Online Crypto Casino Market – Statistics and Facts

The cryptocurrency market has come a long way since Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin, the world’s first digital currency, in early 2009. Thousands of digital coins have emerged since then, competing for a share of the global crypto market that is expected to reach an impressive $64.9 billion in revenue by 2027 for a compound annual growth rate of 14.4%, according to Statista Market Insights.

It is perhaps unsurprising that crypto usage is also on the rise as nearly 430 million people owned and used decentralized currencies in 2022, a number projected to increase to almost a billion users four years from now. Online gambling and betting rank as the tenth most popular goods and services consumers worldwide purchased using cryptocurrencies in 2022.

An increasing number of online gamblers resort to cryptocurrencies to fund their interactive betting activities. This rising popularity can be attributed to the flexibility, speed, anonymity, and cost-efficiency cryptocurrencies offer to online gamblers. In this report, we turn our gaze to the online crypto gambling market delivering all key statistics and facts in one spot. We cover it all, from the number of gamblers using cryptos to the number of bets they place annually and how it compares to fiat currencies.

Online Gambling Is in Top 10 of Most Popular Services among Crypto Users

Perhaps you will find it surprising but online gambling and betting is as popular as fashion among cryptocurrency users, according to a 2022 consumer survey conducted by the Dutch fintech company Cryptorefills. Among those surveyed, 12.2% confirmed to have used cryptocurrencies for transactions related to iGaming and betting last year.

Survey results indicate crypto usage for gambling purchases is more common among males (12.7%) than females (11.1%). Interestingly, mobile data was the most popular product among crypto users in 2022, followed by in-game items, streaming services, paid mobile applications, and software.

Source: Cryptorefills Consumer Survey

Source: Cryptorefills Consumer Survey

Most Popular Cryptocurrencies among Online Gamblers

An annual report released by the casino game aggregator Softwiss in 2021 gives us valuable insights into the most popular cryptocurrencies used for online gambling transactions. Softswiss pioneered crypto gambling by introducing the first Bitcoin online casino solution in 2013. For the purposes of its annual report, the software development company collected monthly data from more than 500 iGaming brands that run on its innovative platform.

After assessing the information, Softswiss unsurprisingly established that Bitcoin is the most commonly used cryptocurrency among online gamblers. The first digital coin ever created accounted for around 80% of all crypto bets accepted by partnering casinos in 2021, followed by Ethereum 9.88% and Litecoin (4.52%). Dogecoin placed fourth with a 2.48% share, while Tether and Bitcoin Cash lagged behind with 1.64% and 1.45% shares, respectively.

Source: Softswiss Annual State of Crypto Report

Bitcoin continued to dominate the crypto-gambling universe in 2022 as data collected from Softswiss partnering casinos suggests. It remained the most broadly used cryptocurrency in the first half of last year despite losing approximately 9.5 percentage points of its bet share compared to the same six-month period in 2021.

Ethereum reinforced its second position in H1 of 2022 with 14.7% of all crypto bets, which makes for an increase of 5.2 percentage points. Litecoin once again ranked third with 6.15% but Dogecoin conceded the fourth place to Tether whose share of all bets increased to 3.2% during the first six months of 2022.

Source: Softswiss State of Crypto Half-Year Reports

Share and Number of Cryptocurrency Bets

According to Softswiss, cryptocurrencies account for approximately one-third of all wagers accepted by its partnering online casinos. During the first half of this year, crypto bets comprised nearly 29.5% of the total amount wagered, which corresponds to a decrease of 5.3 percentage points from the first half of 2022.

Contrasting this with data from the first half of 2021, we see the share of cryptocurrency wagers has remained relatively stable, dropping by a nominal 0.2 percentage points in the first six months of 2023. It appears the interest of online gamblers in using digital coins as a payment option has remained consistent despite the fluctuations in crypto rates. As for fiat currencies, they again came out on top in the first six months of 2023, securing the lion’s share of the total amount wagered with 70.5%.

Source: Softswiss State of Crypto Half-Year Reports

Another notable increase occurred during the first half of this year, as the number of digital coin wagers spiked by a remarkable 83.6% compared to the second half of 2022. Considerable fluctuations were observed in the average size of cryptocurrency wagers, which declined by approximately 40.5%, dropping from €2.84 in the first six months of 2022 to €1.69 during the second half of last year. The first six months of 2023 ushered in an increase as the size of the crypto wagers rose slightly to reach €1.80 on average.

Turning our attention to the first three quarters of 2022, we notice a decline in the quarter-on-quarter cryptocurrency amount wagered across Softswiss-powered online casinos. The first quarter of last year saw €6.342 billion in digital coin wagers. Quarter two of 2022 witnessed an increase of 6.3% as the total amount of crypto bets placed grew to €6.741 billion.

Source: Softswiss State of Crypto Quarterly Reports

Cryptocurrencies Boast Highest Acceptance Rates at Online Casinos

Initiating a deposit only to have it declined is a situation no online gambler wants to find themselves in. Players depositing with digital coins rarely go through this ordeal as cryptocurrencies boast the highest acceptance rates at online casinos, according to data captured by Softswiss. On a side note, acceptance rates are an important metric because they directly affect the overall player experience at a given online casino.

Cryptocurrencies achieved nearly perfect acceptance rates in 2021 as 99.94% of all transactions at partnering online casinos went through. Softswiss explains cryptos would have reached 100% acceptance rates had it not been for pending and canceled transactions. Credit and debit cards placed second with 73.46%, followed by bank transfers (71.97%) and digital wallets (66.17%). Players depositing with vouchers had it the worst as only around half of their deposits were successful.

Source: Softswiss Annual State of Crypto Report

Cryptocurrencies Are Associated with Lower Transaction Costs

Further data collected from Softswiss reveals how cryptocurrencies measure against conventional payment methods in terms of transaction costs. Online gambling businesses typically cover the additional processing charges on customer deposits. With that in mind, it appears credit and debit cards are the most expensive from the operators’ perspective.

According to Softswiss, interactive gambling businesses can sometimes pay up to 40.25% of the deposit amount for every €10 players transfer via credit or debit cards. Cryptocurrency transactions are much cheaper by comparison as the operators pay approximately 7% for every €10 players transfer with Bitcoin. The processing fees associated with some of the other popular cryptocurrencies are even lower as they can drop to as little as 0.5% of the deposited amount.

Source: Softswiss Annual State of Crypto Report (2021)

Most Popular Casino Games among Cryptocurrency Players

While video slots generally dominate the portfolios of online casinos in terms of sheer numbers, it is live dealer games that consistently come on top of the rankings where popularity among cryptocurrency users is concerned. These results are anything but surprising considering live dealer games closely replicate the landbased casino experience while retaining all the benefits associated with playing from the comfort of your home.

Data captured by the Softswiss game aggregator reveals Live Blackjack VIP by Evolution Gaming was the most played crypto-friendly game in the first two quarters of 2022. On the whole, quarterly engagement data shows one to four live games ranked among the eight most popular games among digital coin players. Check the table below for the other crypto-friendly releases that made the cut in the first three quarters of 2022. The live games are marked in gray color.

Source: Softswiss Game Aggregator

Most Popular Software Providers among Cryptocurrency Players

BGaming dubs itself a pioneer in crypto gambling and this apparently is no overstatement. The Malta-based provider came on top of the list of the top 5 cryptocurrency-friendly game studios for the first half of 2022 based on total number of wagers. The supplier’s leading position definitely makes sense, considering BGaming has four releases on the list of most popular crypto games for Q1 2022.

Two of BGaming’s titles also made the cut during last year’s second quarter, ranking third and fifth based on all crypto bets made across Softswiss-powered online casinos. In the follow up, we have placements from Platipus Gaming and Evolution Gaming, which secured the second and third spot, respectively. Booming Games placed second, whereas veteran software studio Betsoft came in fifth.

Source: Softswiss State of Crypto Reports

Cryptocurrency Use by Age Group and Other Trends

Delving deeper into crypto-gambling trends, we shall examine the usage of digital coins among players from different genders and age groups. Softswiss data collected during the first quarter of 2023 indicates that cryptocurrency gambling is more common among men than women. Approximately 65% of all players who fund their gameplay with digital coins are male, while the remaining 35% are female.

Player-profile statistics also provide valuable insights into the average age of crypto gamblers. It appears the core audience of cryptocurrencies consists of players aged 31 to 40 years old, who account for nearly 45% of all crypto users. Online gamblers aged 41 to 50 years old comprise the second-largest age group as they make up almost 26% of all crypto users.

Source: Softswiss State of Crypto Quarterly Report

Cryptocurrency Statistics by Region

The United States and Great Britain have two of the largest online gambling markets in the world, as the numbers blatantly show. The commercial gaming industry in the US generated a record $60.46 billion in gross revenue last year, witnessing a 14% increase year-on-year. The UK posted a rise of 10.9% between April 2021 and March 2022, reporting over £14 billion in gross gambling revenue for this period. Given this, we decided it would be interesting to check where these countries stand when it comes to cryptocurrency market share, ownership, and adoption rates.

Source: Statista Market Insights

The number of cryptocurrency owners has skyrocketed in recent years, with an estimated 420 million people worldwide using digital coins as of this year, data from crypto-payments platform TripleA reveals. The majority of cryptocurrency owners on a global scale are male (65%), which aligns with the percentages quoted by Softswiss. As many as 71% of the crypto owners worldwide have a Bachelor’s or a higher degree.

In terms of age demographics, younger people are more likely to purchase and own cryptocurrencies since 72% of all digital coin owners are aged 34 years old or below. As far as country distribution goes, the US has the third-highest number of cryptocurrency owners with nearly 45 million, a figure that corresponds to approximately 13.2% of the country’s population. India tops the list with 103 million crypto owners. Vietnam and Pakistan place fourth and fifth, respectively.

Source: TripleA Crypto Payment Gateway

Cryptocurrencies and Gambling in the United States

Given that the United States is among the countries with the highest concentration of digital coin owners, we decided it would be instructive for readers to learn about the attitudes of the population toward cryptocurrency gambling. A recent survey conducted by market research and data analytics company YouGov in 2023 provides some insights into this subject.

Survey results indicate that almost half of all Americans who have registered online gambling accounts (49%) are interested in using cryptocurrencies for betting purposes. Out of this group, approximately 26% describe themselves as “very interested” in trying crypto gambling. On a national level, as much as 15% of all adults residing in the country are either strongly or moderately interested in using digital coins for gambling purposes.

Source: YouGov Survey

For clarification, the term “potential cryptocurrency gamblers” refers to adult residents interested in cryptocurrency wagering. YouGov points out that almost 1/4 of the people from this group had not yet registered online gambling accounts when the survey took place.

Potential cryptocurrency bettors were then presented with several statements and were asked to pick which ones apply to them to help determine their overall attitudes toward online gambling. It turns out the vast majority of potential crypto bettors (42%) have the tendency to cash out from their online gambling accounts after winning larger amounts of money. By means of comparison, only 27% of all online gamblers in the US said they tend to do this.

Around 34% of potential crypto gamblers describe fast withdrawals from online gambling accounts as “important”, while 40% say they prefer to move funds to and from their gambling accounts via mobile payment applications. Roughly 23% have voluntarily imposed betting limits on their accounts, while 22% have had their gambling accounts closed in the past.

This underscores the importance of responsible gambling among people interested in placing digital coin bets. As much as 19% complained about experiencing issues with withdrawing from their gambling balance compared to 14% of all online gamblers participating in the YouGov survey.

Source: YouGov Survey

Cryptocurrency betting remains largely unregulated on a state and federal level, with Wyoming being the sole exception to this rule. Most cryptocurrency gambling in the country takes place via offshore casinos and sportsbooks licensed outside the US. Nonetheless, we decided to check in which states does crypto gambling attract the most attention by examining search data from Google Trends.

To this end, we looked up the term “crypto casino” in English for the entire country and selected a broader period range covering the past twelve months (October 10, 2022 to October 10, 2023). Then we checked the “interest by subregion” metric to identify the states with the highest popularity for this search phrase. It is important to point out that the numerical values below do not reflect the absolute search volume for the term but rather the relative volume.

The data is normalized and expressed on a scale from 0 to 100 to reveal the states with the highest interest as a fraction of the overall searches. A number close to 100 indicates the term has a larger proportion relative to all searches in the respective location or state. Thus, a smaller state where 60% of all searches are for “crypto casino” will receive a higher score than a larger state where only 30% of the searches are for this term.

The term “crypto casino” has a higher probability of being searched in the states painted in darker blue shades. Lighter blue areas have lower interest in this term and are less likely to search for it.

We found it very intriguing that Arkansas is the state exhibiting the highest levels of interest for the search phrase “crypto casino” in the entire country. The Natural State ranks first with a maximum interest score of 100 for the past twelve months despite lacking legal online casinos at the time of writing.

Neighboring Oklahoma places second with an interest score of 85, followed by Kansas (82), Mississippi (74), and Missouri (64). Residents of the Carolinas, Massachusetts, and Tennessee are the least likely to search for crypto casinos on Google as they all achieved scores below 20.

Interestingly enough, Wyoming, among other states, did not make the cut despite passing legislation to regulate crypto sports betting two years ago. Here is the full ranking of all 35 states whose residents have taken an interest in searching for “crypto casinos” between October 10, 2022 and October 10, 2023. Some states were altogether omitted because the data for this search phrase was insufficient, according to Google Trends.

Source: Google Trends, Retrieved October 10, 2023

Cryptocurrencies and Gambling in the United Kingdom

The UK places second in terms of cryptocurrency revenue and market share with $1.89 billion, according to Statista Market Insights. The country with the largest online gambling industry in the world (£14.1 billion in GGR) has an estimated 4.2 million cryptocurrency owners data from the TripleA shows, which corresponds to approximately 6.2% of its overall population.

According to the payment gateway, cryptocurrency ownership is most common among wealthier Britons since approximately 40% of the people earning £200,000 or more per year own digital coins. Most crypto owners in the UK fall within the 25-34 year-old age bracket, followed by those aged 35 to 44. Around 31% of all people who hold digital coins in the country have a university degree.

In line with Softswiss data, Bitcoin is the most popular choice for British cryptocurrency owners as 62% of them have opted to purchase it. Ethereum ranks second (36.67%), followed by Ripple (24.21%) and Tether (20.54%). Considering the massive size of the British iGaming industry, we found it surprising that online gambling did not make it to the top 5 of the most popular goods and services among cryptocurrency users in the country. Entertainment secured the first spot in this metric with 42%, followed by consumer electronics (37.41%), luxury and fashion (34.96%), and travel and tourism (34.72%).

Source: TripleA Crypto Payment Gateway

Another 2023 survey carried out by market research and analytics firm YouGov sheds some light on the attitudes of British gamblers toward cryptocurrencies. The results indicate that 15% of all adult residents who have registered online gambling accounts are interested in betting with digital coins. Around 5% of this group described themselves as “very interested”. As for the overall adult population of the country, 7% claim to be very or fairly interested in cryptocurrency betting. We shall refer to this group as potential crypto gamblers henceforth.

The survey additionally looked into the online gambling behaviors and preferences of the crypto-interested respondents. Roughly 18% or so of the potential crypto gamblers are likely to move funds to or from their online betting accounts via payment apps instead of using standard bank transfers. As much as 10% of the group confirmed to have experienced problems with gambling-related withdrawals. The same percentage said they had voluntarily restricted their access to their betting accounts in the past. Around one-fifth (20%) of all potential crypto gamblers say they have resorted to imposing betting limits on their gambling accounts.

As for the importance of fast withdrawals, around a third (32%) of all potential crypto bettors in the UK pinpointed this as an important feature. Every fourth person (25%) showing interest in crypto gambling withdraws from their gambling balance after landing larger wins.

In 2022, GamCare, which operates the National Gambling Helpline in the UK, commissioned YouGov to carry out a survey among 4,000 Britons and evaluate their attitudes toward key issues related to online gambling. Survey results suggest that people who have experienced gambling-related harm are more likely to dabble in high-volatility investments such as cryptocurrency trading. This concerning trend is backed by the fact that approximately 43% of the problem gamblers in the UK say they own digital coins.

Survey data also indicates that more than half of all people experiencing low-level gambling harm (66%) cite making money as their primary motivation for purchasing cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Britons who classify as problem gamblers are far more likely to suffer any negative consequences from buying digital coins compared to the general public.

Roughly a quarter of all problem gamblers, or 25%, say they are motivated to invest more money to recover their losses compared to only 7% of the country’s general population. Another 22% reported not being able to cover their essential expenses, while 21% complained of feeling overwhelmed by this situation.

Source: YouGov 2022 Survey Commissioned by GamCare

The GamCare-commissioned survey also provides valuable insights into the levels of cryptocurrency adoption among the younger population of the country. According to survey data, 17% of the Brits aged 16 to 24 years old own digital coins. Buying cryptocurrencies appears to be more common among males belonging to the 16-to-34 age group as 33% of them confirmed to have purchased digital coins at one point or another.

Another concerning trend is that British parents generally have low levels of understanding and confidence when it comes to discussing cryptocurrencies with their children. Over half of all parents of children below 18 years old report feeling unconfident explaining what digital coins are. As much as 42% of the parents feel unconfident discussing loot boxes with their underage children, with the rates being higher among females (50%) than males (33%).

Furthermore, British parents are largely clueless about new gaming trends like skin gambling, which is the practice of using in-game items to wager on the outcome of esports contests. A whopping 79% of all parents participating in the GamCare-commissioned survey had no idea what skin gambling is and said they had never heard of this practice.

Source: YouGov 2022 Survey Commissioned by GamCare

Using our methodology from earlier, we decided to examine the levels of interest in cryptocurrency gambling among Britons. We again entered “crypto casino” as our chosen search phrase in Google Trends and adjusted our preferred time frame to the twelve-month period ending on October 10, 2023.

It was impossible to create an exhaustive ranking based on cities or counties since data was insufficient for this search phrase but we did notice that people from England are more likely to look up the term “crypto casino” on Google. This phrase has a higher probability of being searched by Englishmen whose score is a solid 100 compared to Scots who only achieved a score of 57 on a scale from 0 to 100.

The darker blue color indicates high-interest levels for crypto casinos among Englishmen.

Delving deeper, we observed that interest levels spiked between April 30 and May 6, 2023, when the highest score of 100 was recorded for “crypto casino”. The level of interest in this topic was at its lowest in the week ending on June 3, 2023 when the term “crypto casino” represented a minuscule portion of all Google searches in the country for a score of 0.

Source: Google Trends, Retrieved on October 10, 2023

Gambling Cryptocurrencies and Tokens Ranked by Market Capitalization

Data from Statista shows casino and gambling secured the 30th place based on the number of initial coin offerings by industry, with 167 ICO projects as of March 2020. Initial coin offerings are similar to initial public offerings on stock exchanges, only the former enable companies looking to launch new coins, apps, or services to raise money for this purpose.

Considering this, we decided it would be interesting to look into the most popular crypto gambling tokens and coins, ranked by market capitalization. Using information from the independent crypto data aggregator CoinGecko, we arranged the gambling tokens in descending order, starting with the projects with the largest market cap. Rollbit Coin landed on the first spot with a $42.5 million market cap, followed by SX Network ($63.8 million), FunToken ($46.3 million), Decentral Games ($10.2 million), and WINR Protocol ($6.8 million).

Source: CoinGecko Cryptocurrency Data Aggregator (October 10, 2023)