Ethereum crypto-games are a booming and relatively unexplored area of the games industry. While there is no consensus definition yet, 'crypto-games' commonly denotes games that store tokens, e.g. in-game items, on a distributed ledger atop a cryptocurrency network. This enables the trading of game items for cryptocurrency, which can then be exchanged for regular currency. Together with their chance-based mechanics, this makes crypto-games part of the recent convergence of digital gaming and gambling. In a first effort to scope the field, this paper surveys popular crypto-games, which use the Ethereum cryptocurrency, to tease out characteristic technical properties and gameplay. It then compares the games' features with criteria found in current legal and psychological definitions of gambling. We find that the popular crypto-games selected meet a combined legal and psychological definition of gambling, and conclude with ramifications for future research. CCS Concepts •Applied computing → Electronic data interchange;

Decentralised gambling applications are a new way for people to gamble online. Decentralised gambling applications are distinguished from traditional online casinos in that players use cryptocurrency as a stake. Also, rather than being stored on a single centralised server, decentralised gambling applications are stored on a cryptocurrency’s blockchain. Previous work in the player behaviour tracking literature has examined the spending profiles of gamblers on traditional online casinos. However, similar work has not taken place in the decentralised gambling domain. The profile of gamblers on decentralised gambling applications are therefore unknown. This paper explores 2,232,741 transactions from 24,234 unique addresses to three such applications operating atop the Ethereum cryptocurrency network over 583 days. We present spending profiles across these applications, providing the first detailed summary of spending behaviours in this technologically advanced domain. We find that the typical player spends approximately $110 equivalent across a median of 6 bets in a single day, although heavily involved bettors spend approximately $100,000 equivalent over a median of 644 bets across 35 days. Our findings suggest that the average decentralised gambling application player spends less than in other online casinos overall, but that the most heavily involved players in this new domain spend substantially more. This study also demonstrates the use of these applications as a research platform, specifically for large scale longitudinal in-vivo data analysis.

Decentralised gambling applications are a new way for individuals to engage in online gambling. Decentralised gambling applications are distinguished from traditional online casinos in that individuals use cryptocurrency as a stake. Furthermore, rather than being stored on a traditional server, decentralised gambling applications are stored on a cryptocurrency’s blockchain.Previous work in the player behaviour tracking literature has examined the spending profiles of gamblers on traditional online casinos. However, parallel work has not taken place in the decentralised gambling domain. The profile of gamblers on decentralised gambling applications are therefore not known.This paper explores 2,232,741 transactions from 24,234 unique addresses to three such applications operating atop the Ethereum cryptocurrency network over 583 days. We present spending profiles across these applications, providing the first detailed summary of spending behaviours in this technologically advanced domain. We find that the typical user spends approximately \$110 equivalent across a median of 6 bets in a single day, although heavily involved bettors spend approximately \$100,000 equivalent over a median of 644 bets across 35 days. Our findings suggest that the use of decentralised gambling applications typically involves lower and less frequent expenditures than other online casinos, but that the most heavily involved players in this new domain spend substantially more. Our findings also demonstrate the use of these applications as a research platform, specifically for large scale longitudinal in-vivo data analysis.

This paper describes the York Combined Transaction Set (YCTS), which offers a single consolidated list of publicly available gambling related transactions derived from the Ethereum blockchain. This data includes over 1.4M individual transactions across 17,000+ unique addresses, which represent spending on decentralised gambling smart contracts. These contracts, and corresponding applications, have been selected based on their popularity as presented by an officially recognised ranking service, and have transacted over £240M by naive estimation over the past 10 months. Given the historical opacity of data driven gambling research, our contribution is to identify, and make available in a simple form, the transaction data found on the Ethereum blockchain such that existing questions surrounding player spending can be explored, and differences between decentralised and traditional forms of gambling can be identified.

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