New bitcoin casino opens in Venezuela
President Venezuela opens Crypto casino
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has approved opening an international bitcoin casino in a luxury hotel in the capital Caracas. Visitors can only place bets in the casino with the cryptocurrency Petro (PTR). Venezuela’s national oil reserve serves as collateral for the digital currency. In the casino, guests can exchange other cryptocurrencies for Petro. In a radio and television broadcast, President Maduro stated that he wants to use the proceeds for health care and education. The proceeds of the crypto casino should give the Venezuelan economy a boost since it has been struggling with recession and hyperinflation in recent years.
Crypto casino rewrites history
It concerns the casino in the Humboldt Hotel in Caracas. The hotel is located at the top of the El Avila hill and reopened in 2018. In the bitcoin casino, you can place bets, and there will be special offers. You can buy the Petro tokens with other currencies like the yuan, yen, dollar, euro, or other cryptocurrencies. However, these other cryptocurrencies have not been confirmed, but you can exchange BTC, LTC, and DASH for PTR in the government’s national Petro app. Then you can gamble legally that the government approved in line with national legislation.
The Venezuelan government and casinos do not have a happy marriage. In 2011, Hugo Chavez ordered the closure of bingo halls and casinos. He linked casinos to prostitution, drugs, and illegal activities. Since then, there has been no trace of gambling houses. However, gambling with crypto coins is still allowed on several permitted platforms on the internet. The opening of the crypto casino may be the prelude to more casinos.
Controversy about PTR
President Maduro launched his cryptocurrency in February 2018 to circumvent economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. These sanctions apply to the government, government officials, and several companies. Outside Venezuela, there are rumors that the petro currency is based on air, and therefore, the United States has banned the currency.
Last week Maduro declared that everyone would have to pay in PTR for oil from PDVSA, the state-owned company, for international flights. As a result, the demand for crude oil from Venezuela fell. Port charges and fees for government documents must also be paid in PTR. In December, the government also paid the bonuses of government officials and pensioners’ bonuses in petro. The government gave 3.5 million civil servants and 4.5 million pensioners half a petro to test the use of the currency. In January, 1.2 million people in Venezuela paid for it in 7,400 shops.