Bit Coin Casinos Review

Editor's note: the casino being discussed here (BitCasino.io) is using pirated NetEnt software and should be avoided like the plague.


I was asked to post an update of when I did receive my funds from my sale of Bit Coins. So here's the story.

Let me first start off saying Bit Coins are not for those are the feint of heart for wanting to move there money around. Mainly because the value of bit coins go up and down frequently. Like I stated in my previous thread, I bought $10.00 worth of Bit Coins. Then it turned into $9.99, then went up to $10.05, then down to $10.01 and back to $10.00. I also bought $5.00 worth of bit coins that had the same similar effect.

How it worked on depositing into the casino was I sent my bit coin purchase to the casino via a unique Bit Coin address they assigned me. Then within a few minutes I got confirmation my bit coin deposit was available. Somehow though during the send my bit coins value had gone up. Leaving me literally a $0.01 worth of bitcoins after making 2 different deposits.

So anywho, I got to play for a bit at a casino called BitCasino.io. They are licensed in Curacao and offer casinos games which you can bid on with Bit Coins.

They offer slots, video poker, video based table games, and even live games such as Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. What interested me the most was being able to play Aristocrat games, even despite me being in the US.

So anywho my first deposit was down the tubes, not terribly fast. It did take me a good solid 20 minutes to loose my $10.00. Yet I was satisfied with my play time. So I made a second deposit of $5.00. This was the one that was a winner. I played a few more games and had a rather nice pay day. I ended up cashing out 0.60 bit coins worth $222.04.

Now because I wanted to play smart, I ended up cashing out only 0.50 bit coins, and leaving the rest in my wallet for play later. Which amounted to $189.04, which after the wallet withdrawal fee of $2.04 I ended up cashing out $187.00.

Now I ended up cashing out with online wallet provider Coinbase, because I had already had them setup with my banking information. As circle the other online wallet I had used. I had not setup with my banking information, mainly because I was only interested in using them for depositing with my bank card.

Anywho I executed the sale on Saturday October 11, 2014. This morning my bank finally confirmed the funds had indeed arrived in full as promised. So it took a little over a week for the sale to happen. Is this a typical sale turn around? I have no idea honestly.

I decided after waiting over a week for Coinbase to execute my withdrawal. I decided that was a bit long especially considering I bank at a national bank and there wasn't any way it should have taken nearly that long to get a deposit put into my account. So my next attempt at a Bit Coin casino will probably result in my trying out Circle for a withdrawal. As I have just given them all of my banking details and will hopefully have that verified within the week.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to respond. I'm not greatly knowledgeable about this type of currency nor playing atmosphere yet. Yet it feels good knowing the fact that if there was an issue with my transfer that Coinbase was a registered money transmitter and everything was on the up and up with them.

Thanks for providing all this detail. It's really helpful to understand the process from someone who's "been there done that".
I have done some research since your initial posts and have 2 questions related to the purchase and sale process.

1. Did you purchase your bitcoin through your wallet or through an exchange and have it sent to the wallet.
2. It sounds like the wallet processed the bitcoin back to $$'s for you. Did you have to go to an exchange to sell the bitcoin or did the wallet handle that as well?

so in summary, did the wallet handle all the buying and selling for you or did you have manipulate the exchange on your own.

thanks again.

Cheetah, what kinds of documents did you need to provide, if any? Was it a standard verification procedure, or perhaps none? Thanks.

Googobucs said:

Thanks for providing all this detail. It's really helpful to understand the process from someone who's "been there done that".
I have done some research since your initial posts and have 2 questions related to the purchase and sale process.

1. Did you purchase your bitcoin through your wallet or through an exchange and have it sent to the wallet.
2. It sounds like the wallet processed the bitcoin back to $$'s for you. Did you have to go to an exchange to sell the bitcoin or did the wallet handle that as well?

so in summary, did the wallet handle all the buying and selling for you or did you have manipulate the exchange on your own.

thanks again.

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To answer question #1
I purchase the Bit Coin directly from Circle. Basically I told them a USD amount I wanted to deposit. Then from there they converted the USD amount to the value of Bit coin. The same would go with Coinbase, even though Coinbase can only accept actual credit cards (not debit, prepaid, or gift) or bank accounts for purchasing bit coin.

Answer #2
After I waited for my bit coins to be confirmed from the casino. Which took about 2 hours. I was able to cash out directly from Coinbase, without the need for any additional hoops. So they sold the coin for me, and turned it into cash in my bank account for me.

nisosbar said:

Cheetah, what kinds of documents did you need to provide, if any? Was it a standard verification procedure, or perhaps none? Thanks.

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Basically, you must at least a bare minimums provide them with a bank account (or in circles case just a debit card is fine). Then they'll establish a limit for you based off that. Then you can increase your limits, by doing things such as verifying your cell phone number, registering and answering a few questions about your social security number based off of a credit report, adding a credit card (or in circles case you can add a debit card), offering information about yourself, or even making a purchase helps you become verified. No documents are necessary unless if you fail one of the automated checks.

Thanks, Cheetah - I meant, with the casino - what documents do they require prior to first time cashing out?

Oh sorry, I misunderstood...

The way I understood it, if you cash out more than 1 full bit coin (right now roughly $380.00), you may be asked for some sort of verification. What that would be I have no idea. Even though they also go on to say for smaller amounts they can request verification as well.

So far knock on wood, I haven't had to provide any sort of documents or verification. Yet if the case does arise, I'll let you know what was required of me to send.

I'd suggest you to try casino called bitstars, our recent project. They offer bets in bitcoins as well as in real money

What software is it, any live play like at the casino I just mentioned?

SlotMonster said:

I'd suggest you to try casino called bitstars, our recent project. They offer bets in bitcoins as well as in real money

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I noticed them in the reviews and saw they used a software I never hear of called Soft Swiss which made me kind of skip past them.

Now that I see your the rep for them, I'll have to go back and give it a second read.

I also saw 1 offering Playtech that requires no documents or any info other than an e-mail address and takes USA.

It looks interesting if you have the patience; which most gambles lack, to work the process.

I guess seeing that it's Microgaming software, is it US friendly? Last I knew Microgaming pulled completely out of the US market.

bitcoins is awesome since it is totally anonymous and withdrawals in most cases are instant. No more stupid ewallets or anything like this. Just need some time till great bitcoin casinos appear. I did not like casino you mention, BitCasino.io , get NDB from them and want to try their novomatic games. It appears that this games are just clones(not original) and laggy. No, thanks, i saw this millions time in our russian oriented casinos.
re bitstars (while slotmonster not here). Yes it's softswiss, yes this casino have live games. Also there is new MG games, but afaik USA still should be IP blocked(for MG games)

I would be cautious of some of these bitcoin casino software operators. I noticed that some are offering Aristocrat slots such as miss kitty, 50 lions, sun and moon, wild panda etc. I highly doubt that they have approval from Aristocrat to be providing these slots to US players in a real money mode. In fact, its possible the are ripped off versions as I have noticed some with some less than desirable paytables compared to the real version of the game. I noticed on Miss Kitty and Pelican Pete that the paytables are not the same as the standard ones and are giving you less coins for all the payouts than should be. I will say I enjoy the ease of depositing and having the funds in there in a matter of seconds and withdrawls are pretty speedy as well but the software providers running these casinos I do not trust. I tried a few casinos the other day with some spare bitcoins I had in my wallet from a few years ago when I bought several when they were $5-$10 a coin. It took at least a couple days for me to fire up and update the Bitcoin client and get it up to date what a pain that was.

SlotMonster said:

I'd suggest you to try casino called bitstars, our recent project. They offer bets in bitcoins as well as in real money

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I created an account at BitStars and logged in to look around and test it in fun mode. Of course as soon as I actually logged in, all the games I would want to play are suddenly gone or have a lock on them.

Very deceiving IMO if they are showing these on the home page when hitting it from a USA IP address and then blocking them once I log into an account.

Not a good way to start or be a "star".

Edit to add: To be fair, I found the Playtech site to be real garbage as well.

bowlingbob said:

I would be cautious of some of these bitcoin casino software operators. I noticed that some are offering Aristocrat slots such as miss kitty, 50 lions, sun and moon, wild panda etc. I highly doubt that they have approval from Aristocrat to be providing these slots to US players in a real money mode. In fact, its possible the are ripped off versions as I have noticed some with some less than desirable paytables compared to the real version of the game. I noticed on Miss Kitty and Pelican Pete that the paytables are not the same as the standard ones and are giving you less coins for all the payouts than should be. I will say I enjoy the ease of depositing and having the funds in there in a matter of seconds and withdrawls are pretty speedy as well but the software providers running these casinos I do not trust. I tried a few casinos the other day with some spare bitcoins I had in my wallet from a few years ago when I bought several when they were $5-$10 a coin. It took at least a couple days for me to fire up and update the Bitcoin client and get it up to date what a pain that was.

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I'm not sure exactly where you played your Aristocrat games, yet the pay tables are pretty much the same as what I have seen in a land based casino. From what I have seen, as for the rip off part. The games seem pretty much identical, sound the same, play the same. So they may have licensed the real games, just not told Aristocrat where they were going to be used.
Then again being an Australian based company, they may not care as much as someone like IGT or WMS either.

Well a minor update, because there was some accusations thrown around about the games not being possibly the same ones or not being licensed.

I did today get an e-mail update, which I have asked if I can summarize it in public. Which I was given permission to.

Basically in a nut shell, Bit Casino.io does have a license for Aristocrat games through a provider called Keld Games, which is one of the online providers of Aristocrat software. So the games and software are genuine.

As for the pay tables not being the same, they did offer the suggestion if you believe the pay tables are different. They could be using a different RTP setting than the games your used to playing. Which could affect the pay out of the game itself.

Yet upon a review myself, I can't find any differences between the real Pelican Pete and 50 Lions games. Unless if your talking about the difference between online and land based.

Which I have found most online and land based versions tend to be different in my experience. Like some of the WMS games were completely rewritten for the online versions of themselves. So the bonus and the pay lines were a bit different. That could be the case with Aristocrat.

Would you care to maybe point out some of the differences you have seen? Just mainly I don't play these games enough on the land side, because I play WMS more than Aristocrat. So I don't have the how the bonuses play and how the main games play memorized.

homerbert said:

Usa players should take a look at bitcoin i think, probably best option for you.
Sorry about your troubles, but never had anything like this, since i never deposit with my card, only skrill.

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To not derail the VISA thread I am continuing this point here:

I have been doing a fair amount of research on bitcoin since Cheetahwind posted his experience last month.

I have e-mailed several casino support folks and asked some questions and read a lot of info on the wallet and exchange sites. I like to think that I am somewhat reasonable intelligent and I find this to be a very complex system to navigate.
The rate changes like the wind and it seems that not all wallets are created equal.

I found a wallet I liked ( Coinbase) and opened an account. Did not buy any bitcoin just learning. Then one casino support tells me I have to use a real Bitcoin exchange Wallet not a shared wallet like coinbase.

The more complicated it gets the less patience or interest I have.

lol well, I could be a her, but my wife would tend to be a bit ummm upset

Anywho, most places will see Coinbase as a valid bit coin issuer. The main issue most places have with a place like Coinbase is the fact, that your storing your coins in a cloud based atmosphere. Versus on your phone or somewhere supposedly more protected. Like in the example of Mt. Gox they were a HUGE cloud based wallet bit coin supplier. They hold tons and tons of bit coins, and lots of cash. Then to be hacked and have there coins drained. Caused a huge issue.

That's why there's a huge push for people to download there wallets to there computer, smart phone, ipad, or whatever electronic device you feel won't be easily hacked or compromised. Yet honestly after reading quite a few audit reports from Coinbase. Unlike Mt. Gox I do feel Coinbase is fairly secure. Plus they have a valid money transmitter license. Not saying that amounts to much if money is stolen, but it at least makes me feel more at ease. Knowing there will be someone to complain to when things go sour. If they do.

cheetahwind said:

lol well, I could be a her, but my wife would tend to be a bit ummm upset

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LOL....I caught this and edited it just before you responded.

One casino is recommending blockchain.info but I can't figure out how the heck you actually get real $$$ in and out of it. Looks like your stuck with bitcoin.

Blockchain is one of the transmitting providers, one of my wallets uses Blockchain to initiate the request. Just ask for a bit coin address, and send them the money. They'll see it all transmits the same. The only thing Blockchain does is verifies that the Bit Coin is valid.

just curious, is there any advantage to purchasing bitcoins online vs a bitcoin atm that you can feed cash to? and I assume get cash out

I would think it would be a more a matter of the fees. Like both Coinbase and Circle charge you a fee, when you buy and sell Bit Coin. So I suppose it would be a matter of how much cheaper or more expensive the ATM fees would be honestly.
If I ever come across a Bit Coin ATM in my travels. I'll let you know my experience, yet last I knew we didn't have any in my part of the country. Yet I suppose I've never bothered looking considering I find buying them online just be just as convenient.

cheetahwind said:

I would think it would be a more a matter of the fees. Like both Coinbase and Circle charge you a fee, when you buy and sell Bit Coin. So I suppose it would be a matter of how much cheaper or more expensive the ATM fees would be honestly.
If I ever come across a Bit Coin ATM in my travels. I'll let you know my experience, yet last I knew we didn't have any in my part of the country. Yet I suppose I've never bothered looking considering I find buying them online just be just as convenient.

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Thanks for the info, seems like the coinvault atm, follow the market so right now is 373 however those do not seem anoymous because it reads your palm print, I still will see what the fee is when I try this coming weekend

john39 said:

Thanks for the info, seems like the coinvault atm, follow the market so right now is 373 however those do not seem anoymous because it reads your palm print, I still will see what the fee is when I try this coming weekend

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The first thing I noticed when I searched for bitcoin ATMs in my area was the price. There are actually quite a few around here which surprised me and the web site lists the current trading price for each location.
They are way out of line with the current market.
The ATM's are listing at around $400 while coinbase is listing at $366.

I would tread cautiously here. Don't dive in blindly.

A Bitcoin casino reply

I e-mailed a bunch of questions to BC-Casino. They are a Playtech bitcoin casino.
Below are my questions and their responses for anyone interested. They offer a 20% bonus on every deposit so my first questions are about that.


1. Is the bonus automatically applied to my deposit or do I have to do something to initiate it?
-> The bonus are automatically applied on each deposits with bitcoins


2. Can I opt out of receiving the bonus? If yes how?
-> No you can't


3. What the wager requirements associated with the bonus and what games count for what % of the WR?
-> We have no WR or any prohibited games. The bonus given will be removed at withdrawal time.


4. Are there any game restrictions associated with the bonus? Any games that can’t be played or void the bonus?
-> No, none.


5. Is there any max cash out tied to the bonus?
-> No

Banking questions
1. What is your verification process? What documents need to be submitted and how do they need to be submitted? Do you require notarized documents sent to some place like the Philippines as other Playtech casino’s often require.
-> No, only a valid email address is required to play in our bitcoin only casino.


2. What is the daily, weekly, monthly maximum withdraw limit including progressive jack pots?
-> No limits, any limit is automatically paid out back to your bitcoin wallet. Please note that you need to use a compatible wallet i.e. official bitcoin wallet, multibit, blockchain.info etc. Coinbase or any other shared address wallet is not supported.


3. How frequently do you process withdraw requests? What is the process? Do you process them immediately or do you wait a certain time period like 24 or 48 hours before processing. Do you process every day? Do you process on weekends?
-> Withdrawals are process almost instantly for small gains. Bigger winning are validated manually by our team and are processed within 4 hours of the withdrawal request.

Other
1. Do you offer any live chat or phone support in English?
-> No sorry, only email support is available.

I went back to BC-Casino with a follow-up question about the wallet process and told them I was going to post there response in a forum for others that may be interested.
I still don't know if I'll try this, but it's some good info if your interested.

They had a good comprehensive response to me:
Question:
I had previously opened a wallet with coinbase. I have not purchased bitcoin yet, I am still investigating. You mention that I should use an official bitcoin wallet like blockchain.info.

I had a look at the blockchain.info web site and everything looks straight forward except I can’t find a way to purchase bitcoin and then send it back to my bank in US funds.
I understand that blockchain is much more secure, so should I use coinbase to purchase the bitcoin and then send it to blockchain for storage and use for gaming. Then send it back from Blockchain to coinbase when I want to convert it back to my bank in US funds?

Is there an easier way to do this? Did I way over complicate the process? I also looked at multibit briefly but this does not look like I place I want to put my money quite honestly.

thanks for any help or guidance you can provide
Response
This is correct. You should use an exchange i.e Coinbase to buy bitcoins for fiat and then send them from there to a wallet that enable you to own the private keys of your address. It is good practice to transfer out funds you do not need for trading to a local wallet or online wallets that let you own the private keys i.e blockchain.info, darkwallet ...


When you finish playing in a casino transfer your funds back to your wallet thus no need for you to trust that the casino will be online tomorrow or disappear with your funds. Transfers in bitcoins are almost free (few cents depending on conversion rates) and almost instant.


Your mentioned process is absolutely correct and also the current best practice. Coinbase -> Blockchain.info/Local Wallet -> Casino -> Blockchian.info/Local Wallet -> Coinbase/Coldstorage.


You can also use smart phones with wallet apps like Mycelium (for Android) to keep your bitcoins secure. When you deposit using smart phones you can simply scan a QR code to make the deposit.


The revolution with bitcoin is that you can be your own bank and stay in full control of your coins (money) without need to trust any third parties. Should coinbase disappear (not very likely) it will let you unaffected. Keep in mind or advise your forum readers that keeping bitcoins on internet connected devices also have risks. You should always use strong passwords for your wallets and use best practice to secure your devices from malware and viruses as well as keep backups of the private keys (wallet).