gray area.
• More and more authorities are changing their stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency fast. Also, many countries around the world are looking into Bitcoin adoption. But despite these changes, a large percentage of governments still don’t view Bitcoin as real currency. Going with their logic, traditional online casino rules shouldn’t apply even to the best Bitcoin casinos.
The objective of crypto blackjack is to create a hand closer to 21 and higher than the dealer’s hand without exceeding 21. Though Bitcoin blackjack often involves multiple players, your wagers are always against the dealer and not the players. The hands of the other players don’t determine your winning or losing in the game.
Once you are dealt your cards, your calculation should be based on the dealer’s single face-up card. At this point, you’ll decide whether to hit, stand, surrender, double-down or split.
Once you are dealt your cards and receive a ten-value card and an Ace, you should stand, and the game ends. This hand is an automatic winner popularly known as the natural or blackjack.
If you and the dealer have the natural, it’s a draw resulting in a push, and you get back all wagered amounts. A push also happens when you and the dealer have a hand of the same value.
If you both don’t have a natural, then the hands are played one at a time.
So far, we’ve determined you win the game when you stand and have a natural. Other situations you win crypto blackjack include:
BTC blackjack games winning strategies are the same as those you’d apply in traditional European blackjack games. Remember, different hands require different strategies. The goal is to remain optimal and use a strategy that considers the dealer’s up card.
Some strategies you can play against dealer upcards;
Good cards are Q, K, J, A, 10, 9, 8, 7. You should deal cards until you have a hand value of 17
These are 2 and 3. If the dealer’s upcard is fair, target a hand value of at least 13
These cards include 5, 6, and 4. When any of these are on the dealer’s deck, then aim for at least 12
Since it’s new and different from traditional blackjack, you may be hesitant. Provided you get a reputable Bitcoin blackjack casino; you shouldn’t worry.
You should play Bitcoin blackjack games for various reasons, including:
• You don’t have to deal with third-party institutions. As such, you won’t have to deal with banks rejecting your online casino deposits or credit bureaus altering your points because of online gambling
• High potential for bonuses. Volatility can be a con when Bitcoin’s value drops after a win. However, from the price charts, Bitcoin’s value always bounces back. When this happens, your wins might surpass your initial wins. Also, small bonuses are potentially worth more in the future.
BTC blackjack games will get bigger as more and more people get comfortable with cryptocurrencies. At the moment, even with some restrictions, there are loads of opportunities to play Bitcoin blackjack.
The learning curve might be daunting, but after a couple of videos, you’ll be good to go. When dealing with Bitcoin, always be on the lookout for scam online Bitcoin blackjack casinos. Only worth with reputable and licensed Bitcoin casinos. They should have a track record along with a variety of blackjack variations to play.
Yes, you can. Many Bitcoin casinos are now accepting Bitcoin. But there are still some that accept other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, Doge, and ZCash. You need to know where to look.
Absolutely. How Bitcoin works allows you to keep your gambling private. Your financial details aren’t shared with the online casino since money is sent between wallet addresses. While they can see the wallet address money was sent from, they’ve no way of obtaining personal information.
When it comes to playing Bitcoin blackjack games, the exception to anonymous play is when you indulge in live blackjack. Some Bitcoin casinos and software gaming developers require you to identify yourself by sharing your name, address, and other information during live games. However, nothing’s stopping you from entering fake personal information.
You can, but blackjack is a difficult game to meet the wagering requirements necessary to cash out. This is because blackjack has a low house edge meaning it’s high risk for casinos. The risk is even higher when you play with bonus money. So in most instances, wagers made on blackjack tables don’t count towards wagering requirements. In some instances, a percentage of bets from crypto blackjack, usually 5%, will count towards the wagering requirements. This will be a challenge even for a high roller.
