Edgless – Ushering in the Age of Transparent Casinos

Posted by Harry Kane on Saturday, September 1, 2018

In an earlier blog post, we talked about how the distributed ledger technology blockchain was being leveraged to develop the world’s first “zero house edge” casino.

This trail-blazing project, which was referred to as “Edgeless” by co-founder Tomas Draksas, strived to create the inaugural decentralised casino and establish a unique gaming experience that was demonstrably fair, transparent and entirely auditable.

The idea of creating a level playing field on which players and operators could interact has created considerable interest in the marketplace, while threatening the revolutionise the iGaming industry as we know it. The Edgeless project has also encouraged alternative industry players to plot a route to market, increasing the range of online gambling solutions aimed at promoting fair play.

We’ll take a look at the leaders in this space in the article below, while asking how this innovation could even see players earn money as they play.

Introducing Zeroedge – Where Transparency Meets Profitability

For years, casinos have been dominated by a single mantra, which dictates that “the house always wins”. This is derived solely from the concept of the house edge, which essentially describes the mathematical advantage that operators hold over players during specific games.

This can variably wildly, with high variance online slots offering a house edge of up to 10% and virtual craps affording operators a competitive advantage of just 1.36% in some instances.

Regardless, all online casino games offer at least some form of house edge, providing the foundation for operator’s profit margins and highlighting the challenges facing players who aim to make money over an extended period of time.

This is why the establishment of casinos with a zero house edge represents a seminal development, and one that aims to create an inherently fair gambling experience for players. Even this is not enough for some operators at the cutting edge of this revolution, however, with a select few brands moving beyond transparency to implement more fundamental changes.

Perhaps the most interesting operator in this space is Zeroedge, who have taken the concept behind the Edgeless project and evolved it onto an entirely new level.

More specifically, this platform has built a transparent, zero house edge casino and integrated this with its own cryptocurrency (Zerocoin), leveraging blockchain to an even greater degree in the process. Players are required to use this currency when gambling in the casino, meaning that they must be sure to exchange their hard-earned cash into Zerocoin tokens before crediting their account.

This is where the platform becomes genuinely interesting, as players with a significant holding of Zerocoin will be able to profit indirectly from any incremental increases in its value.

So in addition to enjoying more frequent wins across a host of their favourite online casino games, they can transfer their spoils into a coin wallet and benefit from upward price movements. Even the coins that rest in their bankroll may become increasingly valuable as the price of Zerocoin rises, creating a unique online gambling experience that could be profitable in more ways than one.

The Pros and Cons of Zeroedge – Will it Grow to Dominate the iGaming Market?

OK, we hear you ask, surely if the value of Zerocoin can rise over time, it also has the potential to decline at the same rate? This is an entirely accurate assertion, and one that highlights a potential flaw with the casino’s infrastructure and using cryptocurrency as a whole.

Still, it’s important to consider the project in its true context before accurately appraising the level of value that it offers to players.

The fact remains that Zeroedge (and similar platforms) offers players access to provably fair and transparent casino games that carry a dramatically reduced house edge. As a result, they offer a truly compelling proposition to players, and one that with the right marketing could become the norm in the bustling and fast-moving iGaming space.

If players do indeed rush to the market and decide to use zero house edge casinos to indulge their favourite pastime, this will create significant demand for the associated Zerocoin token. As a result, its value will soar exponentially over time, meaning that those who already own a large number of coins will see their holding increase considerably.

In some respects, you could argue that players could benefit in a similar way by using regular fiat currencies. However, the value of currencies such as the pound (GBP) and the U.S. Dollar (USD) tends to fluctuate within a relatively narrow range, while the money that you hold in your online gambling account will not change in line with real-time exchange rates.

Even if you transfer your winnings to savings, most high street banks are operating at a standard interest rate of around 0.01% at present. Conversely, the value of the cryptocurrency poster boy Bitcoin increased from $900 and $20,000 during an historic price run in 2017, and while it has since lost around 80% of these gains it highlights how the value of tokens can soar in the right circumstances.

In short, the successful promotion of zero house edge casinos could create significant demand for their corresponding cryptocurrencies, causing their value to rise appreciably over time. This could enable players to earn income from their bankroll and saved token, while also enabling them to access fair casino games that optimise their chances of winning regularly.

The Last Word

Ultimately, the success or failure of this project (and those like it) will depend almost entirely on how they’re marketed. If such platforms enter the mainstream and compete aggressively with the market’s leading players, there’s no doubt that gamblers will enjoy greater transparency and profitability when operating online.

Similarly, players will also be the biggest beneficiaries if the leading online casino brands look to buy out their zero house edge competitors. After all, these platforms will simply be rebranded, while the backing of the world’s market leaders will also create an increasingly competitive and player-centric industry.

There’s no doubt that this will be an interesting space to watch in the future, particularly as iGaming continues to evolve in line with advancing technology and changing player behaviours. The fact remains that the Zeroedge platform may also eradicate many of the barriers to entry that surround establishing your own online casino, creating an even larger and more competitive market in the process.

Ultimately, this type of technology definitely represents the future of iGaming, as the demand for transparency and a provably fair experience continues to dominate the thoughts of operators and regulators alike.