What Are NFTs?
Before diving into the details of NFTs’ utility in the betting world, let’s have a brief overview of what NFTs are.
NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be copied or replaced. They are built on a blockchain – usually the Ethereum blockchain – and represent digital copies of various everyday items, such as music, art, social media names, tickets, loyalty points, etc.
With numerous benefits over traditional assets, including the elimination of middlemen during trading, better security, and real-world value, it’s easy to see why NFTs are considered the next big thing.
NFTs Use Cases in the Gambling Industry
We touch on some real-world utility of NFTs in betting to add an additional layer of excitement to players’ gaming experience.
VIP Programs
One of the perks gamblers look out for at casinos is the real money benefits they offer. Usually, casinos have loyalty rewards and programs for their committed players to earn VIP status. Currently, players have to gamble for hours and spend a ton of money to reach the VIP level at casinos and qualify for the loyalty rewards that come with the badge. But with NFTs, casinos can change their reward distribution systems by minting unique and limited edition NFTs that players can buy at once to earn the VIP badge and rewards. Alternatively, new casino projects can distribute VIP membership NFTs to reward their earliest players.
The casinos can create an NFT marketplace where interested players can buy the VIP program and other related NFTs or connect to popular third-party NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Binance NFT marketplace to give users access. By doing so, casinos can help gamblers fight addiction and attract more players who want the benefits and membership access that come with such casino VIP clubs, including cashback bonuses, free spins, and other rewards.
Security
Security issues are one of the major challenges facing the gambling industry. With NFTs, casino providers and businesses can add more security to their systems by creating a unique token for every transaction carried out by players. This way, transactions can be properly tracked and verified to ensure every player is legitimate and the risk of fraud is mitigated. At the same time, the complete transaction records can be stored for a more transparent history of all bets played and payouts received at a casino.
House Edge Share
Online casinos can use NFTs to reduce the house edge of a slot game or other games they offer. In this kind of situation, the casino allows players to offer their NFTs as the main prize on selected games and informs other players of the buyout price of the NFT before they play a game. If a player wins the main prize, the owner of the NFT gets the buyout amount or a percentage of the amount agreed upon before gambling started.
To make a decent profit, the casino can also set a minimum amount players must stake to play such games to cover up for the amount that will be used to buy back the NFT.
Special Tournament Prize
Casinos can also organize special tournaments where NFTs are used as prizes to encourage more adoption of NFTs in the gambling space. In these special tournaments, players will be able to participate and contest for the NFT prize rewards instead of real money.
Typically, there will be a leaderboard for the duration of the online tournament, and the tournament prize can be divided among the top players who were able to outplay their counterparts. Since the NFTs are valuable, winners can sell them in the casino’s built-in NFT marketplace or on secondary NFT platforms.
Wager
Another exciting use of NFTs in the casino gaming space is for wagering or betting on games. Currently, casinos around the world allow players to bet on the outcomes of gaming events using real money and cryptocurrencies. While the cryptocurrency addition has attracted more players from the crypto industry, casinos can further introduce NFT wagering into their operating systems to allow players to stake on games using their NFT holdings.
Alternatively, casinos can allow players to convert their NFTs into betting tokens that they can use to gamble on various gaming events. The NFT addition as a wager will make gambling more fun, as players do not necessarily have to use real money when playing. The fear of losing such valuable assets can also add an additional thrill to the gaming experience for everyone. Interestingly, a crypto casino gaming platform called BC Game has implemented this feature already.
Access to Special Metaverse Games and Casinos
The Metaverse has been more prominent in the gaming world because of the immersive experience it offers players. Many blockchain games incorporate the Metaverse into their offerings for players to connect digitally in a virtual world. Though we currently have something similar in the gambling industry with live casinos and live dealer games, online casinos can build virtual reality platforms to take players’ gaming experience to the next level.
Casinos can create Metaverse or virtual reality platforms where avatars represent players, and they connect with one another for an interactive gaming experience. NFTs can then be introduced as access cards or entry tickets to these Metaverse games and casinos. For example, BetU Verse has a virtual reality platform where only players with the stipulated NFTs can participate in games and other events like purchasing virtual slot machines, casino tables, real estate, and so on, and they earn free NFT rewards for their various activities.
NFT Gaming
The NFT gaming space is another sector that can benefit massively from more adoption and usage of NFTs. Blockchain games with NFT models currently allow players to use NFTs to gamble for real-life events. For example, players can buy, breed, and race digital horses on online horse racing games like Zed Run using NFTs.
Additionally, NFT horse racing games like Silks mirror real-life horse gaming of thoroughbred horses represented by NFTs to race and win rewards. Since the games are connected to the real world, casinos and other related NFT games can be more intriguing for players who love betting on horseracing. These players will be more inclined to play such games because of the exciting experience they get while making money.
With more such games, there will be an increase in the use of NFTs for wagers directly and indirectly, and the gambling industry will, in turn, benefit from it.
Final Thoughts
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are revolutionizing how money can be made in casino gaming. With a few casinos implementing NFTs into their systems, we’ve been able to get a feel of how exciting and rewarding gambling can be when casinos move away from the conventional model.
With NFTs, players can get easier entry to VIP badges and rewards while enjoying a thoroughly immersive gaming experience. On the other hand, casinos can have a competitive advantage over their peers with a wider audience while making more money.
Overall, NFTs are here to stay, and the iGaming industry may just be the biggest winner.
