Online Gaming And Gambling See Surge In Blockchain Usage

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shelter-at-home and lockdown orders issued out, as a result, has caused brick-and-mortar betting stores and casinos to close their doors. However, this could just be the tipping point the online gambling and gaming industry needs to take dominance.

COVID-induced Gambling Rise

An analysis done by Gamesindustry.biz made it clear that 50 key global markets saw a rise in game sales by 63% within 2020. These figures saw sharp spikes when the countries themselves went into lockdown. An example of this would be France: The country saw an increase of more than 180% when it comes to downloads during the country’s first week of lockdown. This period, in particular, stretched from the 16th to the 22nd of March, 2020. In a similar vein, when Italy and spawn went into their respective lockdowns, each country saw a 174.9% and 142.8% increase in downloads, respectively.

Gamerji and Paytm First Games both stand as gaming portals that have seen large increases in users for their respective platforms. Gamerji saw a 50% spike, while Paytm First Games managed to grow by 200%.

Massive Number Increase Across The Board

There are regulations that stem the growth of online gambling, but even those regulations couldn’t stop the surge in the sector as everyone was forced inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A prime example of this was shown by Nasdaq.com, which showed that New Jersey saw a 66% growth in internet gambling revenues, excluding sports betting. In March alone, New Jersey saw $65 million in revenue, with these numbers making more than $700 million for 2020 in revenue more than possible. This is almost twice that of 2019’s revenue, which was recorded at $483 million.

AlphaBeta Australia, as well as credit bureau illion Australia Pty Ltd, showed that there had been a 67% increase in online gambling for the month of April, 2020. This came as a result of all non-essential services being shut down within Australia.

Natural Trend Of Increased Crypto Use

However, more and more of these gaming and gambling sites seem to be based on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, as CoinTelegraph had reported. Bling, a crypto gaming company, saw a rise of almost 50% in users during the month of March.

One of the reasons why blockchain is rising so much in gambling, is that many players prefer it over conventional payments. This is due to its minimized risk of identity theft and hacking, with the decentralized nature of crypto allowing for anonymity.