Researchers estimate the online lottery industry’s annual revenue will shoot past $10 billion by 2023. Despite being that big an industry, it is ailed with several issues that have caused great mistrust in the lottery system’s authenticity. Lottery players find it difficult to trust game organisers.

 

One of the many reasons for this is the lack of transparency in how lottery platform owners operate the games. Lack of transparency also raises questions about the proper distribution of funds to charities by lottery organisers. 

 

Furthermore, lottery frauds are also quite common, forcing more people to question the legitimacy of even genuine lottery games. Availability and accessibility are two other factors that hinder the growth of the lottery industry. 

Blockchain as the game changer

As for many industries. blockchain is also transforming the online lottery industry for the better.

 

Blockchain technology removes middlemen with smart contracts, meaning, there will neither be room for human error nor any chances of planned frauds from lottery operators. By overtaking the operation of the game, smart contracts automate the whole process from winner declaration to prize distribution. 

 

Additionally, blockchain is a transparent distributed ledger technology where records once written cannot be tampered with. Hence, all users will be able to see the transactions made by the lottery owners and will know exactly where the operators are sending the funds to. This will establish a strong foundation for people’s trust in online lottery games.

 

Some famous blockchain-based lottery projects are:

Fire Lotto

Fire Lotto was a pioneer blockchain-based lottery platform. Based on the Ethereum network, it was a completely decentralised lottery platform that started with four lottery games. While its public token sale and the platform both garnered a lot of attention in 2018, Fire Lotto seems to no more be in operation. However, it deserves credit for being the first in the space of blockchain-based lottery games.

Advantages

  • Buy unlimited tickets
  • A variety of lottery games to choose from
  • 70% of ticket sales distributed as jackpot

Disadvantage

  • Tickets can only be bought for FLOT tokens

Bitcoin.com Lottery

Launched in March 2020, the Bitcoin.com Lottery, as the name suggests, is run by the major crypto wallet company Bitcoin.com. It removes the barrier of geographic boundaries from lottery games and allows crypto users all over the world to participate in traditional global lotteries like Power Ball and Super Enalotto by paying in cryptocurrencies.

Advantages

  • Anyone from around the world can participate
  • Rewards are given every five minutes
  • One million dollars daily rewards
  • Wide range of lottery events

Disadvantages

  • Only BTC and BCH support

True Flip

Launched in 2017, True Flip is an anonymous lottery game based on the Ethereum network. It accumulates a variety of lottery games from major providers on one platform and allows users to try their luck winning huge jackpots as well as smaller lotteries.

Advantages

  • Both fiat and crypto payments accepted
  • Collection of more than a thousand games
  • Zero fees for deposit and withdrawal

Disadvantages

  • Not available in major countries like the U.S, U.K., Russia and more.

The common flaw in blockchain lotteries

While blockchain or Bitcoin lottery games are often considered provably fair and decentralized, most of them share one common problem. The smart contracts that operate these lotteries depend on external seed to generate random numbers. These input seeds are often delivered through a centralized system or through a fixed method, making the games vulnerable to failure or predictions.

 

The solution to this could be providing on-chain solutions for generating randomness in the smart contract. This can make blockchain lotteries dynamic and unpredictable.

Parting thoughts

The use of blockchain and cryptocurrency to improve the online lottery game industry has proven fruitful in the last few years. With both industries expected to expand and bring more revenue, there’s a huge opportunity to build decentralised lottery applications and drive both sectors toward wider recognition and adoption.