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Video poker has been a longstanding genre of poker since the first video poker machine in the 1970s and its integration into Las Vegas casinos in the 1980s. Visually video poker machines were groundbreaking due to the on-screen element that wasn’t a part of the poker gaming experience.
At the time video poker was revolutionary because of its interactive elements and visual symbols such as the betting symbol, the Joker, and of course, your playing cards. However, as the decade went on and the Internet became prominent in the 1990s, online variations of poker started to take off as casinos went online. These new casinos utilized online technology with new games, visual symbols and financial opportunities with new reward systems from the 1990s onwards, thanks to the tech boom.
Into the 2010s, online casinos became more common as people took their gaming business online through mobile or the web. During this time, the market grew drastically as new currencies were being accepted, one of the first being Bitcoin around 2012 and 2013. In the middle of the decade, many Bitcoin-only casinos popped up with different variations.
As Bitcoin expanded into casinos, so did Bitcoin-themed games derive from traditional casino games. Some of those include BTC roulette, BTC blackjack and BTC video poker games.
Redefining online video poker real money, casinos and game developers had to adapt to make the game interesting to resonate with a new generation of players, just as casinos did when they began to accept cryptocurrency. For video poker, this involved integrating crypto into it so players could enjoy it as a payment method, accepting coins, such as Tether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV. Players can access these methods via a digital wallet and a crypto exchange account, allowing them to deposit funds in crypto on the video poker platform.
Truly, the immensely growing acceptance of cryptocurrency created different casino platforms offering cryptocurrency as an option in video poker games. Further down the line, some video poker games had the option to even accept lesser-known altcoins as payment.
And as the future approaches, the features already enabled by cryptocurrency in video poker have the potential to change the course of the gaming experience. Here is how.
Randomization in video poker and fair gambling via the blockchain
Blockchain technology is the pinnacle of fair gaming in crypto-themed games. In video poker, this has prevented any cheating once the five cards are drawn as the blockchain controls the entire system.
This means players cannot make any changes once they’ve chosen to deal with or discard any of their five cards, keeping the traditional betting system alive and fair and paying crypto payouts per this system directly to the player. As the blockchain also stores transactions and payouts, nobody on either side can tamper with the final figure.
As blockchain technology advances, there is potential for smart contracts to become more advanced in their ability to encrypt and deliver outcomes. However, this can be dependent on which blockchain will have greater advancements in the future. Applying this to video poker, we may see a greater amount of cryptocurrency payouts in these games with newer cryptocurrencies, thanks to faster or more advanced blockchains and their verifying abilities. Not only that but there is also a potential for new and improved algorithms for randomisation when the cards are being generated in video poker.
Again, this will depend on which blockchains these cryptocurrencies operate on as this can be a defining factor on if they have a lasting place in video poker games.
Smart contract improvement: Decentralized video poker platforms?
Smart contracts are already the backbone of video poker for automated payouts based on the ranking of handouts that a player generates. Smart contracts may become more specific and may be able to create decentralized video poker platforms. If smart contracts experience mathematical advancements and are able to store more data based on more complicated coding, decentralized video poker can be a reality.
In video poker, this would mean the entire game could be automated. The rules, the payout system, and the rewards would be directly connected and defined by the contract’s connection to the blockchain. Everything could be automated including the wallet the player uses and the interface on which the game exists.
Decentralised random number generators for video poker
Before making the entire game decentralised, it may be best to start with video poker’s most important function: the random number generator. Currently, RNGs are used in video poker to ensure the five-car draw is completely random. However, their security has been hotly debated.
Although there already are a few, decentralised random number generators could have a significant impact on the future of video poker as they could influence the fairness and randomness of the draw as this would be based on more specific data than simply just previous cards and what a player did with them. In future, this could affect a player’s decision making it more difficult and therefore, fair.
Changing payout structures based on a player’s hands
Payouts in video poker currently remain the same as they are predetermined by the hand a player is dealt and stored online. Other factors are starting to be considered when giving payouts in some games could be beneficial in video poker due to the predetermined payouts produced by a player’s hands.
Factors in the future that could be considered in the game payouts could be the current cryptocurrency market or the value of a coin, so the algorithms could adjust payments accordingly. However, as we have spoken, the reliance on changing payout structures would need to be based on the mathematical advancements of the game itself and how smart contracts will influence the payment process further.
Video Poker: Advancement or Decline?
The potential feature changes in the operation and gameplay of video poker are unfortunately reliant on technological changes.
Decentralisation may be the future of video poker to make gameplay faster. It can automate the RNGs, the outcomes and payouts. Blockchain technology can help to store more data which may begin to influence the randomisation process executed in video poker. Only time will tell!
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.