Bitcoin Forum

I understand the importance of KYC verification to be carried out by casinos, but since the introduction of use of cryptocurrency in gambling by online casinos and other betting services, does KYC verification from online casinos and sport betting services not directly go against the anonymity that cryptocurrency seeks to provide to people? Does it mean that gambling online anonymously is no longer possible?

Cryptocurrency isn't created for anonymity in the first place, Bitcoin isn't anonymous but pseudonymous, only few coins that offer privacy feature. I don't think there's many casinos accept privacy coins e.g. Monero, Monero even get delisted in many top exchanges due to risk of money laundering. There's a chance if Curacao license doesn't accept Monero again, all licensed casinos will delist Monero too.

AFAIK Freebitco.in is no KYC casino, but there's a case before Freebitco.in openly posting user data (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323949) so it's completely impossible to become anonymous in centralized casino.

If you are a citizen of the United States and other countries that have strict law on casinos you will be familiar with how important KYC is to gambling houses cryptocurrency have helped players to be able to access a wide range of services but that doesn't eliminate the place for KYC as most casinos have same anti-money laundering laws for both cryptocurrency deposits and bank payments.

But anyone can use bitcoin mixing services to deposit his casino balance without any trace but then that does not solve the problem in totality. The whole idea of KYC undermines the role of anonymity some cryptocurrencies present such as Bitcoin.

Centralized Exchange doesn’t requires KYC before when regulators still not stepping in but since they are now providing license for exchange to operate then KYC become mandatory at this part of crypto.

This is same scenario to crypto casino industry. Casino is now being regulate and there license is being use against them to implement KYC to the customer. Right now there are still casino that offers no KYC but soon anonymous gambling on license casino is not possible anymore.

Any crypto services that requires  KYC, is going against the basic tenant of crypto or it's supposedly (pseudo) anonymity.

However, I guess this is part and parcel of crypto being in the spot light for sometime, and so regulatory bodies is hot on it's tail and wanted everything to be black and white and so they've mandated every services to have KYC in place including gambling platforms which they follow because they want to stay in the business. I would say if you are just average gambler then you can be anonymous, but if you are a whale, at certain point online crypto casinos will ask you to undergone KYC.

Synonyms only apply to crypto types such as Bitcoin, not all crypto types are categorized in the Anonymous system, only Bitcoin whose creator is not known, I mean the identity.

The KYC system implemented by online casinos is one of the rules to find out the identity of online casino users to avoid suspicious actions or those who cheat and so on that can harm the casino.

KYC & Anonymous do not contradict each other, the two systems have different understandings and different ways of working, although many online casinos today are implementing the two methods KYC & Crypto, I think these two elements have different meanings in online gambling sites, so nothing contradicts each other, must be separated between KYC & Anonymous, different understandings.

It appears that way. But it's up to you anymore on how you can remain anonymous. You could just stop using crypto casinos that are asking KYC or you can use your very anonymous wallet to gamble in casinos that don't ask for KYC.   

Cryptocurrency is not banned or illegal so there is nothing wrong to it. But there is also nothing wrong if one wants to remain anonymous so do whatever you need to do to stay anonymous if you wish.

Well, that is a hot topic for discussion.. because the early casinos where very "anonymity" conscious, because Crypto currencies were illegal in most countries back then. Since the early days.. a lot of regulations has come into play and Crypto currencies has become less anonymous. (Also the introduction of third party services like Exchanges and wallet providers has almost killed anonymity, before your coins reach the casinos)  ::)  

The Fiat based casinos that converted to Crypto currencies were "regulated" before they started to accept Crypto currencies, so nothing changed with them. Some of the Crypto casinos grew bigger and bigger and they had to license their casinos and most of these licenses require that the casino ask for KYC/AML verification.  ::)

There are some blockchain gambling site that are existing. Just like there are centralized exchanges, that does not mean there are not decentralized exchanges, so in gambling too.

As long as you are using a centralized gambling site, they may request for KYC from you. I have not committed any crime, I am not a money launderer and I am not in support of any terrorism or online crime activity, the reason I played on those gambling sites. As long as they provide the services I want, that is all that matters, the reason people are using them. Not that is have huge amount there, so I do not consider not having privacy while making use of such gambling sites. I was once on many fiat based gambling sites before.

Mind this, crypto is not for anonymous payment, only few like monero, some means of transactions of litecoin, dash and zcash, including some other privacy cryptocurrencies are used for anonymous transactions.

I think it's contradictory but crypto casinos can't do anything but comply with the regulations from the regulators because it is related to the licenses owned by the casinos. If the regulators weren't as strict as they are today, it's unlikely that casinos will force their customers to KYC so we can still play anonymously.

But the government must be wary of money laundering cases in casinos because when people play with big money, the casino and the government must know where the funds are coming from. And if it is indeed connected to money laundering, they will easily catch the culprit if the culprit does KYC.

But I guess there are still casinos that keep working anonymously because we see that some casinos use private wallets to connect to someone's account so they will go through KYC. But there is still the possibility that the person will be asked to do KYC.

I understand your concerns but as the crypto gambling industry progress, we also have to adapt. At first I also want to be anonymous because I was afraid, but seeing the whales gamble and it's safe so I think the KYC given to the site is very safe. Just to know the customer, maybe also fear of money laundering or problems in the future that could jeopardize the casino. By the way crypto is not only one and there are not only one sites too, there are still many that not require KYC, actually depending on which one you want to choose.

This is a common problem that is very often being discussed. However, when talking about anti-money laundering (AML) rules, providers need to make KYC rules for deposits and withdrawals with a certain nominal. If there is no KYC, the potential for money laundering will be higher. So as long as KYC is the only way to avoid money laundering, then KYC will always be applied. Unless there is an identity tracking method and AML prevention efforts with the KYC free method, the provider will definitely implement it.

I'm surprised you're seems like never buy or sell Bitcoin since you're asking this question. What about centralized exchanges then? don't lie, I believe you've submit your KYC to the exchanges. Then why you give them your KYC when you're think cryptocurrency is used to anonymous? the same applies with licensed casinos.

Have you done this before suggest to other users? You can try to mix your coins and deposit to Yas.bet aka the casino you promote under your signature and let's see what the casino will do to you :D

Concealing your origin source is increase the casino will ask you to submit KYC.

has it happened before? its possible, services like tornado cash was sanctioned and the addresses who once used the service i think had been whipped as well which 6 of them sued Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) because of mixing.

its time to just use something else or just comply to what casino is asking. its now the norm after all BTC is not illegal.

Yeah! because of the tight restrictions of the governments regarding money laundering and some other illegal activities that could be executed with crypto gamblings, most of them require their users to pass KYC to avoid some troubles. most of the users don't really want it and they just ignored it. They avoid it because they are afraid of their personal details being compromised when the Casino is not trusted.

I do think that cryptocurrency casinos is just the incident of it- the primary purpose is to establish an online gambling website that is compatible with cryptocurrencies. Basically, it just your typical online gambling website but the payment options and payouts that are available are cryptocurrencies.

The implementation of KYC documents is for the benefit of the casino since it has to comply with the existing laws in a country. If they fail to comply, then the licenses will be revoked, thus losing their progress and website in an instant.

Because it has become a regulation that casinos may be implemented later, it becomes mandatory to see now many casinos have applied it to users because of course for several reasons such as money laundering and also legality which has become legal because currently, casinos have regulations regarding KYC because of their regulations on the licenses they register which are still under the auspices of the government.

Including I actually don't want KYC to be mandatory maybe for now, there is still anonymity that we want but in the future, we will know that KYC can be important for casinos.

There are few casino in this list^[1] that do not require their user to undergo KYC, so your concern about gambling anonymously is pretty much doable, perhaps at a certain amount of time, and unless they deemed it necessarry.

Regardless of whether bitcoin or crypto in general promotes pseudo-anonymity or privacy, jackpot winner will sometimes, if not always surrender their ID anyways just to get their money, and most of the time, they do not give a damn.

[1]Information of Crypto Casinos License and KYC requirements (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5381143.0)

We should thank the KYC system because the verification they impose is a huge scare to fraudsters and money laundering who use the gambling method to launder stolen or ill-gotten cash. Of course, a casino found guilty of failing to provide a correct spreadsheet will face a penalty by the regulatory body in the manner of having a revoked license.  Also during payouts, most casinos if not properly regulated may fail to payout winnings for reasons of improper I.d cards or another document to ascertain the identity of the user. There's less anonymity in the crypto space these days because the usage keeps gaining momentum from new users, hence the reason for KYC verification which helps to show new persons joining the network that their funds are secured from scams if they can only adhere to security tips and processes.

You can do away with centralized casinos that require verification at any point, it is a matter of choice either to gamble on a decent-sized casino or a centralized casino. KYC has become a highly demanded thing from gamblers lately and this has made privacy hard for crypto users who may have seen gambling as a way of passing time.
But ultimately I advise you to gamble only on decentralized casinos if you value your Anonymous but then you will be ready to forfeit some other future that is accessible to KYC members on the site.

It's still possible to avoid KYC while gambling but the number of casinos that don't have KYC after registration is getting small compared to before as other casinos are starting to introduce KYC. It only becomes difficult if you're playing with a large amount of money as there are casinos that have rules regarding the amount you're allowed to withdraw if your account hasn't gone through KYC.

There's no need for us gamblers to feel thankful for the KYC system because it's only helping the casinos for the most part and gamblers don't get much after complying aside from additional access to their service.

Yes, it does.
Here is an interesting topic that you might find useful: Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5221497.0)


Not necessarily. Many people still avoid registering their details on gambling platforms, and some platforms will only require identification after winning a large amount, or to prevent fraudulent and criminal activity.

To answer your questions, OP:
KYC goes against the principles of anonymous cryptocurrencies. It's a rule imposed by centralized governments that claim to be democratic but in reality are authoritarian when it comes to finances. A great example of a fake democracy is Canada that was blocking accounts of people involved in protests so that they wouldn't have money for fuel and food.

Gambling without KYC is still possible. For instance, many jurisdictions require KYC only above a certain sum of money. If you spend $100, many casinos won't make it hard for you.
It also depends on your local laws. If your country requires kyc from all casinos, it's going to also require it from online bitcoin casinos.

The major reason why kyc is mostly required in various casinos is to reduced and track against money laundering, from investigations since casino site do operates with license and most of exchange like Binance and any other tie 1 trading platform including those gambling site. They are trying their best to do away such activity, and to protect users investment in their platform which is why it was made compulsory for every user to pass through the KYC process.

Now talking of anonymity, this remains only between the casinos sites and their users since You and I doesn't see each other's details and can not be revealed by the counterparty or the operators, this applicable to cryptocurrency exchangers otherwise you wanna used dex to trade or swapping your tokens.

Crypto-gambling should be anonymous, as it supposed to be in general, but since centralization now hitting any crypto-companies, soon we can expect that most crypto-gambling sites will have a mandatory KYC. But for now, don't mind it, it's not that KYC will be a mandatory requirements that will be imposed on the gambling sites.

Just enjoy now the anonymity of crypto-gambling today and don't take it as a big deal. Also keep in mind that always follow the site terms to avoid having  any account issues and problem in the future as KYC is now mandatory for red flagged accounts at most cases.

If you use insignificant amounts and do not violate the rules of the casino, then no one will be interested in you. If you use large amounts, then everyone and everywhere will be interested in you. These are the rules imposed by the regulators. Therefore, if you need to use large amounts, you should use decentralized services, but I have not heard of such regarding bookmakers/casinos.

I think KYC requirement is going to be inevitable already as most of the reputable casinos are going all in. So probably, making yourself completely anonymous will not be possible at all as KYC verification will become mandatory once you enter into online gambling or playing into legit and reputable casinos. Maybe for now we can still be anonymous as a gambler but I know later on, we can no longer escape KYC anymore.

It is, the idea of using cryptocurrency is sending money from A to B even without knowing ^(personally) who actually is A and/or B. With the whole lot new regulations, this way become more at risk.
Gambling anonymously online is still possible you just need to filter and choose trusted non-KYC gambling/casino sites, there are still lot of them.

While on the other hand you can choose what gambling website to trust your info if you want to proceed their KYC and stick to that. I don't know if this is a thing to a casino sites' terms but you can request to delete your account together with your info. Then proceed to register another new casino site then do KYC. Well, it's up the users. Just make sure you knew the risks because privacy leakage is dangerous than anyone could imagine.

Several threads have already been opened regarding the KYC and I think there will be a lot more talk about it. We are in 2022, so the KYC is something that seems to have become inherent in the gambling industry these days. If you are going to play at a gambling site (only crypto or regular bookmakers) then you have to prepare yourself that sooner or later there will come a time when you have to undergo a KYC. That is the situation and it is not going to change. There are still a handful of bookmakers that don't require KYC but they are getting less and less.

It's still possible today. There are few alternatives of casinos which don't ask for KYC, although we have no guarantees tomorrow they won't start demanding KYC from users. So gamblers must be careful even when depositing and keeping funds on such casinos, because at any moment they might be forced to provide their IDs in order to cashout funds, otherwise they are going to lose their funds.

Anonymity or pseudo-anonymity was good while it lasted during the early days of cryptocurrency. I think many people here will remember those times with nostalgia...

First, I think it is already stated that cryptocurrencies are not created for anonymity, they are created as a easier, cheaper, faster and safer way to send and receive money.

And secondly, I would like to emphasize that anonymity is only possible in an environment that is crime free,  online casinos that does not request kyc stand a chance at being used as a means to launder money, which is a serious crime in many cities of the world.

Pretty much this.
KYC sucks but it's there and you should be aware of it.

There are ways to avoid it and ways to gamble without giving them your personal data. If you're a high roller you already know those and if you're not, you're not going to need to hide. Just choose casinos that don't require KYC for all their clients just those who withdraw big money.

The former Directbet.eu is one of the best crypto-sportsbook before where you don't need an account to place your bet. It means that there is even no chance of KYC here even though the bet amount was really big. OneHash, a mutual betting site also did the same, no account is needed but currently, opening an account is now necessary there and I have just learned that they not offering sports betting now.

If we don't like KYC, no choice but to just choose a sportsbook where KYC is not a mandatory requirement. There are lots of sportsbooks currently that we can freely use even without the KYC. We should have to take advantage of it while it's possible.

It is against the anonymity that cryptocurrencies portray. But they're also a service and a business that needs to be registered and has to obey the rules where they're registered at.

They have to be implemented by the rules and with the rules. Now, as a business, they have also their own policies that go lies together with the government and that includes KYC.

On the early days, it was like that, we're all free and the government doesn't worry much about what we do in crypto and crypto related businesses. But now that it has gotten wide and bigger, they can no longer ignore what they can get from it.

In the rising regulations, we are slowly getting back in the old times and being anonymous is no longer an ideal thing to implement especially on many crypto casinos.

The only option is to avoid the platform that asked for too much KYC, maybe a simple name and age will do but if they continue to ask for more details and supporting documents, personally I won’t proceed on that as well. KYC is still an issue here and probably will still be an issue in the years yo come.

You need to know that not all casinos that requires KYC verification which is the reason why we can select from the large numbers of casinos we have online and go for what we want if we don't really like KYC casinos. There are some that are KYC standard and the reason why they do that is because they are centralized crypto gambling casinos and they are always strict on enforcing KYC for users so that the attempt of having multiple accounts of cheat can be detected through there system.
Another reason why some casinos do care about KYC is because of money laundering act to avoid illegal spending of money that are term as laundering.

As others have mentioned, online crypto gambling in the beginning is fully anonymous, it was in its early years. And when crypto specially bitcoin attracted the attention of regulatory bodies specially in 2017, wherein there is a massive change from exchanges to gambling platform, everything is now requiring KYC. But if I'm not mistaken, there are still casino's that only requires KYC when you reaches certain threshold of withdrawals. But in any case, you should be ready for your documents as you might be ask one day by your favorite casino for your personal documentations.

Due to regulation then it becomes tighter as the years been passing by considering that these businesses are regulated then expect that they would really be complying on what are the rules and regulation
that had been stated specially if these platforms are regulated or licensed ones which means that we wont really took all the blame to the casino since they are just following on whats been told to them.

We have seen that there are casinos now that imposing or applying KYC restrictions which do really sucks but still we do have still those platforms which we could really still
able to play anonymously or wont really be having any problems at all in regarding to KYC.

^Even casinos themselves hate this KYC procedure because it makes them additional tasks for their staff. It is because they are regulated by the governments and they are required to follow KYC verification to know customers and probably avoid that money laundering since we know that since starting this was the government fighting, to stop money laundering and possibly to fund terrorist activities.
However, we still have gambling casinos that don't have KYC, as long they are here we can avoid using a gambling casino that requires too much heavy KYC procedures.

KYC is a thing now, most of the licensed casinos already have a KYC requirement and beside it is stated in most of the site that KYC can still be asked so we will not remain anonymous once you do gambling.

Cryptocurrency made for this purpose but since we want the regulations and adoption, we have mo choice but to comply. If you are not ok with KYC then don’t gamble at all, this is beyond our control already and even casinos left with no choice. Providing fake identity is not safe as well, better not to do this at all.

They do hate KYC because they do know that this community does always love on being anonymous but just like on what most people been saying here is that they do need to comply on whats been asked or else
it wont really be that possible to have those operation specially if the origin of the said platform is living on a country which does have strict rules about gambling businesses or platforms.