meVu bets big on blockchain-based social gambling

Kelvin Coelho, CEO of meVu, a blockchain-based social betting platform, sees big things going to happen in the world of blockchain-based social betting. He says: “Blockchain is the future of gambling.”

To start with, it is a decentralised betting platform. There is no one running a sportsbook, collecting money, or then distributing the money to the winners. It is basically people against people. Betting markets are created and settled by blockchain-secured smart contracts which collect the bets and redistribute the winnings in a provably fair and transparent manner almost as soon as the outcome is reported.

Coelho lists the advantages: “But it is not only the transparency and fairness brought to betting that will spur demand for blockchain-based betting platforms. The blockchain represents the future of gambling for a whole host of reasons. First, there is liquidity. In traditional betting, to operate a sports-book, you generally need to start out with at least $300,000 in liquidity, and likely more, to run your own markets. With a blockchain platform, every participant becomes a potential market maker if they choose to.”

meVu is entering a crowded market. As many as 120 ICOs have come to market over the last two years. The annual global market share is valued at $60 billion.

That figure does not take into account the sums which change hands in an industry in which 99% of all bets placed are done so illegally, according to one study reported in Forbes magazine.

Whilst such platforms do exist already on the internet, they fall prey to two major disadvantages – they are locked into single jurisdictions and they are, as a result, subject to the actions of external actors who may want to close down or restrict the markets being proposed.

Once again, blockchain technology – with its ability to create a platform-native cryptocurrency that can trivially facilitate access to a global, borderless market along with anonymity – is set to offer the kind of improvements that make it a natural fit for the gambling industries.

Whilst others call into question the ability for DLT tech to disrupt certain industries, for gambling the question appears to be one of when and no longer if.

Source: icoexaminer.com