Why do gambling DAPPs not need to issue coins?
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In November 2017, the "crypto cat" on Ethereum became the first DApp (decentralized application) on the blockchain. A cartoon cat that can only be seen but cannot be touched can be sold for a full $170,000 The high price has not only attracted the attention of all investors around the world, but also led the trend of DApp.
Developers have successively launched various applications on public chains such as EOS and Tron. The ever-increasing transaction volume and hot data made DApp the hottest topic in 2018. Among all DApps, gambling can be regarded as the category with the largest proportion.
There are a huge number of gambling DApps, but the gameplay is basically the same. Players place bets and get rewarded according to different odds. In addition, gambling DApps can be mined, and every time you place a bet, you will get the Token of the gambling game project. These Tokens can be pledged in the game in exchange for profit dividends from the game platform; or traded on decentralized exchanges and exchanged for general-purpose cryptocurrencies.
Take the most popular Endless Game as an example, if a player bets with 1 EOS, then no matter whether he wins or loses, the player can get 2.5 ET. ET is the Token of the Endless Game project. Pledge ET in the game to get profit dividends from the game. The more you stake, the more dividends you will get.
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Why do gambling games issue coins?
The operation method of issuing coins currently makes gambling games unique among DApps. In general, the issued Token has three purposes.
The first is staking dividends. The Token issued by the gaming DApp allows players to share the casino’s profits through staking. That is to say, even if the game loses money, players can still get a share of the casino’s profits. In the casino, the dealer will definitely pump money, and the appearance of DAPP Token makes it easier for players to accept that they may still earn some money back.
This method gives players more reason to stay in the gambling game, on the one hand to win money, and on the other hand to share the profits of the casino.
Moreover, with the emergence of Token, "Jackbox" has a new way. "Jackbox Operator" is to pull people's heads. In traditional casinos, you can get certain economic rewards for attracting new customers. The same is true in gambling DApps. Players who come first can generate a game invitation link, and if later players enter the game through the invitation link, part of the Token obtained by betting will be distributed to the inviter. Some influential companies and individuals rely on DApp's head-pulling behavior, even if they do not participate in the gambling process, they can still make a lot of money.
But if we think about it carefully, the Token functions mentioned above have almost nothing to do with the blockchain, and the Token of the DApp does not need to participate in these links at all. Any traditional casino can accomplish the same function even if it does not issue coins, but only uses traditional points or chips.
Profit sharing and head-grabbing have long been well-established systems in traditional casinos, and they can be done without blockchain. The Internet can solve these problems.
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Blockchain does not solve the problem of fairness and security
The problem that the blockchain should solve is the fairness and security of the casino.
In the game, the blockchain also guarantees the fairness and security of the game. Any cards drawn are already recorded on the blockchain and cannot be tampered with. In this way, everyone will know the result of each lottery. If you are convinced, there will be no losers questioning cheating.
But the introduction of Token has caused another problem—it artificially creates a new kind of unfairness.
Gambling DApp Tokens are obtained at different times, and the cost is different. The earlier the entry, the lower the cost of Token acquisition. Take Endless Game’s ET as an example. The first batch of players who entered the game can exchange 10 ETs with one EOS, but now one EOS can only be exchanged for 2.5 ETs. up 4 times.
In other words, when trading on exchanges, low-cost players have an advantage over high-cost players. Players who come first get Token at the lowest price, and then recruit new players to continue to enter the market. The cost of acquiring Token for later players is bound to be higher than that of early players. The price will also rise accordingly, so that early players can make more profits on decentralized exchanges. The way of issuing coins is becoming more and more unfair to the later game participants.
Moreover, the security of gambling DApp has been questioned by users. Taking EOS as an example, in September 2018, six gambling DApps on EOS were attacked by hackers, among which EOSbet suffered heavy losses and 50,000 EOS were stolen. In October, 4 more gambling Dapps were attacked, and EOSbet lost another 130,000 EOS this month.
Until April 29, 2019, gambling DApps on EOS are still not safe. According to the monitoring of DAppShield, a PeckShield security shield risk control platform, three EOS gambling DApps were attacked by a new type of transaction memo, and a total of 12,883 EOS were lost.
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Gambling DAPP does not need to issue coins
If you exchange the game Token for a platform currency (such as ETH or EOS), the entire game can still run smoothly, but it leaves no room for private equity investors or teams who want to cash out. It is precisely because of the difference in the cost of Token acquisition, or poor information, that DAPP likes to issue tokens.
The DAPP team's issuance of coins not only meets their own purpose of making money, but also allows private equity investors to use their own contacts to obtain start-up resources, so that the entire gaming DAPP can continue to operate.
When this model is seen through, there will no longer be real people in the gambling DAPP who want to make money from gambling, but turn it into a probability game. Everyone knows clearly that when they bet unlimitedly with the safest ratio, this game conforms to the law of large numbers, and they only need to pay the handling fee to obtain the DAPP Token. Participate first, you can get Token first, the cost is surprisingly low, and then they arrange tens of thousands of robots to swipe Token in batches. Then constantly invite new people to enter the market and let them take over at a higher price.
However, if the Token is replaced with a public chain platform currency, the team’s income distribution is completely open and transparent, and private investors and teams can only benefit from handling fees, then this game will definitely not be played.
From the perspective of the "fat protocol" theory, if the DAPP team really wants to be responsible for this ecology, it should choose to use platform tokens as the distribution method, so as to drive the healthy development of the overall ecology. Take the Ethereum DAPP Fomo3D as an example. This DAPP mainly uses ETH as a means of betting and profiting. When the number of game players is the largest, it has caused congestion in the Ethereum blockchain network, allowing more people to recognize Ethereum and this DAPP. . Similarly, EOS PixelMaster also uses EOS as the game token. The running time of this game is longer than other pixel games in the later period, because the later pixel games have added mining functions.
