Any honest answer to "What is a hot wallet?" begins with one question: who holds the keys. Coins used at a casino sit somewhere between deposits: in the casino's own account, in an exchange account or in a wallet the player controls. Each place answers the question differently. Whoever holds the keys can move the coins, and the choice of wallet decides how much of that control stays with the player and how much is handed to another party.
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Many players keep a separate wallet only for play, funded with what they are prepared to spend and nothing more. The split makes spending easy to track and limits the damage if that wallet is ever compromised. Phishing sites copy casino and wallet screens closely, down to the address bar, and a link from a message or advert is the usual way in. Opening the casino from a saved bookmark sidesteps most of them.
A casino account that can send coins out is worth protecting like a wallet. An address whitelist limits withdrawals to addresses saved in advance, often with a waiting period after each new one is added. Two factor codes from an authenticator app protect both the casino account and the wallet itself. For larger balances, a hardware wallet keeps the keys on a separate device that signs transfers without exposing them to a phone or computer.
A self custody wallet is backed by a recovery phrase, a list of ordinary words that can rebuild every key on a new device. Anyone who sees the phrase can empty the wallet from anywhere, and nobody can restore it once lost. Written on paper and stored offline, away from photos and cloud notes, it is safe from most attacks. A request to type the phrase into a website is a theft attempt, whatever the page claims.
Written on paper and kept offline, away from photos and cloud notes; anyone who sees it can empty the wallet, and nobody can restore it once lost.
A custodial wallet, such as an exchange account, keeps the keys with the provider, while self custody keeps them on the player's own device.
Funding it only with what the player is prepared to spend makes spending easy to track and limits the damage if it is compromised.
For larger balances, since it keeps the keys on a separate device that signs transfers without exposing them to a phone or computer.
Phishing pages copy casino and wallet screens closely, down to the address bar, and usually arrive through a link in a message or advert.