A Las Vegas casino has installed the gaming industry’s first Bitcoin ATM.
The kiosk, available at the D Las Vegas Casino Hotel and developed by Las Vegas-based Robocoin, allows customers to deposit cash into their Bitcoin wallets and exchange the virtual currency for dollars.
Nevada rules prohibit gambling with Bitcoins, but the D began accepting the currency in January at the Fremont Street casino’s 629-room hotel, gift shop and restaurants. The technology is approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
D CEO Derek Stevens, who was instrumental in revitalizing the aging Downtown property formerly known as Fitzgeralds, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the currency is drawing customers from as far as Europe and Asia.
“This gets to be a whole other ball game where it becomes a more trans-national base,” he said.
The kiosk requires a customer to set up an account before depositing or withdrawing cash. Robocoin CEO Jordan Kelley says the process takes less than five minutes and includes typing in a phone number to receive a verification text message, keying in the verification code, creating a PIN, inserting a government-issued ID card and placing a hand over a scan for a palm vein pattern, a “biometric authentication,” as it’s known. The machine then takes a picture of the customer.
Robocoin made international headlines in October with the launch of the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in a coffee shop in Canada. The machine conducted $100,000 worth of transactions in the first eight days and $1 million in the first month, according to Mr Kelley. Robocoin has since shipped 55 of the kiosks, 20 of which are in operation, in the United States and worldwide, including to Singapore, Japan and Australia.
Mr Kelley said he expects to have another ATM in Las Vegas by the end of June and at least five more by the end of the year, including some at other casinos.
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