Sports betting is not just a gambling enthusiasm for fans, but an entire industry with its own rules. For a long time all the bets passed through bookmakers and specialized exchanges, and the betters were a relatively small group of people. However, the development of digital technologies has brought online rates to a new level.

With the advent of betting, anyone can bet on one or another outcome of the game without leaving home. Digital currencies have made this process even easier. Crypto-currency payments attract users by their decentralization, anonymity, the absence of large commissions and speed.

Today, betting platforms work with different cryptocurrencies, but the main means of payment in sports betting still remains bitcoin. According to one of the largest gambling sites 1xBit, more than 80% of all crypto-currency rates are carried out exactly in bitcoin, only 6% - in Ethereum, 4% - in Litecoin. The remaining 9% are distributed between Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, anonymous coins of Dash, Monero, ZCash and other digital assets with which the platform operates.

Why did the first crypt currency not simply become one with traditional means of payment, but it is used in bets much more often than other digital assets? Of course, one of the main advantages of bitcoin is its historical primacy. The very fact that bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency with the highest capitalization already causes users much more confidence than even the most popular altcoins.

Preservation of funds plays one of the primary roles for any user, investor, entrepreneur, therefore here the first crypto currency also wins from other digital assets.

Another important advantage of bitcoin is its rapid spreading as a payment tool. For bitcoins, you can already buy quite a variety of things - from plane tickets to real estate. This means that, in the case of a successful bet, the winnings can be spent without making a laborious procedure for converting to fiat. Alas, most altcoins in practice can be used so far not everywhere. Of course, the degree of adoption of bitcoin in this respect is also far from fiat money, but with each month the first crypto currency is expanding its horizons as a means of payment.

The use of the first cryptocurrency for sports betting is nevertheless associated with one, but significant inconvenience - quite a high degree of volatility in the price of bitcoin. And if there are disputes in the cryptocurrency community about whether this is a drawback, many betters may find themselves unpleasantly surprised that the sum of their yesterday's winnings against the dollar may turn out to be much lower tomorrow.

Since late 2017, the price of bitcoin has dropped almost fourfold and at the moment market analysts do not agree whether it will continue its decline. Of course, the reverse can also happen - for a night the cost of bitcoin can fly off at once by several percent, thus the amount of the win will also increase.

In addition, betting platforms, taking into account this feature of the crypto currency, often offer a variety of options, how to make the crypto-currency rates profitable first of all for the betters themselves. For example, 1xBit for the World Cup holds a BitCup tournament, where apart from the usual rate, platform users can also participate in daily draws of crypto-currencies and other bonuses.

Thus, bitcoin as a means of payment among other digital assets in sports betting has a number of undisputable advantages, which is due to its unconditional leadership among the betters. However, we should not neglect the risks that any player who has not studied the nature of digital currencies and the market as a whole can face. And in this the world of rates is quite similar to the world of crypto-currencies - both of them require from their participants analytical skills, involvement in the ongoing processes and, of course, real interest in this area.