Ethereum, Tron, EOS whales are propping up gambling dapps: report

Some crypto gambling dapps are making big bucks from their top sliver of users, but maintaining that interest can be difficult.

2 min read

Feb 28, 2020

A new report out this week from DappRadar suggests that the top 10 highest-spending Ethereum, Tron, and EOS wallets—the so-called “whales” amongst users—are responsible for as much as 80% of the value of some top crypto gambling dapps.

DappRadar analyzes 976 gambling dapps as of the report’s publication, with TRON, EOS, and Ethereum as the leading blockchains behind the top dapps. From January 2019 to January 2020, the site measured the percentage of total value generated from each dapp’s top 10 wallets across six games and found widely varying results.

TRON-based gambling dapps showed the largest disparity, with the value percentage contributed by whales dropping significantly over that span in RocketGame and 888Tron. Based on the charts provided by DappRadar, for example, RocketGame dropped from a high above 80% during 2019 to a low of under 25% contributed by the top 10 wallets as of January 2020.

The highlighted EOS and Ethereum-based gambling dapps showed more consistent value provided by whales, including EOS game BigGame and Ethereum-backed dice2.win.

The report suggests that a significant drop in whale-contributed value to games is “not a good trend,” as noted in the case of RocketGame. Overall, it notes that such heavy users may be easily swayed to other gambling dapps without steady development and added features to keep them playing.

“As super-users of gambling dapps, whales are very sensitive to changes in dapp features and/or the opportunity to win large amounts,” reads the report. “In addition, whether or not they are actively in contact with each other, they are highly likely to act in unison to react to any changes in a dapp or the launch of a new dapp they consider offers better opportunities.”

DappRadar points to TRON as having the largest user base in crypto gambling, although Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain for dapps overall—a December report from the site pointed to 118% growth for the Ethereum app ecosystem in 2019.

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