THE conversation surrounding blockchain is growing across a wide variety of industries, with FunFair Technologies confident it can empower a whole new generation in the world of online casino.
Following a deal with Spike Games earlier in the year, the firm’s founder Rob Anderson stated “the potential of blockchain technology in the online gaming industry is enormous”.
In the aftermath of FunFair’s Fate of Thrones launch earlier in the week, CasinoBeats has been speaking to Jez San, founder and CEO at FunFair Technologies, regarding the multitude of blockchain benefits for online casino and what the future could hold for the relationship.
“Existing blockchain titles… are essentially not fit for market”
CasinoBeats: You state that Fate of Thrones “pushes the boundaries of what a casino game on the blockchain can offer,” how does it do this?
Jez San: “While there are existing blockchain titles out there, they are essentially not fit for market as they don’t provide the user experience that consumers have grown to expect from the industry. While they offer increased fairness and transparency, they sacrifice commercial level gameplay and we don’t see this as necessary.
“We’ve spent the past two years building our proprietary ‘Fate Channel’ technology which bridges the existing gap in the industry. This means we can build games such as Fate of Thrones, with the transparency and fairness that the blockchain offers while maintaining exceptional graphics, sound effects and speeds that players expect in the more mainstream slots sector.”
CB: Blockchain has become increasingly more commonplace in recent times, in general terms what potential does the technology have in the online gaming environment?
JS: “Currently, two thirds of UK gamblers do not trust operators, according to the latest UKGC research. This therefore allows huge opportunity for companies to increase their competitive advantage, by proving to their customers that their gambling services are inherently fair. Blockchain provides the assurance of a fair online gaming experience through the use of cryptography.
“Thanks to the nature of the public ledger, blockchain brings an added level of transparency to the processes that power gambling, for instance, proven random number generation. Smart contracts allow both the operator and player to produce half of the random number each, rather than solely the operators generating numbers. These are then immutable and open, meaning anyone can validate the fairness of the game at the end of a session.”
“The decentralised nature of blockchain technology could improve on current standards”
CB: How does/would the technology enhance a users playing experience? What benefits would entice completely new players?
JS: “The technology that FunFair uses enables players to have full control over their funds, held in a wallet controlled by private keys only available to the user. The player would only need to commit to the funds they specify each gambling session in a smart contract.
“Their funds are never at risk, as the player never has to deposit, and therefore the commonly criticised withdrawal restrictions and other issues such as dormant account processes are replaced by instant payouts into the players secure crypto wallets. This is an attractive advantage, to any player, regardless of knowledge and experience with cryptocurrency.
“Responsible gambling controls have been scrutinised for as long as memory serves. Again, the decentralised nature of blockchain technology could improve on current standards by requiring a player to commit to sign up and KYC processes just once, then proliferating this information on the blockchain across multiple operators.”
CB: Gaming and new technologies are quite often at the centre of fresh innovations, what does the future hold for the online casino/blockchain relationship?
JS: “Within the casino industry, it is evident that blockchain is the next big disruptor leading the way in resolving issues and providing major benefits for both the players and operators. Regulation will be key in ensuring that the wider adoption of the technology is properly integrated across territories.
“Once standards are agreed and cryptocurrencies become more commonplace in society, people will naturally gravitate towards crypto casinos as a source of leisure, cementing the casino/blockchain relationship.
Simply put, why would a player choose a traditional casino over a far more secure, fair and fast blockchain casino which can offer the same quality of content and user experience.”
