5 Trends That Will Dominate Crypto Gambling in 2025

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Crypto gambling is on the up – way up. In 2019, the market was worth about $50 million. Last year, it leapt fivefold and is now valued at over $250 million.

That’s just a sliver of the $85 billion global online gambling pie, but a CAGR of 38% is nothing to sneeze at. The broader market is also growing, pegged to reach $164 billion by 2033. In 2025, the hockey stick will keep curving upward.

Crypto brings something new to the table: enhanced privacy and security, lower transaction fees, a wider variety of games, and faster payouts for starters. New developments promise to extend those benefits further, while taking the online gambling market into new areas and services.

The fascinating thing about blockchain-driven sectors is the transparency – you can see them evolve in real time.

In this article, we look at what the experts think will drive crypto gambling’s growth and development in 2025.

Key Takeaways

  • Crypto gambling looks set to come into its own in 2025, moving from niche to mainstream as it benefits from wider acceptance of crypto in every walk of life.
  • Its CAGR outpaces traditional online gambling by 30% or more.
  • The sector is evolving fast due to AI, blockchain technical improvements, and the adoption of common regulatory rules.
  • Change is on the table. Operators are rolling out new services and experiences that promise greater flexibility, privacy, speed, diversity in accepted coins, and personalized gambling experiences.

Is 2025 the Year Crypto Gambling Truly Arrives?

Even before a populist, crypto-friendly, and regulation-skeptical president moved into the White House, crypto was offering gamblers more choice, speed, savings, privacy, and simplicity.

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Cryptocurrencies can eliminate the need to convert fiat currencies or find geofencing workarounds. Players can access international casino sites, make deposits and withdrawals, and transact with confidence – all without undue concern about exchange rates or the limitations of traditional payment systems.

Macro projections are subject to correction, but dig into the underlying stats and crypto gambling’s direction of travel seems unmistakable.

  • In the first half of 2022, crypto gamblers placed close to $3 billion in bets. At year’s end that doubled to $6.3 billion.
  • By the end of March 2023, total crypto bets had grown 44.6% year-on-year.
  • In June 2024, cryptocurrency bets jumped by 83.6% over June 2022.
  • Crypto transactions now account for nearly 30% of all wagers, up from 20% in 2022
A pie chart with favorite games among crypto gamblers: slots, roulette, blackjack, and poker.
Favorite games among crypto gamblers. Source: Blockonomi, Crypto Gambling Market Statistics Report for 2024.

What’s driving such rapid growth? According to Blockonomi, the expansion “reflects not only growing consumer confidence in cryptocurrency transactions but also the increasing sophistication of blockchain-based gaming technologies.”

As more and more people accept blockchain technology and treat Bitcoin and others as viable options for e-commerce, online punters are shifting their attention to crypto casinos.

Here’s what they’re discovering.

Top 5 Crypto Gambling Trends in 2025

1. Fast Payments Get Faster

New innovations are paving the way for faster and more efficient cryptocurrency withdrawals. A growing array of layer-2 scaling solutions can now process transactions off-chain, reducing traffic congestion before moving them on to the main network for final approval.

Meanwhile, decentralized identifiers (DIDs) have emerged as a reliable way to verify player identity without exposing sensitive data.

2. Cross-Chain Pools of Liquidity

Crypto casinos typically restrict transactions to whichever blockchain the casino operates on. Cross-chain technologies can pick the lock and allow players to bet and cash out across multiple blockchains.

Various interoperability mechanisms ensure smooth communication between networks. That means winnings in Bitcoin (BTC) could be instantly exchanged for Ethereum (ETH) or stablecoins without causing undue delay.

3. AI-Driven Personalization

Crypto casinos already use AI to target advertising and promotions better. The next logical step is to create individualized betting experiences.

By continuously analyzing the data around player behavior, AI can discern betting patterns and instantly tweak different elements of a game. That could include dynamic adjustments to difficulty level, or GenAI opponents sync’d to a player’s skill level.

4. Betting on DOGE

As the broader crypto market diversifies into alternative digital assets, experts say crypto gambling will see a spillover. Data from gambling software developer SOFTSWISS suggests that altcoins accounted for 26.8% of total gambling transactions in 2023 but surged to almost 50% in 2024. Bitcoin’s share declined by over 17 percentage points, reflecting wider acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a whole.

5. Regulation Enhances Confidence

This year could see the market freed from the regulatory grey market. Many governments and financial watchdogs struggle to oversee crypto-based gambling while uncertainty about the rules stops operators and players from jumping fully on board.

The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has been in force since June 2023. As standards continue to roll out, it could be a model for other jurisdictions to follow.

The Expert View

Ivan Montik, Founder of SOFTSWISS, said that regulatory clarity will be vital to future growth, as the industry still needs a common rules framework and guardrails to guide future innovation. He told Techopedia:

“Some people already use crypto regularly and part with it more easily. With regulation, more people will see crypto become normalized and integrated into the regular banking applications they use every day.

“Our data shows that in early 2024, the average bet in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin was higher than in fiat transactions. The surge in Bitcoin’s value in the final months of 2024 also drove a 1.4x increase in the average crypto bet, even as the average fiat bet remained stable.

“Judging by the historical data, we can conclude that average bets in crypto will continue to grow.”

Paul Fitchford, Managing Director at consultancy iGaming UK, told Techopedia he’s keeping tabs on three developments this year:

“Watch out for more casino-created coins and casinos using them to bonus players outside of fiat currencies. I’d also expect to see more custom games with adjustable volatility – which feels like a maths model much more fitting to a crypto audience.”

He’s also keen on Africa as a growth opportunity. Fitchford added:

“It’s [Africa] set to become a big crypto market as operators start to realize how big the country markets are.”

Montik notes that brands like Rollbit and Shuffle already use proprietary tokens to enhance player engagement. He said:

“These gaming-specific tokens offer seamless integration, reduced volatility, and exclusive perks, fostering innovation in payments and driving business growth.”

Asset diversification and game personalization go hand in hand, he added, as crypto enthusiasts tend to have clear personal preferences about which coins they use. Bitcoin isn’t the only game in town.

Montik said:

“Crypto-based gaming projects are reshaping the online casino landscape by merging gamification with gambling to create more immersive and interactive experiences. Players gain greater freedom in how they engage with games.

“In live casino games and sports betting, for example, players are not just attracted to crypto for its convenience but also for the cutting-edge features that come with blockchain-based platforms, enhancing their overall gaming experience.

“In 2024, meme coins gained significant momentum, and we expect their growth to continue.”

Blockonomi stated that eSports cryptocurrency bets are on the rise, growing by 35% since 2023. Live dealer games are also becoming more popular with crypto gamblers, posting a 28% increase in popularity from 2023 to 2024.

The Bottom Line

If recent developments in traditional (non-wagering) online games are any guide, crypto and gambling may evolve a symbiotic relationship that drives new forms.

It’s long been posited that the popularity of online gaming makes it a natural gateway for crypto adoption. Perhaps crypto gambling will see the same effect, but in reverse – taking a page from parallel developments in the non-wagering game world like the rise of the Metaverse and play to earn (P2E).

As interest in decentralized options and monetizing play rises, interest in crypto gambling seems set to follow.

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Mark De Wolf
Technology & iGaming Journalist
Mark De Wolf
Technology & iGaming Journalist

Mark is a seasoned tech journalist covering esports, igaming, GambleFi, Web3, and topics at the intersection of blockchain and gambling. His work has appeared in Redshift, Investing.com, Energy Central, Marketing, and The Startup. He’s an honors graduate of the Ryerson University School of Journalism, where he studied under senior reporters from The New York Times, BBC, and Toronto Star.