Topic: Bovada removing bitcoin as payment option (Read 295 times)

It is true that a lot fewer people are seeing Bitcoin as a usable currency any more and it is becoming simply a traded commodity. I guess if you are a pure speculator then it is better as a commodity like Gold, which is much easier to move around and has a very liquid market of buyers. However volatile assets like Bitcoin can be a bad thing (or a good) for gamblers depending on which way the price moves. The general trend has been up for a long time now, so if you bet money and lose - you lose even more as the price continues to rise after you handed over your crypto to the casino. It'd be better to bet in something like USDT instead that you know has a fairly reliable value that will not fluctuate anywhere near as much.

The owners of a casino can operate it in any way they want, after all it is their property, however since they are operating something which needs the support of the public to succed then it would make sense if they consulted their customers about some important moves before actually doing them, some speculate this has to do with some new regulations but that does not really explain why they kept altcoins while dropping bitcoin support at the same time.

ralle14 cleared things up, check his post(1). Bovada is not removing BTC as a payment method on its platform. they are only removing "mBTC" denomination. depositing in BTC will still be available according to the subreddit thread ralle14 shared on his post.

For me the moral of this story is their connection to Calvin and his connection to Craig Wright is enough for me to say it's time to find a new option to use going forward.  I have to say I've been very happy with Bovada since I started using them several years ago, they've always had very solid customer support etc, but I just can't support the possibility of their ownership, personally.

They should do a poll or a consensus at least even if their decision is final so they know the sentiment or opinion of their players, It's their loss anyway, My country is restricted in that country and I'm not very familiar with this casino, anyway they will soon find out if many players will prefer to play on other casinos because of their decision to do away with Bitcoin, I hope there will be no more casinos who will act like that

They do not give the real reason they stopped accepting bitcoin and members could only follow their new rules if they still want to play there. Even if there is a conflict with the regulator, they will not tell the public about that problem and keep it for themselves. But hopefully, that is just temporary so their members will hear something related to that news and if Bovada can accept bitcoin again, that will make their members happy.

mBTC denomination is only for whales, even uBTC denomination is too expensive for me. I did uBTC bet when the price was $6k-$7k, but now it's just no way!
Therefore, it has no effect as long as users can deposit BTC and play with its fiat value, which is pretty much best practice on crypto casinos.
Anyway, if they really remove BTC as deposit/withdraw method, then it's their loss as we can pick other hundreds of crypto casinos to play.

They probably don't like losing so much bitcoin out of their pockets especially right now that the prices are going high and at the same time the prices are hovering at values that's really significant and has no sign of going down much further than that. I think it's actually a good thing, gamblers won't waste their bitcoin and can hold on to it much longer.

I'm sure that they're doing it for a reason. It's either they're affected by the regulation or having a hard time dealing with high gas fees. Whatever it is, I don't think it would affect Bitcoin negatively but it would rather affect their site especially if they have a huge number of Bitcoin users.

What a stupid move. Why would you remove a method of payment that is efficient, quick, safe and had already implemented in their platform that is what may cost more money at the beginning. They do not seem to have given an explanation which means that there may actually be a fault or a security hole in their implementation and this may then be a forced solution to it. Oddly enough they do accept other cryptos.

This is shocking news most especially to those bovada users. I don't really see any reasons other than regulation or business issues that lead them to remove bitcoin as a payment option. I don't really think it would be because of transaction fees, because if so, then they should also remove ETH, right? Given the high transaction fee ETH has right now, being one of the top coins alongside bitcoin, this is just pure gibberish if it was the reason, but I doubt it. Maybe they have problems with bitcoin regulation? Or maybe they have personal issues they are attending to right now, and one of the possible ways they see to deal with it is to remove bitcoin temporarily.

Let's just hope it's just for the meantime only. Otherwise, users who find conflict in such sudden moves will have no choice but to change a betting site. After all, there are so many platforms to engage with. I must say that the competition amongst the betting sites is strong and close. Hence, gambling sites should always think of all the possible repercussions of their planned action before doing so, because there are customers that would be affected. If they would disregard the welfare of their customers, they might end up losing so much. A notice would surely be much appreciated most especially since this industry is connected with money.

Maybe there's a conflict on the regulatory requirements, you know the regulations change from time to time and I believe Bovada would love to continue accepting bitcoin if there's no problem with their regulators. I'm trying to find the reason online but there's no article stating about it, so we will be left speculating here.

Maybe the removal of bitcoin to its payment options is as  a result of the drop in  bitcoin price which happened recently and also technically speaking is a lose of money on their side, so they could be trying to prevent this.


But from where they are operating from thought cryptocurrencies are no enemy of the law....so i dont think this is the reason.

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But are they scraping off bitcoin entirely or they will still accept deposits & withdrawals in bitcoin but not show balances in mBTC.

have heard of the Bovada gambling site, which operates in the United States and I have never played on the Bovada gambling site, I have a question for the OP.

• Do you have a balance in your Bovada account or have you contacted the admin or the team in charge of the Bovada site about the change in payment options.
• If you have a balance there, have you ever made a withdrawal of your Bitcoin assets into USD.

I see this the second case they do: Bovada Online Casino Shuts Down MatchPay Service
regarding changes to MatchPay and Bitcoin payment options.

Perhaps, the only way you can quickly solve this problem is to contact them, in this case.

Probably due to the legality of the Bitcoin? But that's odd that they still accept other cryptocurrency, I am not a player of Bovada but as long as other cryptocurrency is allowed I think you can easily swap the mBTC you have on your account. Do they have built in exchange on their website?

Hmm odd. I see no need to remove it really and it's not like they're completely removing cryptocurrency as an option right? Cause if so, then I hardly doubt it's a regulation issue since it should touch upon the entire cryptocurrency stuff that they use, and not just Bitcoin. If however, they only accept Bitcoin then I guess the move they did is rather acceptable. Still I don't think it'd be that much damaging, Bitcoin is one of the options for crypto gambling but isn't really the best option, just a rather odd thing i guess.

Seems like a weird move to me as usually BTC is the first and in some cases even the only cryptocurrency that is accepted as a method of payment by many businesses. I also don't think that it is because of some new regulations or some new laws because in that case every cryptocurrency would be affected and not only BTC. My guess would be that the BTC chain is just to slow for them if they need to transfer BTC funds between multiple addresses regularly then it can be annoying if you have to wait hours for your transaction to go through.

I have always believed that anonymity is part of the general life of any person.  For example, people often hide data about their diseases, medical data and no one doubts that this is correct.  There are many reasons why a player wants to remain anonymous and this is perfectly understandable.
In this case, I think this is a requirement of the regulators who made a warning, and the casino is simply forced to do this in order to continue to exist at all, I do not think that this is due to the size of Bitcoin commissions.  
We can only be glad that devs warned users about this disgusting news many days in advance.  
There is time to look for a new casino and withdraw your deposit.

Maybe not?  If we take as a basis and believe in those new circumstances that are stated above

I'm also thinking about this one since mBTC is quiet different if you convert it into BTC so thanks for this clarification.

I just can't see why they will remove BTC as a payment option, are they being investigated by regulatory board? Anyway, there's still a lot of options on their site and BTC is still there, maybe they are just updating the system.

A very strange story ...

Bitcoin is the first and most popular cryptocurrency in the world.  It is very strange to refuse to accept deposits in bitcoins and (at the same time) continue to accept deposits in another cryptocurrency.  What could be the reason for this decision?  

I have no options ...

Bitcoin is not an anonymous cryptocurrency.  Bitcoin is a pseudo-anonymous currency.  There are numerous attempts to analyze Bitcoin transactions by third parties.  Maybe the ban is related to these circumstances?  

Bitcoin also has comparatively high fees compared to other cryptocurrencies.  

However, this is not a very compelling reason to impose a ban.

P.S.

But the presence of Craig Wright in this story explains a lot ...

I read it, just curious if you had anything else that would somehow prove he was truly the owner. Either way makes me feel a bit greasy, as I don’t want any part of any affiliation with that dude or his buddy the great Dr Craig Wright aka Fake Satoshi.

@ChiBitCTy. It appears he has left. However, he is the founder and was the known CEO. He is very famous and has many pictures posing with young women of different countries hehehe.

Also, read your screenshot. It is saying that many believe that Calvin Ayre is the person pulling all of the strings behind Bovada and Bodog group.

Source for Calvin being the owner?


2kings 3

It appears none of the people who has replied in the thread read the news hehe. The owner of Bovada is Calvin Ayre. His best friend in the cryptospace is the infamous Craig Wright the creator of Bitcoin hehehehe. It is Calvin Ayre’s money that supports BSV mining, development and the lawyers’ fees.

Calvin Ayre is also the owner of Coingeek publication.


Calvin Ayre (left), Adrian Grenier (center), Craig Wright (right)

Coingeek had a conference where they paid the actor from the HBO show Entourage to be an attraction of the conference. This is very much similar to Bitcoin Miami conference where the organizers paid Paris Hilton to attend.



"I am really interested in continuing to learn as much as I can about the utility of blockchain, improving my understanding of the benefits and opportunities, as well as how that balances against the environmental impact. I am looking forward to increasing my understanding of BSV, its ability to scale and of blockchain, at the CoinGeek Conference." – Adrian Grenier

Source https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adrian-grenier-announced-as-speaker-at-coingeek-conference-301392942.html

I think that they are still removing BTC balances, but essentially moving to a model where once you depo BTC it instantly gets converted to fiat.

With the bull run that we've had, people probably want to keep their BTC as BTC.

Some more clarification on this would be welcome.

Ahh very nice thanks for looking in to this, I was just getting ready to give them a call or shoot them a message. I thought that might be the case with just restricting mBTC payments, but not bitcoin. That makes a whole lot more sense, I would think if anything they’d get rid of those two absolute shitcoins in BSV and bcash.

Importantly though I think they are taking away the option to wager in native BTC denomination.

This is still very disheartening because this means that BTC is reduced down to a means of transaction and not an actual unit of account on their site.

Not the best move given that crypto enthusiasts now price most things in terms of a native crypto denomination and not fiat.

They're not removing bitcoin, it seems like they're just removing the "mBTC" denomination, they're still taking bitcoin deposits and withdrawals here's a thread posted on their subreddit.

I have to say that the announcement is indeed confusing as other users also thought bovada stopped accepting bitcoin.

Many pleople said "high rates", but I disagree with that opinion.
Bitcoin has had moments of high rates, but most of the time the rate is absurdly low.
Unless these unusually high bitcoin rates are really causing them a problem.
I do believe, however, that the problem is the speed of confirmations... 10 minutes or more to confirm a transaction can be a problem for casinos that have players eager to gamble as a customer.

Strange because of all cryptocurrency to remove, its BTC that they disallow and without notice while other coins can be used. But if what was said above is true then, its possible that this is just the start and they may scam.

They should at least have a memo about the reason.

Can't imagine BTC will be removed where in the first place, ETH also has crazy fees.

Regardless, the decision is final and users of the platform should adopt the changes.

Currently they have
Bitcoin (BTC)  | Bitcoin SV (BSV) | Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | Litecoin (LTC) | Ethereum (ETH)
payment options and since its only mBTC they had mentioned then you could still have some options on other coins.

For sure this is a forced up decision to be made because they had been pressured?  It would really be just normal if they would be having
that kind of decision.

AFAIK I think they may still be accepting other cryptos?

I'm not sure what regulatory strain they would be under to be honest. There are now a lot of U.S. listed companies that are willing to accept crypto as a form of payment.

I for one definitely do not understand this decision. If they were forced by authorities, fine, but if this was their own doing it is the wrong choice.

There were bitcoin and cryptocurrency provisions contained inside the recent US infrastructure bill passed on november 5th 2021.

Some aspects of crypto regulation will be delayed until I think 2023.

But you could definitely be correct that some regulatory aspects go into effect immediately, which is what forced bovada to drop bitcoin support on their platform.

Regulation might be the major issue causing them to stop the usage of bitcoin into gambling. Apart from that transaction cost is mentioned by most people, but that doesn't make sense. Because coins that have got high transaction fee than bitcoin is there in the updated list.

Hopefully they might be into the accumulation of bitcoin than making it into business. This is what strikes my mind when one has stopped accepting bitcoin into their service all of the sudden.

Hopefully, removal of bitcoin support by bovada, 5dimes and other sportsbooks won't precede a decrease in BTC price. As occurred back when steam and other retailers did so back around 2017.

What will matter next is whether sportsbooks that are primarily cryptocurrency based follow the trend. Whether lack of crypto support will be isolated mainly in the large mainstream books.

Lack of news articles and media on the topic is somewhat concerning. I hope this shows the importance of anonymous bloggers and independent sources of information. Who often report on topics that the media ignores.

Not making some sense tbh if it's about transaction fees if this was suggestion by the community around them considering there's segwit and with the current taproot upgrade I thought it will be more efficient now for tx fees. Might be related if where does Bovada based, any thoughts on that?

Regulation issues?
Personal issues?

It would depend basing on the two things i do mention above but there's nothing we can do if they do opt out on crossing out bitcoin on the list of crypto options.
not really that a surprising thing.

Its their business then its their decision to make and if there are some add ups or removal then we dont have any choice but to accept it.
We do still have some options though but if you are really that fan of making use of the site then deal with other options that
they do have.

Anyone who asked for their support and gave the reason why they've removed it? I've tried to find some related news about this or any article of theirs.
But there is nothing to see if someone is also interested of looking for the reason of removal of bitcoin to their casino. Just after the taproot, they've made this removal? quite odd if we keep on guessing the reason.

They can't just remove Bitcoin as an option, most probably they are being force by the situation especially if the regulations are restricting you from using Bitcoin, this is the only reason that I see or better yet you can ask them for a reason.

Bitcoin has been an option on many crypto gambling site since then, even if the fees are quiet expensive so this is a rare move from them, hopefully they give an update with regards to this one.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

Why ban BTC but not ETH? Onchain fees are now way higher with the crazy ETH gas prices.

I don't understand this move. They clearly want to take advantage of the move of most of the gambling industry towards crypto payments but this is just mind-boggling.

Questionnaire could really be done but results wouldnt matter.Why? whenever the government had impossed out such regulation then it would be final.

If a certain platform does had been required on doing so then they would follow it no matter what or that would really be end of business.Period.

Im not surprised for these things to happen because as we do go further ahead then regulation does go even more stricter.

It is some very puzzling news and makes me wonder if they have been approached by some sort of financial regulator or their Bitcoin wallet service faces particular issues. It's a highly unusual move and definitely a step backward for this casino but there must be a reason they are throwing away this revenue stream. Maybe they just never had a big enough audience of cryptocurrency betting players to justify the various additional expenses and have other companies offering different cryptocurrency services for much cheaper rates. It's not a big loss to be honest as the cryptobetting scene is a highly competitive market with dozens of major players and they've just ruled themselves out of it. I do find it curious they refer explictly to banning crypto wagering, so maybe they still allow crypto deposits and will just convert it to fiat currency equivalent bet on the fly?

My anonyance is the rate at which online casinos make decisions without passing a questioner so they can get reactions from their users before making any decision. We are gradually coming to a autocratic era where casinos just jump into decision making forgetting their decisions affects their customers. There is actually no legitimate reason for this action. I'm not buying into it at all

Checked online there is literally no news regarding the same. But do you know that they are operating without any licence since 2016? They might not really be considered legal now. But at the same time customer review ratings have always been high for them so they continue to flourish in the US since 2011. ( Some information I got from google)

If they are not supporting bitcoins as a method of payment in betting hands down. This is something that might come just from the new rules and regulations from the commission therefore you can't really do anything about it.

Try some other casinos.
It might be due to high fee as well, are they still using ETH tho?? It was also listed in the top bet online sports book as well.

They might change their decision in a while tho, wait for any news or statements.

I think you should ask their support to get an answer for both of us. I am really curious as to why they decided to let go of BTC but not other cryptocurrencies.

I can't think of any reason other than bitcoin being too expensive. I mean among all the other cryptocurrencies bitcoin holds the highest price. but then again, I don't why would that be a reason to remove bitcoin on their gambling site.

edit:
I guess this could be a reason. but why only bitcoin and not other cryptocurrencies.

Logged in to my bovada account yesterday to find some unfortunate news ( as seen below ). This is very unfortunate and I just don’t understand the move at all. Allowing other crypto coins to be continued to use is what’s really puzzling to me. Anyone familiar with this situation?