The gambling industry has witnessed impressive growth over the last several years, in both traditional and online gambling spheres.
Despite all the positive aspects of this industry, some crucial problems remain. Online gamblers continue to face many issues with the online casino or betting sites, including data insecurity, the lack of transparency, high fees in money withdrawing, fraudulent activity and high entry barriers. A new ICO project, Bitbook, is here to make the change the industry needs.
Today we’re interviewing Filip Poutintsev, CMO of BitBook.ag, an extremely promising betting and gambling project. The platform offers a wide range of casino games and bets on all major sports, as well as a range of innovative incentives for players. BitBook.ag is ready to launch its ICO, offering attractive bonuses to early supporters.
Tell us a bit about BitBook.ag. What’s your concept, target audience, and unique value?
BitBook.ag is a blockchain-based sportsbook and casino platform that uses cryptocurrency for all payments. While there are quite a few gambling projects that propose using blockchain technology, BitBook.ag is the only one – to our knowledge, at least – that combines sports betting and casino games. Thus, we address two target audience segments – sports fans and users who like to play online slots, roulette, blackjack, poker, etc. Many users actually enjoy both and until now have had to register on many different sites – but now they have BitBook, where they can find everything all in one place.
Do you have a gaming license?
Of course. We are licensed in Costa Rica, a very crypto-friendly, gaming-friendly jurisdiction. This way, we can guarantee that all BitBook operations are completely transparent and legal.
What are the benefits of going crypto for the online gaming industry?
The key benefit lies in the way crypto payments are processed. With crypto, you no longer depend on banks and credit card companies: Anyone can deposit funds in their BitBook account and play games or make bets without any restrictions – regardless of location. This also solves the issue of banks blocking credit cards used to make payments on gambling sites, which happens very often. What’s more, you don’t have to pay high transaction fees anymore, so a larger percentage of the funds is paid out to players as winnings and cashback.
Naturally, there are many other benefits, such as the speed and transparency of payments, but getting rid of ill-equipped financial institutions is by far the most important.
There are literally dozens of ICOs launching every week. How are you different?
First and foremost, we already have a working product. Our online casino and betting platform is fully functional, and we have a cash flow and a loyal audience. While the vast majority of ICOs launch with nothing but an idea and some mock-ups, BitBook.ag is already profitable. Most ICO investors purchase tokens in hopes that the project will come up with a decent product in a year or two; by contrast, with BitBook.ag, they can join the platform right away and already start playing.
If BitBook.ag is already up and running, why do you need an ICO at all?
True, we already have a working platform with over 200 casino games and betting opportunities for all major sports. The next step is to transfer all transactions to the blockchain to render them tamper-proof. Right now we’re still using a mixed, partially decentralized model, accepting BTC as payment. The current fundraising stage will allow us to switch to our own token – as well as allow us to accept a wider range of cryptocurrencies – and introduce a system of loss compensation, cashback, and other incentives for players.
Tell us a bit more about these programs.
BitBook.ag will offer players more than other gambling or betting sites – and definitely much more than any of our blockchain-based competitors. First off, we will institute a loss compensation program for the members who use our tokens to make bets and play games. If you end the month with a negative balance, you will get 10% of your losses back in the form of cashback. Second, we will award welcome bonuses to every newly registered user who makes their first deposit in BitBook.ag tokens. The size of this bonus can reach 100%, and it will be available for withdrawal once a certain activity threshold is reached – for example, after you have played a set number of roulette games. Finally, we will regularly do buybacks of our tokens and burn them to reduce the supply on the market and ensure a gradual increase in value no matter the market situation.
How does the current downturn in the ICO world affect the fundraising process for BitBook.ag?
Of course we’re aware of the serious situation on the ICO market. However, BitBook.ag has already raised a significant amount through private channels, so we’re confident that we’ll hit our soft cap.
We could have proceeded with private fundraising, but we decided to go with an ICO because we believe it’s a superior method of raising money. That’s what it is for us – a tool, not the sole source of funding. We don’t have to depend on crowdfunding or micro-investments: We’re after professional investors who see the potential of BitBook.ag specifically instead of just looking at the market situation.