With the advent of Rollbit, GambleFi has become the following compelling narrative that has captured the attention of many, and this should not come as a surprise.
Greed and the desire to get rich are inherent in human nature, and since time immemorial, gambling has fed this desire of man. Across the developed and developing world, stagnant wage growth coupled with skyrocketing inflation and unaffordable housing has driven a whole generation of disenfranchised youths and young adults to take more significant risks in the hope of a better future.
The allure of GambleFi can prove difficult to resist for this generation in particular.
How blockchain resolves issues of traditional gambling
Traditional gambling is plagued by many issues that revolve around trust. The player placing a bet has to trust that the centralized gambling operator will act in good faith, fairly and impartially. In contrast, the centralized gambling operator has to trust that the player does not cheat similarly.
However, in traditional gambling, there isn’t a foolproof way for players to verify if gambling operators use certified random number generators and for gambling operators to confirm if players are engaged in any form of casino cheating conspiracy.
On-chain gambling solves these issues by having a smart contract act as an independent intermediary that would only execute within the transparent and established guidelines stipulated by the gambling operator.
As such, both the gambling operator and the player are bound by this smart contract. When a bet is placed, and the player has won, the gambling operator will have to honour it, and the use of crypto as a payment method means players can withdraw their winnings almost instantly at a potentially lower cost. Gambling operators also benefit from not having to depend on traditional banking institutions or third-party providers.
How Rollbit will take the world by storm
The online gambling industry is a USD 60 billion industry, and even if Rollbit were to take a small slice of the pie, the upside would be significant. Rollbit’s users can onboard and navigate the platform with ease. A whole suite of rewards awaits these users.
You may have heard crypto learning platforms issuing NFTs to grant access to learning materials, but Rollbit has taken a step further. Rollbit issued a collection of 10,000 NFTs called Rollbots to onboard users, and through these NFTs grant users VIP status, a share of the profits and additional rewards. Instead of having many tokens to earn rewards, Rollbit has decided to keep things simple.
The rewards program is tiered, straightforward and generous.
The games on Rollbit are provably fair. A new secret seed is randomly generated at the beginning of each round before a bet is placed, with the cryptographic hash of the secret seed shown before the commencement of each round before any bets are placed.
The secret seed is only revealed at the end of each round; anyone can verify this round’s outcome. To comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, Rollbit requires KYC, but users can deposit crypto or onramp with credit and debit cards as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Why you should pay attention to Arcadeum
Arcadeum epitomizes a decentralized betting platform on Arbitrium that is fully verifiable on-chain and enables self-custody. By partnering with API3 to devise Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG), Arcadeum ensures that the random number generation is tamperproof.
Gambling is a social activity, and Arcadeum seeks to connect people through a fun online betting platform where players can independently verify transactions on the platform and each other’s solvency. In terms of tokenomics, Arcadeum references those of GMX and Curve; it is designed to maximize fee-sharing, minimize sell pressure and reward platform users’ loyalty.
The four main tokens include $ARC, the main native token with a capped 10mio supply, and other derivatives of $ARC. sARC (Staked $ARC) enables stakers to accrue 15% of the platform’s fees, xARC, converted from burning $ARC, rewards loyal holders with 70% of the platform’s fees and esARC (inspired by esGMX) that users receive when staking $ARC. esARC accrues 15% of the platform’s fees and is backed 1:1 by $ARC.
esARC can be unvested into $ARC. However, there is a 1-year vesting period, and no protocol fees will be accrued. The last token, $ALP, is an LP token that does not earn any protocol fees but receives players’ losses and pays out players’ winnings in USDT. Liquidity providers get a cut of the yield generated in proportion to their deposits.
Conclusion
While GambleFi sounds promising, it depends on the demand for on-chain gambling. It remains to be seen whether there will be a strong and sustainable demand for on-chain gambling. Many of these projects are still in their infancy stages. A sustainable demand with significant volumes translates to higher fees and hence profitability.
The profitability of these protocols will attract investors to provide liquidity and invest in these protocols, which is vital for these projects to take off. Greater regulatory scrutiny can also challenge the success of these protocols, as gambling is ultimately a vice that is not encouraged.
Also Read: The Arbitrum Casino: An Overview of the Cryptocurrency On-chain Gaming Narrative
[Editor’s Note: This article does not represent financial advice. Please do your research before investing.]
This article is done by our freelance writer, Clarence Lee
Featured Image Credit: Chain Debrief
