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Euro surpasses US dollar as the currency of online casinos

At the dawn of the online gambling industry in the 1990s, the U.S. dollar was the major currency accepted in online casinos, but those days are over. The euro has replaced USD and is now the most popular currency. According to the latest research by KeyToCasino, the euro is currently accepted in 79% of all existing online casinos. 

The use of the U.S. dollar changed after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), legislation regulating online gambling, was passed in the United States. The UIGEA has prohibited all gambling sites from accepting deposits online, forcing U.S.-oriented casinos out of business. At the same time, online gaming business in Europe has flourished, and many online casinos re-oriented their business towards European customers.

It has been 10 years since UIGEA, and many new online casinos have opened throughout this period. They have never considered targeting the U.S. market and never planned to include USD as a currency that is available for deposits. Players from countries with economically unstable currencies were forced to use the euro for their casino transactions.

American currency is not completely out of the gaming business however. It remains the second most popular currency in online casinos, followed by the British pound, which is accepted in 58% of online casinos. However, the overall popularity of Scandinavian currencies, which include the Norwegian krone, Swedish krona, and Danish krone, beats the pound because Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have the highest population ratio when it comes to casino popularity.

Among the other currencies that have become prevalent on online gaming market, there are the South African rand, South Korean won, and Russian ruble. The least popular are the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan. The Australian dollar beats the Canadian dollar in popularity because unlike in Australia, the legality of online casinos in Canada is uncertain, which results in the Canadian dollar not being widely accepted at online casinos.