Not long ago, the ability to make a deposit in cryptocurrency was seen as a novelty in the online casino space. Today, it’s become a key factor in staying competitive — and, in many cases, essential for an operator’s survival. Recently, our CEO, Artem Kirillov, gave a short interview for a major website, CASINO.RU, and answered questions about how crypto casino licensing requirements differ, what regulators expect, and how operators are increasingly interacting behind the scenes.
How does the process of obtaining a license for crypto casinos differ from the procedure for fiat platforms?
When you’re applying for a gambling license for fiat, the regulator looks at you as a standard gambling operator: RNG certificates, AML/KYC procedures, Responsible Gambling policies — and off you go. But once crypto enters the stack, you’re suddenly also a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP/CASP). That means a second layer of approvals kicks in: blockchain architecture, key storage, KYT monitoring, smart contract audits, and so on.
From there, it really depends on the specifics – which jurisdiction you’re working in, which tokens you support, whether you’re building your own custody and KYC infrastructure or relying on partner solutions and so on. Depending on the setup, the requirements will vary for things like smart contract audits, oracle usage, MPC-based asset storage, blockchain analytics, AML policies — and ultimately the cost and time to go to market.
RNG certificate — an official document confirming that the Random Number Generator used in casino games produces fair, unbiased, and unpredictable results. It’s issued by independent testing labs and is a standard licensing requirement.
How does licensing work with the Crypto Gambling Foundation?
It’s actually not accurate to call it “licensing”, since CGF isn’t a government regulator. If we had to sum it up in one line — it’s a verification process to confirm that the RNG codebase is provably fair, meaning that the result of every user bet on the platform can be verified afterward using cryptographic methods.
The process itself is a technical audit of the RNG code. You get the “Verified Operator” badge if your platform proves its RNG is truly provably fair and if you meet basic responsible gambling standards.
There’s probably no need to list out every audit step — that’s all publicly available online. If your audit passes, CGF gives you the badge. Simple as that.
What responsible gambling measures do casinos implement?
Responsible gambling isn’t optional — it’s an obligation. We follow strict RG policies across all our projects, and players have access to tools that let them set limits on bets, session time, turnover, deposits, losses, and more. Likewise, back when we ran an MGA-licensed brand, we also carried out affordability checks and had a trigger system to detect risky player behavior.
On one of our crypto casino brand (Dazard), after we introduced daily loss limits and session timers, we saw a 27% drop in extended overnight play among at-risk users. That kind of move not only eases pressure from regulators, it also builds a healthier, more sustainable user base.
Do online crypto casinos cooperate with each other to identify bonus hunters?
Yes — but usually informally. We do exchange intel with other operators and affiliate platforms, especially when we spot patterns of abuse. Our brands use a shared anti-fraud system (covering devices, IPs, cookies), and when needed, we block linked accounts across networks.
Not long ago, we uncovered a ring of multi-accounts registered across several Curacao-licensed brands. We ended up blocking the arbers — not even bonus abusers. With bonus hunters, it’s usually easier to manage. But with arbing groups, the losses can be massive.
How profitable are no-deposit bonuses for crypto casino operators?
They’re a powerful attention-grabber — especially in competitive GEOs — but you’ve got to use them wisely, or they’ll burn a hole in your budget. For user acquisition, it’s a perfect tool, with incredible ROI.
We added more no-deposit offers to our retention campaigns, and while bonus spend went up slightly, retention rates increased significantly.
