Cloudbet, primarily an Internet sportsbook with a license in Montenegro, says this year’s price rally in cryptocurrencies has led to a surge in sports betting, with total betting value in December and January up 75% compared to a year earlier .
Some of the volatility in cryptocurrency is attributed to Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has whipsawed the market by stating at various times this year that Tesla would and wouldn’t accept Bitcoin.
As a result, Cloudbet says Dogecoin holders are now among its most active customers, accounting for almost a tenth of players each week .
As invented money without the benefit of traditional economics like interest rates and trade flows to gauge value against other currencies, cryptocurrencies are often driven by speculative behavior and the emotional whims of traders.
And while Cloudbet offers bets in a dozen cryptocurrencies, to large sportsbooks, crypto remains a curiosity, largely forbidden from use by regulators, although Wyoming approved crypto gambling in April.
“We have to wait and see how crypto goes and how it evolves,” said Super Group CEO Neal Menashe in an interview on his firm’s going public merger earlier this month.