To say that Bitcoin gambling is gaining momentum would be an understatement. There are fully featured casinos, sportsbooks and poker rooms being created to work with BTC every week. The open source roots of the digital currency itself have transferred into the casinos – most of which are multi-device compatible, though in my experience there is still work to do when it comes to iPhones.
This guide takes you through the different options for BTC casinos on your iPhone. First of all, you’ll find an overview of what to expect from Bitcoin casinos, which have a wide range in their development levels. Next some examples of iPhone Bitcoin casinos in the different categories are outlined. Finally, you’ll find a guide to making Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals using your iPhone.
Any Bitcoin casino worth it’s salt will have a mobile version so that you can play on your iPhone. Here, we’ve listed the best casinos that offer the mobile function.
Many Bitcoin casinos look very retro, while others are fully featured – with the latest technology and video games. You’ll find plenty of amateur sites, which have simple games like ‘Dice’, ‘Minesweeper’ or lottery games. These are created by enthusiasts, and include technology which proves that the games are fair. This takes the form of an encrypted string from the game server, which is combined with random numbers from your own machine. They can be used after the hand / roll / spin to prove that the result was random. You can expect these simple games to have a low house edge and instant Bitcoin transactions.
There is another tier of simple casinos, which include only a small number of games – an example would be the SatoshiBet casino. These sites have different casino games and provably fair technology, though are decidedly retro in their look and feel. These games are in-browser titles, which normally work using HTML5. Many games are Flash-powered and will not work on your iPhone without an emulator. Most of the casinos have sites which do not properly render on iPhone screens at this point. Of those that do, it is difficult to navigate, especially where there was a ‘mouse over’ behaviour which gave you further choices on the homepage.
The latest casinos include games from major software makers including BetSoft and SoftSwiss. These casinos are up there with the latest you can expect from mainstream casinos. You’ll find video slots and a choice of table games – often with multiple variations of the most popular games. These casinos do not include the provably fair technology. Instead they are licensed, and have external testing for their game fairness. These casino games are instant-play titles. The BetSoft games at Bitcasino.io would not work on my iPhone, though the SoftSwiss games rendered fine.
Here are some established casinos you can check out via your iPhone today:
SatoshiBet Casino: This one is very basic, very retro and proud of it. You will find 9 entertaining games here, all of which are provably fair. The big selling point is that you do not need to register if you do not wish to at this casino – instead playing via a unique URL. The games are not visually attractive, and that is a big part of their charm.
Bitoomba Casino: Provably fair games are taken to a higher level at Bitoomba, whose titles you can find at casinos using the ‘PlayFors’ casino platform. There are table games, slots and BTC specifics like ‘Dice’. Unfortunately, the homepage does not allow you to get to the games on an iPhone (you can tap them, nothing happens).
BetChain Casino: SoftSwiss are a new casino software provider which has created some smooth table games and fresh new slots. The table games play differently to those at other casinos. One example is that the dealer does not reveal their hand in casino poker games after you have folded. This was the only ‘advanced’ Bitcoin casino which I was able to get the games working for, the only glitch being a lingering ‘sound on /off’ choice when loading a slot (this did disappear eventually).
BitCasino.io: This casino uses the acclaimed CoinGaming platform and is a fully featured casino with more than 100 titles from software houses including BetSoft. If you have not yet seen their 3d Slots, then they are worth checking out – on a computer. I was not able to get this working at all on my iPhone and the homepage did not adjust to the screen size.
Apple has not allowed Bitcoin Wallets into the app store. This means you have the choice of taking the risk with an unsupported or checked app, or using a cloud based wallet instead. I recommend you go down the cloud route. This should be plenty secure enough for smaller numbers of Bitcoins.
You can get an online wallet for free from any of the major exchanges including BTC-E and CoinBase – where you’ll also be able to buy those initial coins.
With a wide choice of games at casinos ranging from basic to fully-featured – you can play at Bitcoin casinos on your iPhone right now. Check out the games for yourself soon.
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