Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen several major live poker tour operators turn to technology to elevate the experience and make the entire process as smooth and as frictionless as possible.
With apps such as WSOP+ and PokerStars LIVE, players are able to see schedules, register for tournaments, see seating arrangements and chip counts, giving them all the info they need in one place.
Apps such as these can help save a lot of time, and this is especially true in the registration segment. Instead of having to wait in lines at the registration desk, players can add money to their accounts, pay for the buy-in online, and use their digital ticket to go straight to their assigned seat.
The feedback from the poker community regarding these apps has been overwhelmingly positive, as they help save time, remove unnecessary stress, and even improve players’ safety, as they don’t have to walk around with wads of money.
With all this progress, there is still one question that remains: how long will it take for crypto to become fully integrated in live poker apps? It is no secret that many players dabble in crypto and have at least some percentage of their bankrolls tied to it. So, adding cryptocurrency alongside traditional forms of payment would make things even more convenient.
So, what’s the holdup, and is the change coming soon?
Technical Challenges of Implementing Crypto in Live Poker Apps
From a poker player’s perspective, there is really nothing complicated here. If they can pay with a credit card or via bank transfer, why can’t they pay from their crypto wallet? Just add the functionality.
Unfortunately, things aren’t all that simple. Online payments via traditional methods have now been around for decades. There are safe and reliable systems in place to process these transactions, and there is only a limited number of currencies.
With crypto, the situation is much more complex. Even if we look at the mainstream ones, there are quite a few that people trade and own on a regular basis, and this is without even talking about the top Solana meme coins and other colorful derivatives.
Of course, operators could add the crypto option with a limited number of supported alternatives, sticking to the likes of Bitcoin, USDT, and Ethereum. But even that comes with a number of risks and challenges that may not be worth it.
While cryptocurrency payments are generally safe, it is no secret that typing a single wrong number or letter in your address can cause the money to vanish into thin air. It is virtually impossible to safeguard against this type of user error, and even a few instances of things going wrong could lead to a lot of bad press and players becoming reluctant to use the apps.
So, from a technical perspective, it seems like a lot of overhead for what would still be a small percentage of players who would benefit from it.
Legal Obstacles That Are Impossible to Overcome
Crypto may be the future of payments (or not, it’s impossible to say). At this point in time, however, it is still not mainstream, and laws are still catching up.
Live poker tournaments take place all over the world. While certain places may be crypto-friendly, other jurisdictions may see these types of transactions as shady, suspicious, or straight-up illegal.
Tournament organizers have to deal with various legal challenges as is, with certain laws changing without much notice, often putting them in tough spots and forcing them to cancel events or significantly change the rules to comply with the latest set of regulations.
If they were to add crypto as a payment option in their apps, it is safe to say that many countries would block them outright. For one, something like this would not fly in the United States of America, which is the main market for the World Series of Poker.
One way around it would be to have it as an option, but only enable it in jurisdictions where there are no legal obstacles to doing so. However, that would greatly reduce the utility of such a function, so it would be a lot of work for very little gain.
Will Things Change?
Looking at the current trajectory, things will probably change for crypto, and it will continue to gain traction. This should result in better regulation on a global scale, creating a cleaner and more favorable environment for its widespread use.
Before that happens, however, it’s hard to see any of the major live poker tour organizers adding crypto as one of the supported payment methods. There are simply too many legal and technical challenges to make it a viable option.
While this may frustrate some players, it is not a problem for a large majority, so there is no big incentive to rush things. The change is coming, but it’s probably still a couple of years away.
