- Poker players are increasing, cashing out their earnings in Bitcoin.
- Besides being early adopters of Bitcoin, the high demand comes amid the growing price of the crypto.
A report by The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday informed that many poker players now prefer to cash their earnings in cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin (BTC). According to the Winning Poker Network – which operates many online poker platforms, including AmericasCardRoom.eu – the demand has been growing across several poker websites. The chief executive of Winning Poker Network, Phil Nagy, mentioned that they had to pay millions of dollars in Bitcoin at some point.
Poker players prefer Bitcoin
There has been a huge demand for cryptocurrency among the poker players trying to cash out their earnings. According to Nagy, the Winning Poker Network buys Bitcoin worth millions of dollars from over-the-counter (OTC) trading platforms. He estimated that the network pays out over $100 million in cryptocurrency. According to research by Beastsofpoker.com, over $50 million worth of Bitcoin gambling wagers are placed each day by online players.
“Right now, 90-95 percent of our payouts are people asking for bitcoin because it’s going up. […] We are constantly having to go out and buy bitcoin — lots. Lots. More than we’ve even had to before.”
Given the growing demand for the Bitcoin payouts, Nagy added that the poker players were among the early adopters of the cryptocurrency. Thus, the demand grew following the growing price of the digital currency in recent weeks. The price has been hitting yearly highs since this week alone. Currently, the price of the cryptocurrency is $17,942 on Coinmarketcap, with 2020 high above $18,300. The crypto is up by over 150 percent since this year.
Are gamblers avoiding tax with Bitcoin?
A cryptocurrency investor, Aaron Brown, opined that the poker players might be using the cryptocurrency as a tax evasion means. In Costa Rica, the players are obliged to file their losses and gains in the gambling activity, which they don’t regulate. About 60 percent of the network’s poker players are from the United States, despite that most of the states considered the activity as illegal.
