This week, patent applications from two different companies describing the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies for gambling systems published after being filed within a week of each other back in June of 2020. Uplay1 focuses on enabling online gameplay with a combination of physical and virtual random number generators (RNGs). Its newest patent filing teaches a method for buying and selling wagers in order to reduce operator risk; for example, bets on a future sports match that do not match the current odds of one team winning over the other can be traded, bought, and sold, with bookmakers acting as brokers of these deals. Because the system involves many buyers and sellers and simultaneous transactions, the patent specifications include a blockchain embodiment to encrypt, store, and transfer wager data. The blockchain system also includes a secure portal for law enforcement and regulatory officials to have access to all activity.
Milestone Entertainment offers gambling and gameshow services to a variety of international lotteries. The company's most recent filing teaches a physical gambling system that tracks user activity and reactions to the gaming process and analyzes that information using machine learning to improve future operations. The patent specifically claims a cryptocurrency-based game wherein data is stored on a distributed ledger (i.e. a blockchain). The gambling system includes a camera to capture the user's real-time visual responses. There is no mention of how wearing a face mask might impact these recordings.
Applications for cryptocurrency and blockchain-related patents in the gambling industry have been relatively slow this year, with only five applications published from the first half of 2020 so far compared to the eleven new documents available this time last year. The coronavirus pandemic has affected casinos, which closed for three months in late spring and lost 80% of normal revenue. It remains to be seen whether companies will pivot development towards no-contact, online gaming systems or bet on recent re-openings reviving the industry. In the meantime, you can see more industrial applications of cryptocurrency technologies on the Magic Number® Patent Radian®.
