Blockchain markets are having an increasing influence on gambling markets around the world and it is no different in China.
Asia’s rising power has been developing a stronger interest in digital currency for a few years now and it is ahead of the curve compared to many of its global rivals in this department.
The growth of the internet in developing nations such as China is expected to be huge in the coming months and years, opening up huge new audiences for the gambling sector.
Online casinos are well placed to take advantage of this boom in the number of potential customers and blockchain markets are going to be involved in the process as well.
Gambling and the law in China
One major blockage to gambling blockchain markets is the country’s strictly enforced rules against online gambling.
Laws on the practice have been relaxed in countries such as the United States in the last couple of years and it is not out of the question that China could opt to follow suit. The state-owned national lottery is currently the only form of gambling that is permitted for Chinese consumers. As it stands, many different websites are blocked to users logging into the internet in China, although many people use a virtual private network – or VPN for short – to get round the firewall.
CEO of blockchain online casino BlockDraw and cryptocurrency expert Darin Oliver does not feel the law is going to stand in people’s way of accessing online gambling in China. “When you have these new opportunities for a financial industry to occur, and you have growth occurring in certain sectors, it represents an incredible opportunity which is why I’m very bullish on online gambling, particularly crypto-only online gambling,” he told Inside Asian Gaming recently.
There could be 120 million new internet users in China within the next five years, so the potential for growth mentioned by Oliver is absolutely huge. Gambling companies, including those who have opened the doors to blockchain markets, are poised to take full advantage as a result.
Why is cryptocurrency on the rise in China?
Blockchain usage has been rising in China for various reasons. One of the top factors is that cryptocurrencies are particularly appealing to people in countries where the national currency has a history of being unstable. Options such as Bitcoin are, therefore, quite attractive.
According to BlockDraw’s Oliver, who was speaking at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last year, blockchain money being so movable is another reason why it stands out as a good option for people in China. And this, in turn, provides a challenge for a government that has indicated it wants to clamp down on the use of blockchain markets.
Indeed, a report late last year by the Financial Times claimed that China is even hoping to become the first country in the world to launch its own digital currency. This would be aimed at getting ahead of the market when it comes to the rise of blockchain. President Xi Jinping has publicly called for China to have more of a focus on cryptocurrency and work is underway to make this happen through a project known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment.
But when the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) does launch the digital currency, it may not be anything like Bitcoin or other cryptos that people in the country and elsewhere are already familiar with. Mu Changchun, who runs the PBOC’s digital currency research institute, has indicated that maintaining anonymity will be possible through the new currency, but its usage will be closely monitored by the state in order to try to prevent criminal activity in the country.
Singapore, Canada, and Switzerland are among the other major nations to have been exploring digital currencies but, according to Bain & Company partner Thomas Olsen, it is likely that China will succeed in becoming the first country to be ready to launch. It may not be in the form of a blockchain market per se, but the influence on cryptocurrency on China cannot be denied.
Steps have already been taken to move China towards becoming a cashless society – the coronavirus pandemic has sped up the process in the last few weeks and months – and the arrival of a digital currency could see cash be all but forgotten in the country within a decade.
Cryptocurrency and online gambling in China
Despite online gambling being banned in China, this does not mean consumers in the country are not able to bet through the internet. VPN usage is common, and a lot of online casino sites allow Chinese customers to sign up and play their games.
China hopes launching its own cryptocurrency will help it in the fight against online casinos. But many believe that is a battle that China and its government simply cannot ever hope to win.
Angie Harper from Flashcasino comments:
“Many people in China already get around the Great Firewall to play their favourite casino games and this pastime will only become more widespread. With millions more people in China set to get online for the first time in the near future, online gambling is likely to grow fast in the country despite the government’s best efforts.”
Many online casinos have already allowed customers to use blockchain as a payment method with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin able to be used to make both deposits and withdrawals. This could be the future of online gambling in China, but with the government aiming to control the flow of money with its own digital currency, the use of blockchain remains unpredictable.
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