Bets don't work, here's how blockchain can fix it

BetKing Old Mobile Lite

Paruyr Shahbazyan, co-founder and CEO of Azuro, on why there is no limit to decentralised gaming.

I may not be the most objective person in the world; after all, I use a popular blockchain-based protocol for online betting, so apparently I have an interest. But let the numbers speak for themselves. The Blockchain Gaming Alliance, holds a report every quarter on how well the industry is doing.

According to them, "the third quarter of 2021 proved that blockchain games, boosted by the 'play to earn' (P2E) movement, aren't going anywhere. In the third quarter of 2021, the number of unique active wallets (UAW) connected to decentralised gaming applications reached 754,000, almost half of the industry's activity. The gaming footprint in the NFT space became more prominent as in-game NFT accounted for more than 20% of record NFT trading volume in the third quarter."

This is true, but it is also true that the reason so many players are moving to blockchain is because it is a much fairer playing field for them, which levels the difference between them and a bookmaker such as BetKing Old Mobile Lite.

Currently, punters are betting against bookmakers and they are in a very unequal position, with the betting platform or bookmaker owning most of the power. Bookmakers are notorious for delays in payments and settlement of bets, they squeeze out winning players by limiting their accounts, and they can choose the odds as they see fit. With blockchain, things are different.

It's a classic user interface and then some !

With our protocol, for example, players can enjoy the familiar classic user interface, with lots of leagues, competitions and markets, with odds displayed as usual. However, blockchain brings with it elements of complete transparency (a smart contract is a code in the blockchain and all transactions are stored there forever) and the ability to bet without a central authority (the betting house) controlling players' funds. . This means that payouts are determined by open source and not by commercial organisations that benefit from players losing money.

Moreover, the technology allows for minting bets as NFT, which enables secondary markets for bets to operate and opens up opportunities for bets to have value even after the event has played out (e.g. as collectibles), as well as for exciting gamification.

Decentralisation and DAO

Decentralised management (DAO - decentralised autonomous organisation) is another game-changing aspect. This means that key decisions about how the protocol works (e.g. how decentralised betting works, how disputes are resolved, how different participants are rewarded or penalised) are made by a vote of the token holders.

It also means removing the conflict of interest between player and bettor, which is an inherent problem for betting today, thereby giving players more control - they can now participate in key decisions about how bets work.

We also use liquidity pools, which increase the liquidity of the entire network using our protocol, and we import odds using oracles.

Proven fair play should be a given

Perhaps one of the most attractive features of blockchain is its transparency. For punters who may already be suspicious of the sites they bet on, it has been a breath of fresh air.

With Azuro, for example, instead of an intermediary collecting players' deposits and allocating their losses, smart contracts do it. Our smart contracts resolve about 99% of all bets placed, and they have an additional dispute resolution mechanism where disputes are resolved in a decentralised way through voting.

The latest word

Blockchain is a desirable and relevant environment for many sectors, including finance and gaming. DeFi has already begun to evolve, but decentralised betting is about to begin. Blockchain and smart contracts offer benefits that operators and users cannot access without it, be it transparency, no need for trust, automation, decentralisation.

Fairer, more transparent and automated, it is safe to say that the future of decentralised betting is bright.