The Pros and Cons of Smart Contract Betting

Most people around the world as still finding out about smart contracts and how they are going to revolutionize most industries when used in conjunction with blockchain technology. Last year and this year has seen many new launches of brand new decentralized betting platforms that are powered by smart contract tech to provide a fully automated and completely secure environment for gambling online.

Pros Of Smart Contract Betting

There are more pros than cons when it comes to smart contract betting platforms as they have been purposely developed to transform the industry for the better. Blockchain technology features many key aspects that are perfectly suited to gambling activity which include: cryptographic security, distributed data, expansion capacity along with immutability.

1. Automates A Decentralized Gambling Environment – The main feature that smart contracts provide betting platforms is that they enable them to run autonomously. This is a vital aspect as it keeps the platform completely secure as no third-party can change the outcome of results or stop payouts.
2. Higher Paying Betting Odds – Smart contract automation dramatically cuts the operation costs of a betting platform as it eliminates the need for human operators. These cost savings can be passed on in the form of higher odds that pay out more than traditional online bookmakers.
3. Distributed Share Of Betting Profits – Traditional online bookmakers have been set up with the sole purpose of making a profit from those that use its system. Decentralized smart contract gambling platforms are different as they can be set up to redistribute the profits to the user base.

Cons Of Smart Contract Betting

1. Blockchain Speed – One of the main areas that developers need to overcome is the limitation of the blockchain speed when it comes to confirming transactions. As a payment form, it is extremely fast but when used to confirm betting transactions it has limitations. It does not affect crypto sports betting as there is not a requirement for speed to place bets but for casino games sites that use the blockchain this is a problem.
2. New Concept – Smart contract technology is a new concept therefore it has not been heavily tested enough to ensure that there are no bugs. Over time all these issues will be resolved but as we are just at the start of this implementation there will be a few errors along the way.
3. Token Volatility – If you have invested in a crypto gambling ICO or have purchased any cryptocurrency over the last few years, you will have seen major volatility in the price movement. Only invest what you can afford to lose and never assume something is a sure winner as things can change fast in the crypto space.

The Current State Of Smart Contract Betting

It has been an exciting year so far with regards to smart contract betting as a number of new platforms have launched which showcases the latest developments of this groundbreaking technology. Platforms such as Wagerr, Agura, ESBC, YOUnited are leading the way but in 2020 expect even more developers to enter the space. Billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency tokens have already been wagered at these new concepts and are growing at a rapid pace as gamblers start to understand the advantages.

Final Thoughts

Smart contracts are going to revolutionize industries worldwide and in the process are going to replace human administrators of their jobs. In the gambling world, they are a vital component as the enable decentralized platforms to run autonomously, therefore, stopping human error and fraud from being able to take place. The price volatility is an issue but stable coins along with tokens linked to the price of the top-performing cryptos such as Ethereum and EOS will help to keep prices more stable.