Bitcoin Casinos In South Africa
You might have heard a lot of things about Bitcoin, but not all of them are true. This article gives you all the information you need to safely use a South African Bitcoin casino.
Best Bitcoin Casinos for South African Players
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency. Since its creation in 2009, it has seen a lot of ups and downs, the latest being in the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. Right now BTC has stabilized, but these fluctuations serve as a reminder that using crypto is not completely safe and you should only do that with an understanding of how it works.
Bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer network, and there isn’t an entity that has control over the whole system. Nodes of the system verify transactions. Data about them is then stored in the blockchain so that it is accessible by anyone.
A Bitcoin wallet is an app or a hardware solution that helps pay at a Bitcoin casino South Africa by storing the information needed to access your BTC. While making transactions on the blockchain is safe due to the two keys you are using, you have to trust the wallet you are using for transactions. A breach in security may result in your keys being stolen.
Besides being a good payment option for funding a regular casino, BTC is ideal to use in blockchain casinos. Blockchain casinos work on blockchain technology the same that Bitcoin works on. This makes the two perfectly compatible.
How To Use Bitcoin At Online Casinos
If you own some Bitcoins or want to use the currency to increase your anonymity on the web, here’s what you have to know.
You’ll need to get a BTC wallet first. Consider going for BitPay, Copay, Mycelium, Airbitz Electrum, Bitcoin Core, or a Bitcoin.com wallet, as they are on the list of accepted wallets in many South African casinos.
To receive or send BTC you need to know a Bitcoin address. You can buy BTC at third-party exchanges. Only choose the ones you can trust.
Don’t think that it is all you need for anonymity. BTC is a pseudonymous currency, as all the data is free to be analyzed. You can create a new receiving address for each payment to stay below the radar.
Here are some other details that you may want to know before making a deposit at a Bitcoin casino.
Deposit and Withdraw
Many SA-based casinos accept Bitcoin as both a deposit and a withdrawal method. Deposits come in instantly, but processing withdrawals may take up to 72 hours at some casinos. Once a deposit is made you receive a compatible sum in ZAR on your account.
Minimum Deposits
The minimum deposit at a Bitcoin casino is R100. You can only withdraw starting from R1000. Going for the lowest possible sum maybe not be the best thing to do in the first couple of deposits, as casinos are usually giving some bonus money and you can get up to twice your deposit.
Countries Where Bitcoin Is Accepted
Technically, Bitcoin is accepted around the world, it’s just that some countries frown upon it more than others. For instance, it is quite difficult to use BTC in China, but in Japan or US you can encounter BTC kiosks that let you buy Bitcoin for cash.
South Africa is somewhere in the middle of the two, with no hard regulation nor an actively developing Bitcoin infrastructure.
Deposit Fees
Some people are worried as to whether Bitcoin is a good way to make payments online after the surge in the beginning of 2018. The thing is, you have to pay a mining fee when making a transaction, and it was about $34 in the end of 2017, making it not worth using the cryptocurrency.
Now it’s down to less than $1, so you don’t have to worry about that. There are no additional fees that you have to pay to the casino itself.
Online Casino Software Providers That Accept Bitcoin
RTG Bitcoin casino
RTG produces games with the good old gameplay that everybody loves. It gives many games a modern look, like one of its hits, Cash Bandits, and the sequel Cash Bandits 2. Both were largely popular in South African casinos.
Try these games for free at CasinoHEX, or at Bitcoin casinos like Springbok, Thunderbolt, Punt, or Yebo.
BetSoft Bitcoin casinos
BetSoft has started out as a manufacturer of land-based casino slots, but now it has switched to online games instead. It takes its experience at serving audiences of Las Vegas to your online casino, and takes your online gambling to the next level. BetSoft slots play good and look good.
The manufacturer has a lot of aliens, pirate and mysticism-themed slots. One of the mysterious slots BetSoft offers is Gypsy Rose. Join the Gypsy woman in her divinations after checking Kings Chance online casino, Spintropolis and Africasino reviews.
NextGen Gaming Bitcoin casinos
Play the next generation of online slots with the game developer. Apart from giving their slots great graphics and animation, NextGen Gaming makes them interactive to make the gameplay more interesting for you.
The best one so far is Renegades. In the slot, you follow the story of five competitors for the throne of a Nordic kingdom. Each has different abilities and grants you different bonuses. Try it at Africasino or Spintropolis.
Amatic Bitcoin casinos
Amatic makes games that are considered vintage now. Five reels, twenty paylines and lots of fun. Take a look at their popular games like Lucky Coin, Eye of Ra and Casanova. These games look old school and are easy to play for beginners. Try them for free at CasinoHEX, and wager real money at Casino.com.
Pros And Cons Of Using Bitcoin in Online Casinos
The perks
Bitcoin transactions are fast, probably as fast as it gets with this level of security. There are instant deposit methods, where a transaction is confirmed within seconds, but they lack the security that BTC has. BTC transactions take an average of 10 minutes to be confirmed.
Low transaction fees are one of the main perks of Bitcoin as a payment method. Despite being phenomenally high at the beginning of 2018, it is now below $1. This means if you are going to deposit more than $100, using BTC may be preferential.
Security and anonymity are two big factors that get a lot of people into Bitcoin. You can make a new BTC address each time you make a transaction, making your data indecipherable, even though anyone can see it via a blockchain explorer.
Now, apart from being a great payment method at casinos, holding BTC is beneficial for you, as your money will not be subject to inflation. Also, you get the sense of ownership, as no one but you has to control over your money. No bank or company can decline a payment.
Another perk is that most payment systems accept BTC as a top-up method with lower fees than all the others, about 1%. If your money is in Bitcoin and you want to use an e-payment system, you have an advantage.
The drawbacks
Bitcoin is far from ideal, though. For instance, the price of BTC is volatile, as proven by the events of 2017-2018. The official site of the cryptocurrency recommends seeing it as a high-risk asset, as the price may go down, making you lose your funds.
You can’t reverse a transaction, so you have to be careful of who you are sending money to. If the receiving party is not trustworthy, you may not be refunded.
You have to pay attention to be safe on the web. Only use each Bitcoin address once, as it can easily be traced back to you if you have to go through KYC before making a payment.
A Bitcoin wallet doesn’t contain actual Bitcoins, just the keys you need to access them. If you lose or compromise this information, you can end up losing all your money.
The Current Situation with Bitcoin in South Africa
You can use Bitcoin in South Africa, and there are plenty of Bitcoin casinos here. The government remains skeptical about cryptocurrency and states that there is no legal framework or regulation on using Bitcoin.
Alternatives to Bitcoin for Making Deposits at Online Casinos
Not sure BTC is the way to go? Take a look at the alternatives.
Credit cards
Credit cards are not as secure as BTC transactions, as your CVC code or other details can be stolen due to a security breach. However, it is way faster. The funds should arrive almost instantly.
If you forget some details that you need to make payments, you can easily recover them at your credit card issuer.
Wire transfer
This method is not among the top picks, as it requires you to go to a bank and make a payment over the counter. You’ll have to pay extra fees and wait for some time for the transaction to be processed.
E-wallets
There are plenty of opportunities to pay online without a credit card, except Bitcoin. Skrill, Neteller, and EcoPayz are just the beginning of the list. They may not have the same potential for security but are just as easily accepted in casinos, and you don’t have to spend time learning how to use BTC.
Safety of Bitcoin Gambling Transactions
BTC is not secure by itself, it’s just that it has a great capacity for security. If you forget your password, your funds can be lost, and if you are using the same receiving address each time, you are not anonymous.
Good practices are creating a strong password for your wallet and never forgetting it, signing transactions in an offline environment, and keeping your keys on special cold storage.
I’m Leah and I joined the team in July 2020 as a second editor of CasinoHEX.co.za.
Now I review licensed online casinos and slots on the South African market to provide the readers with juicy and rich bonuses, the newest promotions, and other useful information to help them make the right choice and enjoy safe and joyful gambling.
