Bitcoin-based casino earns nearly $600,000 profit in less than a year

Here’s a statement that should come as a shock to nobody: online casinos are just like their real-life counterparts with regards to odds – the house always has the advantage. Anyone needing proof of that should look no further than recently released financials from a big-name Bitcoin-based online casino.

SatoshiDice, the self-proclaimed most popular Bitcoin game in the universe, has servers based in Ireland and is run by Erik Voorhees. The casino hosts a random number game of sorts where the site selects a number between 0 and 65,535. Players then place bets by making a Bitcoin transaction to a static address representing various payouts and odds.

Behind all of the smoke and mirrors, the casino is favored by 1.9 percent but it’s worth pointing out that all dice rolls and earnings stats can be verified using the Bitcoin blockchain. It may all sound a bit confusing but at the end of the day, it equates to big profit for the casino.

Between May and December 2012, gamblers placed 2,349,882 individual bets for a total of ฿1,787,470.43 while the casino paid out ฿1,752,617.73 in addition to ฿1,542.85 in fees. That boils down to ฿33,310 in profit, or $572,400. Operating expenses were kept at a minimum to keep profits as high as possible. Of course these figures are nowhere close to what a real-life casino would turn but it’s not bad for eight months worth of work as a startup.