How Crypto Has Allowed Online Poker to Evolve with the Modern Player

The online gaming industry has thrived by keeping up with the preferences of modern players, and one trend that has forced all online gaming sectors to evolve is the increasing popularity of crypto and blockchain. 

A recent report found that the global gaming population has reached 3.2 billion, with an increasing number of traditional gaming companies exploring blockchain integration. A big reason for this is that modern players want to explore new economic opportunities, such as earning cryptocurrency while engaging in games. Online poker is one traditional gaming sector that has continuously evolved with the modern player. The integration of crypto is a key area in which online poker platforms have been very successful.  

The Evolution of Online Poker

Poker has been played over the internet since the 1990s. Its first iteration was a free poker game played over the IRC chat protocol. This quickly evolved to Planet Poker, which was the first platform to offer real money games in 1998. 

This form of poker, also known as internet poker , quickly grew in popularity due to offering play 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for dozens of poker variants. The online version of the game exploded in popularity in 2003, in what is known as the poker boom, when an amateur poker player called Chris Moneymaker went from an online satellite tournament to winning $2.5 million at the WSOP Main Event. Online poker showed that anyone could win big, and today, there are over 100 million players worldwide, with approximately 60 million players in the US alone. 

Why Online Poker Has Embraced Crypto for the Modern Player

As online poker evolved to create more realistic and immersive games to meet the demands of modern players, so did the payment methods of online platforms. With crypto becoming popular in 2013, more poker platforms started to offer crypto as a form of payment. Compared to traditional payment options, users could deposit and withdraw anonymously using a crypto wallet, making playing with crypto much more private compared to the personal and financial information that traditional casinos require. This allowed players from across the world to play on poker platforms as local banking restrictions didn’t stop them. The deposits and withdrawals were also much faster and more secure, creating a more seamless gaming experience. 

Online Poker Crypto Options For the Modern Player

To be a top poker platform that attracts modern players, the platform needs to offer a wide range of crypto options. One poker platform that has truly embraced the growing popularity of crypto amongst gamers is ACR Poker. The online poker platform offers secure banking for a wide range of crypto options to cater to the different needs of their players. Users can withdraw and deposit popular cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether, with transactions completed in under an hour. This ensures that using crypto as a payment method is as seamless as using a bank card or cash transfer. With the online poker industry forecast to make a leap from a substantial revenue of $59.35 billion in 2022 to $155.36 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 11.14%, more modern poker players will expect platforms to follow in ACR Poker’s footsteps and offer a wide range of crypto options. 
As crypto continues to see a resurgence since the recent presidential election, more modern poker players will be confident about using it as their preferred payment method. Poker platforms that don’t use crypto to evolve with the modern player will quickly find themselves behind in a highly competitive and fast-moving industry. For more on the hidden secrets of the blockchain industry , do visit the rest of our site.