Blockchain Analytics: Identify Problematic Casino Transactions

With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in the iGaming niche, the risks associated with anonymous transfers, money laundering, and fraud have also increased. Operators must not only accept digital assets but also track the origin of funds and detect ties to suspicious wallets.

Blockchain Analytics in Gambling

This involves studying cryptocurrency transfers and players’ behaviour patterns based on data from the use of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and other tokens. The examination takes place to identify suspicious operations, affiliated accounts, fraud, and compliance violations.

The solution helps casino owners to perform the following tasks:

• protect themselves from money laundering (AML);
• combat multi-accounting and bonus hunting;
• comply with regulatory requirements;
• make informed decisions on risks.

It is possible to connect entertainment portals that accept deposits in USDT and BTC to, for example, end-to-end analytics (using TRM Labs, Elliptic, and other instruments).

When customers place bets, the system double-checks whether their wallets are connected to darknet markets or sanctioned addresses in real time. If such risks are identified, the money transfer will be temporarily blocked, and the account will be sent for manual inspection.

Why Blockchain Scoring is an Important Tool for Crypto Casinos

The primary reason is the increasing share of digital payments in the iGaming sector. If 5–7 years ago, distributed ledger transfers were just beginning to be implemented, today, they are an integral part of the modern entertainment industry.

According to the Financial Times, the GGR of crypto platforms reached $81.4 billion in 2024. This is 5 times more than in 2022, mainly due to the growth of solvent traffic from the USA, China, and the United Kingdom.

One of the leaders in the blockchain segment is the Stake resource. By the end of last year, the number of its registered clients reached 25 million people, and the GGR was $ 4.7 billion. In terms of its scale, Stake has become an analogue of industry leaders such as Entain and Flutter, which work with fiat funds.

The growth in the share of crypto operations has generated great interest among market participants, including both leading regulators and fraudulent organisations.

Tightening of Requirements of Gambling Commissions

Strengthening control over blockchain finance has occurred in all sectors of the economy, including online entertainment for money.

These days, regulators expect entrepreneurs not only to formally comply with KYC and AML but also to conduct deep transactional analysis, including:

• verification of sources of funds in cryptocurrencies;
• detection of transfers from sanctioned addresses;
• automatic blocking of risky operations.

For example, the UKGC (United Kingdom Gambling Commission) obliges providers to implement tools for monitoring crypto settlements. The MGA Maltese regulator requires licensees to track the origin of all finance they deposit.

A similar practice exists in the USA, Australia, France, and other countries with a fully or partially legalised online casino sector.

Increased Fraud and Abuse

Scammers are often using crypto transactions in their schemes.

A common example is a repeated reception of bonuses using one digital wallet but from different accounts. Offenders quickly withdraw funds, and operators lose their income.

Brands that lack access to modern analytical tools risk continually providing incentives to fraudsters, resulting in financial losses and regulatory non-compliance.

The implementation of distributed ledger-based solutions, on the contrary, allows business owners to quickly and accurately identify illicit schemes and successfully combat them. Thanks to this, entrepreneurs can work in a legal field, protect their companies from intruders, and establish new connections with B2B partners.

What Information is Used in Blockchain Analytics

Let us consider the main types of details that specialists study.

Transactional Data

It includes the following aspects:

• addresses of senders and recipients participating in the transfer;
• the amount of money;
• type of cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, or USDT);
• address identifiers;
• time and frequency of transactions.

In blockchain scoring, attention is also paid to the commission level. Unnaturally low or high deductions can be a sign of fraudulent activity.

Behavioural Analysis of Wallets

Among the key markers, it is worth highlighting the following:

1. Multi-accounting. This is information about the fact that the same wallet or IP address is used in various profiles.
2. Deposition and withdrawal patterns. Regular operations of this type often indicate arbitrage or bonus hunting.
3. The use of mixers. Such programs may show that one of the parties to the transaction wants to hide the origin of the financing.
4. History and “age” of wallets. The interaction with new ones often increases the risks for project owners.
5. “Transparency” of funds. This is a check of how “clean” digital assets are or, conversely, what amount is used in dubious transfers.

Affiliation

Studying the connections between transactions and addresses helps to identify entire clusters of fraudulent networks. This may be evidenced, for example, by the joint use of blockchain infrastructure: the same exchanges or storage wallets.

Signals of Scam and Violation of Regulatory Requirements

Distributed ledger-based tools collect data on:

• the interaction of a crypto wallet with darknet platforms, illegal exchangers, or websites with a sanction status;
• transactions through countries with high legal risks (for example, Iran, China, or Syria);
• attempts to bypass KYC;
• fast transfer of cryptocurrency through dozens of virtual addresses.

How to Set up Blockchain Analytics

Previously, the solution was available only to large gambling companies that had the resources for:

• development of proprietary nodes;
• manual integration with each blockchain;
• construction of intercommunications and anomalies from scratch.

Today, the situation has changed dramatically. Ready-made cloud products with a wide range of functions, fast navigation, convenient APIs, and SDK tools have appeared in the market.

Best Analytical Services

Let us consider the key platforms used in the gambling industry:

1. Chainalysis KYT. This is the flagship program from the market leader, Chainalysis. Its main task is to monitor cryptocurrency transactions in real time. The solution carries out automatic AML scoring of transfers or wallets and instantly notifies of suspicious operations. The project is approved by the Curacao Gaming Commission.
2. TRM Labs API. The portal specialises in behavioural analysis of profiles and risk monitoring. The service studies new and repeated transactions in real time, assigns them special labels, and identifies fraud or bonus laundering schemes. Warning lights include darknet traffic, mixers, DeFi schemes, and other patterns.
3. Elliptic Lens. The program specialises in checking crypto wallets and counterparties. Entrepreneurs can request an analysis of the history of addresses, risk evaluation, results of previous checks, etc. The solution determines where the funds came from before the deposit is credited, thus protecting iGaming projects from fraud and abuse.
4. Scorechain Compliance. The European analytical platform specialises in financial scoring of wallets, as well as compliance with AML standards and European Union directives. The service's functions include building the profiles of addresses, automatically classifying counterparties by risk level, and generating reports for submission to regulatory authorities.
5. Crystal Blockchain. The solution is designed to check and visualise connections between wallets and transactions. The program supports more than 60 cryptocurrency blockchains and instantly analyses clients for the presence of sanctioned, fraudulent, and dubious sources.

How to Connect Blockchain Analytics

Let us consider the main steps of entrepreneurs:

1. The choice of a service. First, casino owners need to select one of the platforms (for example, Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic, or Crystal), register on the company's website, and receive an API key. This is a digital permit to connect to the system, which is unique for each entertainment brand.
2. Testing. Many systems offer a free trial period, after which it is possible to choose a suitable tariff and sign an agreement.
3. Software installation. The connection of blockchain analytics is in many ways similar to the integration of a payment service. Operators do not need to hire a team of programmers. One backend developer is enough. The integration takes 1–3 days. If the crypto casino has a CRM or cash register system, there will be no problems.

Scoring platforms work as cloud products (SaaS), so entrepreneurs do not need to install anything on their servers.

The software does not have access to the personal data of players but only interacts with crypto wallets and transactions. All exchanges are carried out via encrypted channels (HTTPS and token-based auth), leaving no traces on third-party resources.

The Main Things about Blockchain Scoring in Gambling

Key aspects that operators should take into account:

• The advantages of the solution include fast and high-quality monitoring of transfers, as well as protection from fraud. The implementation of scoring helps to comply with the requirements of regulators in terms of KYC verification and the fight against money laundering.
• Blockchain services study transactional and behavioural data, illegal patterns, and information about the interconnections between different accounts.
• Among the popular programs of this kind, we can highlight Chainalysis KYT, TRM Labs API, Scorechain Compliance, and many others. The software is easy to install and has a wide range of functionality.

The 2WinPower studio supplies the following advanced solutions for the gambling business:

• crypto casinos;
• White Label platforms;
• crash content;
• payment services;
• security software, and much more.