GENERAL INFORMATION & PROBLEMS OF ONLINE GAMBLING

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This segment will focus on assessing the online gambling industry together with the notable challenges common with the online betting industry.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Online betting (or Web betting) includes games such as poker, clubhouse and other conventional games played over the internet.

In 1994 when online gambling became popular, numerous countries limited online betting while some others construed it an illegal venture or practice. However, some regions in Canada, some European countries, and a few Caribbean islands allowed online gambling as a legal venture or practice.

Since then, the online gambling industry has grown to what is now, valued at 500 billion USD. It continues to increase at a steady rate, with some indications that it will grow With the development of internet and mobile technology, the online gambling industry is forecasted to experience a boom in the near future.

The online gambling industry consists of many business models and technologies, which include:

Sports betting: Betting on sports event (soccer, horse racing, hound racing e.g.)

2. Online Poker: Service provider receives profits from wagers.

3. Casino Games: Slot machine and roulette which are operated in a manner similar to a traditional land-based casino.

4. Online Bingo: Online version of the ageold game

5. Online Lottery: Same as regular Lottery, but operated online.

The key vendors in the Online Gambling Industry include: 888 Holdings, GVC Holdings, UniBet group, William Hill and many others, which operated from the traditional business model. According to statistics, William Hill is the market dominator in the UK with market share of 15%.

PROBLEM OF ONLINE GAMING

In spite of the significant growth of the online gambling industry, early issues that made some countries to accept, and the others to reject the idea of online gambling, still lurk within. These have, over time, formed to become a major problem faced by the industry. Some of them are highlighted below

CONCEIVABLE ISSUES :

The online gambling industry is filled with lots of perceptions and views from both the players and regulators who are closely observing the industry. Some of these perceptions will be discussed below, as well with how LetBet will correct issues with the introduction of our peer-to-peer system, eliminating unfairness and questionable trust system.

ILLEGAL TAX AVOIDANCE :

Illegal tax avoidance is one reason some countries reject online gambling, especially in those which lack the mechanism to monitor or are unwilling to check the activities of the online gambling industry.

Similar to the claim on illegal tax avoidance, some others see the online gambling industry as a means to easily launder cash.

PLAYER DISCERNMENT :

Players discernment is another issue that lurks within the online gambling system. Player discernment occurs mostly in games that are played from remote locations. A player, playing a game with another player that he does not see, may doubt if he is playing with a real human.

Players communicate with others through GUIs, which interface with a complex betting site server. For the primary reason that a player from an end lacks the trust from another player at the other end, is a reason that makes player discernment a significant issue with online gambling, with each player having the perception that they are being manipulated.

In an online study of 10,838 online club and poker players, more than 96 nations’ respondents stated an unusual amount of doubt in online betting.

SECURITY :

Security is a significant part of the numerous challenges faced by the online gambling industry. Traditional online gambling service providers operate through a centralized network of computers. The primary issue with this method is this: whenever there is any system hacking incident, the user will lose their money including information relating to bank account details and other confidential information. Despite the fact that the security platform is developing from the client and server side to improve the general level of security over the internet, vulnerability with the centralised method of administration of online gambling makes it difficult to obtain an error-free system. This is one of the major loopholes that the LetBet system aims to plug to revolutionize the online gambling industry.

TRUST

The online gambling industry functions through code generated from a close-source system.A group of developers can change such code within the system.

Reasons such as these become expressly visible for games like poker, where both parties initiate and play games remotely makes the issue of trust a significant one in online gambling.

Payment: Deposit and Withdrawal are always a big problem for players. Payment issues have been long-standing problems with online gambling due to legislation put on a very low transfer and deposit limit on fiat cards. There are also other situations where a lawsuit was filed against defaulters. Issues such as these are what we are positioned to eliminate from the industry with the blockchain powered online betting.

SLOW

The possible steps in the traditional online gambling systems are numerous because traditional online gambling service providers are desperately interested in getting as much information about players with less focus about the game per se. They are compelled to do this with the intention of protecting their system against unlawful intruders. This is not so with the LetBet system that deployed the blockchain technology through a smart contract with participants. Hence, there is little concern for intruders, because, it is almost impossible to hack the blockchain system that is deployed through smart contracts as compared to the traditional centralized authority. Reason for this is that the sender and the receiver have no trace of information about themselves, which makes it more like the physical exchange of cash where the participant has no evidence behind after such transaction. As a result of this, there is minimal chance of the system being hacked.

UNRELIABILITY

There are cases where the game host server shuts down and then the player would have to be left at the mercy of the host because he would have to embark on a rigorous process of ensuring a refund of his game. But with the LetBet system, from the point where you choose your game, to the point of payment, are all based on smart contract powered by the blockchain technology. Hence in the occurrence of server issues, players would not have to be left fending for themselves.