The casino chip is an important part of gambling. From featuring in casino-themed films to actual casinos and the online space, casino chips have been a vital component of the gambling process for the longest time. This is important because it really highlights just how much one particular style or aspect can change everything.
So, with the rise of modern currency like cryptocurrency, why have we not simply replaced these casino chips with a digital currency that is so widespread? Well, there are a couple of different reasons for this, and we will have to look into the history of casino chips in order to answer that.
Let’s get started and highlight the importance of the casino chip.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Harder To Forge
The first thing that you should probably understand about the standard casino chip is that it is very difficult to successfully create a forgery. You might think that your typical casino chip is just a piece of ceramic, but the truth is that these chips have an incredibly sophisticated design.
Every chip has an individual serial number, distinct markings, microchips, and other useful information and technology built into them so they can be identified. They are marked a certain way to show that they belong to a certain casino, which makes them very difficult to forge.
Limiting Customers
If you set out to create a brand new type of currency for gambling, you have to make sure that it is inclusive, otherwise, you won’t attract the same customer base that you had before. The modern chip serves as a central unifying way to gamble. It does not matter how you acquire the chips, whether this is a direct bank transfer, PayPal, or a credit card, the point remains that you will give the chips to the dealer in order to play the game.
If you attempt to introduce cryptocurrency into the equation, you are going to severely limit the number of people that are prepared to gamble with any casino. There will be people who won’t understand how it works, people who cannot access it, and of course, there is a basic level of supply and demand.
There is only a finite amount of each currency, which means that there will only be a finite amount of money that can be generated. However, casino chips are backed by any type of cash, because they rely on a fixed currency. Therefore, they have a much larger supply to work with.
Volatile Currency
Something else that you have to consider when it comes to cryptocurrency as a general entity is that it can be quite limited and restricted by its volatility.
Let’s get into the basics of how currency works. The paper currency, the cash that we have, is backed up against a gold reserve. It is guaranteed against a fixed asset, which has a very limited volatility. Usually, it’s a precious metal such as gold. The value of gold remains relatively consistent throughout the year, which means the price of each currency remains roughly the same, it retains its value and is worth one of itself.
If we try and introduce cryptocurrency into casinos and gambling, we will have a problem, because these types of currencies have no fixed asset to guarantee their value. The value can fluctuate wildly in regards to how much they are worth.
For example, one day a single cryptocurrency coin could be worth £5, and then another day, it could be worth £5000. This makes it an incredibly unreliable method of currency and is not favorable for an industry like gambling. Logistically, it would be a nightmare to try and measure the amount of currency that each player would get based on the massively volatile value of the currency that they are using to gamble.
Nevertheless, the most loyal fans of cryptocurrency see volatility as an advantage rather than a problem, arguing that the value of the winnings received in a crypto casino will only increase over time. Therefore, such resources about Bitcoin casinos as CryptoCasinoClub are in demand among those who prefer to use cryptocurrency for gambling but struggle to find the right website to play on.
Fixed Assets
Using a casino chip as a method of gambling also retains its value inside the establishment. When you create a specific type of currency for use inside your industry, that currency has no value anywhere else. You cannot go and pay for food with those chips in a shop outside of the casino. You cannot take the currency away from the casino and use it, because its value is defined solely by the casino.
What this means is that the currency is entirely enclosed inside the establishment. People will spend the chips on food and drink, they will gamble, and cash out inside the casino. It retains its value and encourages a fixed asset that has no value outside of a casino setting.
Final Thoughts
Using chips as a form of currency is how casinos have operated for over a century, and this is how they will continue to function for a long time. It is a fixed asset that only has value inside the casino. It’s easier for the casinos to keep track of the money, and logistically, it makes gambling a very straightforward process.
To change to something like cryptocurrency, a very volatile and almost arbitrary form of money, would be incredibly futile without a fixed asset to back it against. Perhaps one day when cryptocurrency develops a level of stability this might be a more effective strategy for casinos, but for now, casino chips remain the dominant form of gambling currency.
If you are interested in even more entertainment-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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