Decentralized Gambling: Promote Freedom or Promote Fraud?

[uchegod-21]

I don't see how decentralised casinos can help in increasing fraud or money laundering, since they use one wallet to connect to the casino, and winnings are also paid out directly to the same wallet which they use in placing bets. How can such means be used for money laundering unless there is a hidden tool? Since both in and out of the player's wallet can be traced back to the origin, I don't see such happening.

What if the decentralized casino itself is owned and managed by these criminals themselves for the purpose of fraud and money laundering? This is not unlikely to happen since the casino itself is not being regulated.

That's a valid point you have made there; with that, it's easier for the casino to use such a method to clean their coins since customers are making deposits to place bets. For every winning, they can also use other means to pay winners and keep their clean coins, but it will be harder for the player to use a decentralised casino for such. Anything is possible in the space; even in a regulated casino, bad actors still figure out ways to use the system for their games.

I don't believe it would be difficult for players/gamblers to use the decentralized casino for their own criminal activities. The goal is to hide their identity by using platforms that will make it difficult for them to be traced. Large deposits can still be made to these wallets. Criminals already have everything figured out for themselves, you can not underestimate them 100%.

[Mindyspace]

I believe fraud can exist anywhere, as it depends on the intention of the user. However, it's unfair to generalize and assume everyone will use it negatively. Decentralized betting represents a much greater advance than fraud, which unfortunately already exists in many contexts.

[batang_bitcoin]

I believe fraud can exist anywhere, as it depends on the intention of the user. However, it's unfair to generalize and assume everyone will use it negatively. Decentralized betting represents a much greater advance than fraud, which unfortunately already exists in many contexts.

Yes, there are new centralized casinos that can be fraud at a time because of their newness to the gambling community. We see many scam accusations being thrown even on the old and reputable casinos. So, scams are not limited only to decentralized gambling because it can happen everywhere and every person needs to be vigilant about it if they don't want to get scammed by those. I didn't become a fan of decentralized gambling but we have our reference. It might not be likeable to me but there are gamblers who would definitely like it.

[God Of Thunder]

All these hates on gambling are just not worth it because most money laundered are traced from where it is laundered and most are connected to fiat.

Yep.
This is just an attack on gambling, especially decentralized gambling. I don't care about decentralized casinos since I do not play on any decentralized casinos, yet I do not support what the author says, which encourages money laundering. Money laundering can happen in centralized casinos as well. What if I make a thousand-dollar deposit, tip it to someone else, and they withdraw the money to my wallet?

Even though this is money laundering, no one can detect it as long as I use different addresses to do it. There are hundreds of ways to do money laundering if someone wants to do so. So, it is shame that some people think decentralized casinos encourage money laundering.

[traderethereum]

Centralized and decentralized casinos can be used for negative things. It all depends on how the gamblers want to deal with the casinos. Although we think that centralized casinos are difficult to use for fraud or money laundering, they can use the gap to do what they want. Decentralized casinos are good because they don't ask for verification for the gamblers so they can use this for negative things.

[WhoYouCantKill]

Casinos that are decentralized enable user to have more control, privacy, and quicker payouts, and may seem like freedom. Though not having overnight, it can make way for fraud, scams, and laundry in money, as it has no licensing organization or steady checking on what is going on. Though the freedom enters into both ways: gamblers stay away from being restricted yet they lose being protected. This is also tradeoff between safety and independence.

[Proty]

So what's your take on decentralized gambling?  Do you think it really promotes freedom, or is it just another option to commit fraud and money laundering in the guise of promoting freedom?

Decentralised gambling to me doesn't really promote any form of freedom because since it is not legal for those casino to operate without license. So those that are petronise that platform are exposing them selves to potential risk with the mindset that they are given freedom that other legal or licensed casino don't. I believe this kind of casino will definitely be breeding place or habitat for criminals and the possibility of being exploited is very high. They may offer freedom but no protection, because they may decide not to pay when one hit a big win. So those that are petronise them are prioritising freedom over legal protection.

[r_victory]

The same applies to cryptocurrencies. They were created to offer us freedom and financial equality, in terms of access to resources that are often denied to the most humble citizens. Unfortunately, many use them for scams, money laundering, etc. In other words, I wouldn't blame the casinos, but rather those who act dishonestly. I tend to use regulated casinos; I feel safer.

[Darker45]

There's freedom with decentralized gambling. That freedom doesn't discriminate. Good players can take advantage of it. Bad actors can also take advantage of it. It's fair to everybody. What isn't fair is to consider this technological innovation as just a way to promote fraud. I don't think that's the driving force behind this development.

In addition, to assume that highly regulated and centralized casinos, even brick-and-mortar casinos, are free of fraud because of the design, that's certainly false. They remain as the favorite for money launderers.

[ultrloa]

There's freedom with decentralized gambling. That freedom doesn't discriminate. Good players can take advantage of it. Bad actors can also take advantage of it. It's fair to everybody. What isn't fair is to consider this technological innovation as just a way to promote fraud. I don't think that's the driving force behind this development.

In addition, to assume that highly regulated and centralized casinos, even brick-and-mortar casinos, are free of fraud because of the design, that's certainly false. They remain as the favorite for money launderers.

Somehow bad actors can pull off their illegal activities even if they are in regulated platforms since there are so many ways to by pass the regulation done by government. For sure they are not dumb to know how to avoid and can make actions succeed that's why its hard for government to sue them.

Those regulation they made is the least thing they can do and those small fish are usually got affected on the regulation done.

Although somehow its helpful since it decrease the money laundering schemes happening, but I believe it doesn't eliminate everything since there's good chance that those bad actors use multiple fake identities then distribute their illegal funds then succeed with their money laundering schemes done on casinos.

[libert19]

At the same time, playing in a decentralized casino, the player risks not receiving the winnings for any reason, and in such a case, they will not have the opportunity to complain, as they themselves agreed to play by the rules of false anonymity.

I assume decentralized casinos work like how dexes work —  i.e, casino's smart contracts live on blockchain where funds are held and are received from and sent to user wallets when they play.

Here, there is no entity, that could forsake winnings since everything is automatic, and even if frontend of casino were to cease to exist, one could still interact with smart contract to withdraw the funds, only thing that should matter is to make sure casino smart contacts are verified by reputed third party to make sure there is no foul play going on.

[MAAManda]

So what's your take on decentralized gambling?  Do you think it really promotes freedom, or is it just another option to commit fraud and money laundering in the guise of promoting freedom?

Much like decentralization in Bitcoin (BTC) & cryptocurrencies, the primary goal is to create a trustless & decentralized system. However, not everyone shares this view, some view this innovation as a new way to commit crimes (money laundering etc).

Despite all this, I believe decentralization in gambling remains a way to promote freedom. However, we can't prevent criminal activity, as the system allows it to occur.

[freedomgo]

I believe fraud can exist anywhere, as it depends on the intention of the user. However, it's unfair to generalize and assume everyone will use it negatively. Decentralized betting represents a much greater advance than fraud, which unfortunately already exists in many contexts.

That’s not how regulators see it. They’re still not going to allow the market to grow freely, because as long as it can be used for fraud there’s always a risk people will lose money and money laundering is also possible. We hate what they do, but we don’t have a choice. Anything that grows in popularity, they will try to regulate.

Even Bitcoin isn’t the same as before. Exchanges and casinos are already regulated when it comes to crypto transactions.

[bubilas]

The same applies to cryptocurrencies. They were created to offer us freedom and financial equality, in terms of access to resources that are often denied to the most humble citizens. Unfortunately, many use them for scams, money laundering, etc. In other words, I wouldn't blame the casinos, but rather those who act dishonestly. I tend to use regulated casinos; I feel safer.

I completely agree with you. There is such a concept as "double-edged sword" and it means that not everything in this world is unambiguous. And as there are anonymous coins or anonymous casinos, they have two sides. On the one hand, we have every right to be anonymous when we want to. After all, no one should dictate to us that we must provide identification everywhere. But on the other hand, they can really be used for bad purposes, or for laundering fiat.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Which casinos are truly decentralized? If you ask me, I can not really point out anyone, except am mistaken all of them to be centralized but from their ways of operations, most of the reputable casinos I know are centralized. When you say decentralized are promoting frauds, it seem to me as if centralized systems and platforms are not also having fraudulent activities. The truth is that, frauds can not be completely eradicated from both centralized or decentralized platforms, because those evil actors will always find their way around the system.

[stadus]

Which casinos are truly decentralized? If you ask me, I can not really point out anyone, except am mistaken all of them to be centralized but from their ways of operations, most of the reputable casinos I know are centralized. When you say decentralized are promoting frauds, it seem to me as if centralized systems and platforms are not also having fraudulent activities. The truth is that, frauds can not be completely eradicated from both centralized or decentralized platforms, because those evil actors will always find their way around the system.

It’s decentralized gambling, and that doesn’t always mean casinos. It can also include decentralized crypto prediction markets like Polymarket. This one’s actually reputable, and for some people this is where they find real freedom. During the US elections, there were even reports of huge amounts of money being bet on the platform, that shows how much people trust it even if it’s not regulated.

[Wapfika]

Which casinos are truly decentralized? If you ask me, I can not really point out anyone, except am mistaken all of them to be centralized but from their ways of operations, most of the reputable casinos I know are centralized. When you say decentralized are promoting frauds, it seem to me as if centralized systems and platforms are not also having fraudulent activities. The truth is that, frauds can not be completely eradicated from both centralized or decentralized platforms, because those evil actors will always find their way around the system.

It’s decentralized gambling, and that doesn’t always mean casinos. It can also include decentralized crypto prediction markets like Polymarket. This one’s actually reputable, and for some people this is where they find real freedom. During the US elections, there were even reports of huge amounts of money being bet on the platform, that shows how much people trust it even if it’s not regulated.

I believe he is pertaining to general gambling services and mistaken casino as sportsbook too but his point is valid in general since even polymarket is still can’t operate freely as decentralized since they are not allowed to operate in the US.

Playing on this casino as US citizen can give you trouble which means there’s still part of it as centralized. For sure there’s still some platform that offer decentralized feature but all of them can imposed a part centralization later on once regulators hits them.

[Dunamisx]

I wonder whether Decentralized gambling is actually promoting freedom or letting decentralized casino owners and users commit fraud and money laundering, since most are unlicensed and do not follow regulations.

Things like this are what is fighting us against having our own privacy, the question there is, do government regulations prevent illicit activities form gamblers, does the use of a decentralized gambling platforms contribute to irresponsible gambling or cause fraudulent and shield those involved in it, we have to live in a world of perfection, whereby everyone takes close effect on his right to what what he wants, and maintain privacy, this is more of a fight against privacy than using a decentralized platform, because the same or even worse had been said to the use of mixers.

[TheUltraElite]

Decentralized gambling gives some advantage to the money launderer but it does completely keep that criminal safe. They get caught, it is only a matter of when.

Indeed freedom is a tough thing to preach, it often comes with fraud because people start to become fearless and that is a difficult thing to control. They will attempt to use the freedom to commit fraud.

Either way money laundering will continue, frauds will continue, just that the law needs to be come in front and be active to keep the legit users safe and catch the criminals.

[Kelward]

I prefer to gamble on centralized casinos that are regulated by the government, I feel more comfortable knowing that the government is watching their every moves. I'm not used to decentralized casinos, they have their advantage of privacy for their gamblers but I'd still rather gamble on regulated casinos. I cannot however condemn decentralized casinos that they are fraudulent, they can have the intentions operating a genuine casino for gamblers that wants privacy but criminals can take advantage of loopholes to commit fraud. Aside from decentralized casinos scammers will always take advantage of anything that is created for good purposes to commit crime.