Pacman creator and world-famous gaming company Atari confirmed plans to launch a crypto-based casino service in partnership with Decentral Games. As per the press release Atari issued, it plans to host the casino in a gaming district called “Vegas City,” situated within the Ethereum-based Decentraland metaverse. Both praises and rampant criticisms have been showered on the idea of casinos on the blockchain. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts mainly see such casinos as the future of gambling as it has experienced hundreds and millions of dollars worth of transactions daily.
About Atari’s Blockchain-Based Casino
Atari’s casino has been developed jointly with Decentral Games and hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. The casino will include Atari non-fungible tokens or NFTs along with Atari-themed games. Users can leverage the NTFS to earn more digital currency. According to the joint statement released by both companies, they expect to see bets of more than $150 million in 2021 and $400 million over the next two years.
Atari will also include an Atari Special game which will be based more on skill rather than relying on luck. Anyone can earn the Decentral Games native token ($DG) by playing with DAI, Atari, and MANA tokens. The platform will also allow $DG holders to use their tokens to participate in company-related and governance-related decision making.
Blockchain And Casinos
The main difference between a crypto-powered casino and regular online casinos is the currency used. In other words, the bets and winnings are in cryptocurrency as opposed to regular currency. Blockchain can ensure security and privacy in a way that ensures that games cannot be rigged by the house.
Additionally, better logic is stored on a blockchain. However, one of the main drawbacks of blockchain-based crypto casinos is that they are not well-regulated and are thus risky.
Why Atari is delving into Crypto Casinos
Atari is well known to be the pioneer in arcade video games in the past. However, the company has been overtaken by more powerful rivals in recent years. Despite the exact reason not being known, the decision for Atari to enter into the crypto-casino space is most likely linked to CEO Frederic Chesnais’s attempt to make his company modern and relevant. This is not the company’s first foray into cryptocurrency-related projects, as it has made moves with several projects previously.
Atari launched its digital asset back in October 2018 and has formed partnerships with the likes of Sandbox. It has also partnered with Ultra Games for the development of a blockchain-based game streaming product which was released to the public in December 2020. The latest move by Atari is an attempt by the company to transpose their gaming experience onto the blockchain. Atari’s “Vegas City” will be leased on a 2-year term initially and claims to be the first community owner metaverse crypto-powered casino.
At the time of writing (18/03/2021), the Atari token is priced at $0.2768 with a market cap of $110,715,296 as per coinmarketcap data. The token can be found in several exchanges such as Uniswap, Hotbit, Bamboo relay, and Bitcoin.com exchange.
