Former Bitcoin sportsbook and casino BetKing has guaranteed its return on the scene after successfully gathering enough funds to re-instate its gambling business through the ICO campaign that begun this July 2017. Thus far, the BetKing team has raised a total of $5.5 million in various cryptocurrencies during both the pre-sale and the main sale that was launched on August 7th.
A Successful New Beginning
Prior to July, BetKing announced they will be launching an ICO crowd-funding campaign that was to run until September 4th and give investors a chance to buy some of the 100 million Bankroll tokens, in order to raise funds for the platform and set up its bankroll. During the pre-sale alone the sportsbook managed to raise $1.2 million while the total amount of money raised is close to $5.5 million.
The majority of the funds were raised in Bitcoins with a total of 785 BTC collected, or approximately half of the total funds considering how much the price of Bitcoin changed during the campaign’s run. The remaining funds were raised with the help of 4,415 Ethereum coins and around 819 Litecoin coins. During the first two weeks of the campaign, the tokens were available with a discount of up to 15%.
At least half of the raised money will be used by BetKing to fund the house bankroll, from where winnings will be paid, while the rest of the funds will be used for promotional purposes, legal and server expenses, as well as optimizing, designing, and developing the platform. The sportsbook will then use profits made from the bankrolled games to buy back tokens from the holders while the full profits will be made available to all holders, just like it has been during the site’s original crowd-funding campaign.
To get players propped up for the re-launch, the site released a preview Bitcoin betting round during the McGreggor/Mayweather fight that has been the hot topic for the past month. Bitcoin bets were available prior to the fight with a 1BTC limit, while Mayweather was understandably picked as the favorite. However, as of now, there is only a demo version of the platform available at BetKing’s website with information about the campaign.
An Old Name in the Business
The BetKing brand was initially launched around April of 2013 under a different name. By 2015, the site became one of the most popular crowd-funded Bitcoin sites with a wagering volume of 400,000 BTC. It was kick-started by a fund of 6,000 BTC, all of which were later returned to the investors when BetKing shut down in September 2016 and made room for other Bitcoin sportsbetting providers like Sporstbet.io to enter the scene and grow.
BetKing’s owner proudly speaks of the sportsbook’s history, saying that it was “easily verifiable”. He believes there was no need for additional assurance during the campaign as most token buyers were either previous buyers or have talked to the former investors. He believes the fact that BetKing was run for 3.5 years without any problems and that the investment was returned is the only needed testimony about the credibility of the project.
If you’re interested in BetKing, you’ll have to wait until 2018 at least to be able to use the Bitcoin-friendly sportsbook as the operator is launching its casino segment first. For the time being, you can visit Sportsbet.io or try CloudBet for your Bitcoin betting needs.