Metaverse Casinos – Metaverse Gambling in 2022
Nowadays, companies like Meta, Decentraland, and even Microsoft are looking to take over the relatively new virtual space known as the metaverse. Online casino operators are also looking to be part of this new world – in this article, we list the best metaverse casinos in 2022 and explore what the metaverse is in more detail.
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What Is the Metaverse?
First of all: there is no such thing as “THE” Metaverse, as there are several competing designs. As for the word itself, which may be the buzzword of 2022 – especially in tech, business and finance, it has a fuzzy definition that may depend on the ambitions of people using it.
Most Metaverse concepts rely on the same four concepts:- Virtual (or augmented) reality
- Virtual ownership and currency
- Avatars
- Interaction with other avatars
Most concepts for metaverses see it as a graphically-rich space, which could be a place to play games, have meetings, shop, socialise, exhibit art (NFTs?), or even go to a casino. The idea is to feel, to some degree, as if you were really there.
Of course, there are already smaller metaverses or spaces with similar functions; plenty of video games let you control an avatar in a virtual space and interact with other users.
The concept harkens back to 2004’s Second Life platform, and games like World of Warcraft or even Fortnite have plenty of these elements. Thus, the idea is not that revolutionary.
Still, venture capitalists such as Matthew Ball and tech giants such as Marc Zuckerberg think that the metaverse may be a new watershed moment, similar to the advent of the internet or smartphone technology. Some are even calling it Web 3.0.
While some companies – namely Meta and Microsoft – are looking to create their own metaverse, others are hoping for a more decentralised metaverse, full of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. However, for any metaverse to be graphically appealing, it would need a lot of computing power, so it is not clear which servers would host a decentralised virtual world.
What Are Metaverse Casinos?
As the name implies, a metaverse casino is any casino you can access via the metaverse. You put on your 3D goggles or VR headset, choose an avatar, buy some virtual currency, and enter a virtual casino, where you can play slots, table games, and whatever a casino has to offer.
In the Metaverse, you should be able to win real or virtual currency, and the experience should feel extremely similar to visiting a real casino, only you're playing at a decentralized casino on the blockchain instead.
Metaverse Gambling Options
While we do not know what gambling options will be available in the metaverse yet, it will probably be the full spectrum of games you could find at a regular or online casino. That include slots, some type of 3D live casino, table games like roulette or blackjack in VR, and even sports betting.
In fact, one of the biggest gambling companies in the world, Entain (the company behind brands like Coral, Ladbrokes, bwin, Sportingbet, Eurobet, among others) is now investing 100 million pounds in developing gambling apps with NFTs, VR and augmented reality.
Decentraland Casinos
So far, the only real successful metaverse casino has been in Decentraland – a browser-based metaverse, launched in February 2021. It is run by its users via the non-profit Decentraland Foundation, which is set to have an entire casino district known as Vegas City. Decentralized gambling still has a ways to go until mainstream adoption, but let's take a look at what's in store:
ICE Poker
In September 2021, Decentraland launched Decentral Games, which they used to power the first metaverse casino: ICE Poker. Since its launch in October 2021, its success has skyrocketed.
This free-to-play poker game now has around 6,000 users daily, and you may find 1,000 playing poker at any given moment. In just three months, the casino has raked in $7.5 million in cryptocurrencies, and it is responsible for 30% of Decentraland’s daily users.
The Cryptocurrencies of Decentraland and ICE Poker
Ice Poker and Decentraland run on several crypto tokens. Each of these has a slightly different use:- ETH is a well-known cryptocurrency
- ICE is the in-game currency of ICE Poker
- DG is a governance token, governing the Decentral Games treasury
- xDG or staked DG represents ownership and voting rights in the Decentraland DAO
How ICE Poker Works
While you can play poker there, ICE Poker is certainly not your average poker room. To play here, you will need to go through the following steps:
1. Connect your wallet
Connect your Metamask wallet. This is an Ethereum blockchain-powered wallet, which also functions as a virtual (anonymous) ID, encrypted with a unique passphrase. In the case of ICE Poker and Decentraland, you can use Ethereum (ETH), Decentral Games (DG), Decentral Games (ICE), and Decentral Games Governance (xDG).
2. Get an ICE wearable
To play at ICE Poker, you will need some clothes – no, you cannot play naked! You may choose between purchasing these clothes as NFTs or renting them. If you own any of these NFTs, you can even rent them out, allowing you to earn.
Wearable NFTs at ICE Poker (Source: decentral.games)
3. Create a DCL account
Create your Decentraland avatar and equip it with NFT wearables.
4. Play and earn
Once you have your account and something to wear, it is time to start earning. You can earn ICE and DG in a number of ways:
- Check in daily and complete 3 challenges
- Compete for daily leaderboards and win based on chip winnings
- Delegate your NFT wearables to other players for a share of the revenue
- Mint new NFT wearables to sell on the market place
- Collect ultra-rare DG Diamond Hands wearables
- Mine ICE to sell to other players (needed in order to mint rare NFT wearables)
- Score on the top of the monthly leaderboard to earn DG
Atari casino
One of the pioneers in video and arcade games, Atari is moving forward to develop its own crypto casino in Vegas City, where players will be able to use exclusive video-game-related wearables, as well as win money.
The casino will likely feature themes and characters from the gaming company’s rich 50-year history. There are even plans for a real Atari casino in Las Vegas, along with the Atari coin, and of course NFTs.
Other Casinos in Decentraland’s Vegas City
Atari and ICE Poker are not the only companies looking for a slice of Vegas City. This February, Kings Entertainment Group (owner of brands like LottoKings and WinTrillions), announced that it has purchased a URL and has acquired virtual real estate in Vegas City.
Other Metaverse Casinos Currently Available or in Development
While Decentraland has taken the lead in terms of Metaverse casinos, there are plenty of rivals looking to create their own virtual casino spaces.
The Sandbox Game and Sand Vegas Casino Club
The Sand Vegas Casino Club is an NFT project that aims to create several virtual casinos and share the profits with the owners of its 11,111 unique and hand-drawn NFTs.
The casinos will be launched in both Web 2.0 and 3.0 spaces. The used currency will be Sand, and The Sand Vegas will pay 50% of its revenue to SandVegasCasinoClub NFT holders.
MetaHero Casino
There is also speculation that MetaHero will have casinos as well, though there is not much available info yet.
An Overview of Metaverse Casino Projects 2022
| Rank | Casino | Metaverse | URL | Currency |
1 | ICE Poker | Decentraland | ice.decentral.games | ICE, ETH, DG, xDG |
2 | Atari casino | Decentraland | ? | ? |
3 | SandVegasCasinoClub | Sandbox | sandvegascasino.club | SAND |
4 | MetaHero Casino | MetaHero | metahero.io | HERO |
Types of Casinos in the Metaverse
While we have discussed the several new casino projects in various metaverses, it is definitely worth considering what types of metaverse casinos we can expect in the future.
Crypto Casinos in the Metaverse
Many of the existing metaverse casino projects are crypto casinos that run on their own native currencies, along with ETH, though exchanging your fiat currencies or BTC for them should not be a problem.
NFT Casinos in the Metaverse
For most people, NFTs and NFT casinos are a bit of a murky and poorly understood topic. However, in terms of the Metaverse and its casinos, the most common use for an NFT is a type of ownership token, which will grant you some type of revenue share.
Decentralised Casinos
Decentralised casino games are gambling DAPPS (decentralised apps). It is not yet clear how this would relate to the metaverse, as while most casinos accept decentralised currencies, the apps and casinos are not decentralised – rather, they are run by the casino owners.
Licensed Casinos in the Metaverse
In our opinion, for metaverse gambling to truly take off, it would need to have licensed casinos. If in a few years having a VR or augmented reality headset becomes as commonplace as owning a smartphone is now, we can be sure that most established casino companies will either cash in on the trend and develop their own mini metaverses, or buy real estate in certain existing VR spaces.
Most likely, you will be able (or even obliged) to use regular fiat currencies while you play your favourite slots and table games in a virtual space.
Summary: The Future of Metaverse Casinos
As Microsoft and Meta rush to develop their own metaverses, smaller crypto/NFT projects are springing up. Whether these casino NFTs are a good investment is unclear at this point. In order for any casino (even a Bitcoin casino) not to be blocked in most jurisdictions, it will need proper licensing, and it is not known under which licensing these casinos will operate.
What we do know is that metaverse gambling is going to be one of the hot topics for the next few years in the world of online gambling.
FAQ
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Yes. In fact there are several Metaverse casinos already being established. Some of these include Atari Casino, ICE Poker, MetaHero Casino, and SandVegasCasinoClub.
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So far, there are few true metaverse gambling options. While ICE poker is available in Decentraland, it is not a true gambling or poker game. Players can win ICE tokens by scoring on the leaderboard, but there is no player-to-player cash transfer.
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This is a murky issue. So far, there are no licensed metaverse gambling sites, however, there is also no true metaverse gambling yet. We assume that the same rules that governing bodies (such as the UKGC, MGC or Curaçao) apply to regular online casinos will also apply to any metaverse casinos that wish to offer their games legally.
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Crypto tokens such as ICE, ETH, DG, xDG, SAND or $HERO can be exchanged for fiat currencies on various exchanges. Of course, there may be licensed, real-money casinos in the future.
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So far there are plans for metaverse casinos in Decentraland, Sandbox, and Metahero. However, we assume that in the future, licensed casinos will either buy real estate in popular metaverses or create their own mini ones. Major companies such as Entain and Kings Entertainment Group are investing heavily in metaverse concepts.