Fairness has always been a big topic in the gambling landscape, especially as it went online. Many players doubt the fairness of the games they’re playing, and operators and developers need to be able to convince them.
When blockchain stepped into the game, it opened a path for operators and developers to improve fairness and gain more trust from their players. Blockchain is all about transparency, but how does it work when it comes to gambling, RNG, and provably fair?
Understanding Blockchain
Blockchain is a decentralized system that stores information in blocks and links them in a chain.
It’s a digital ledger stored across thousands of computers simultaneously. Due to the structure that blockchain uses, it’s hard for hackers to tamper with the data. Changes made should be uniform across all copies of the ledger, so it’ll be extremely challenging to hack the system.
There are many technologies behind blockchain. First, there are consensus algorithms that ensure all computers agree on any changes or processes made. There’s also cryptographic hashing that gives each data a unique identity. Last but not least are distributed ledgers. This is the part where every user gets a copy of the records.
Blockchain in Online Casinos
The creation of crypto casinos became a hot topic quickly. Casino players can now find Bitcoin gambling roulette or other casino games using various cryptocurrencies. Crypto users can wager their chosen crypto and win crypto back on these sites. However, blockchain goes beyond just providing a way for players to gamble with their cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain’s existence in the casino landscape also changes how the games run. It gives operators a chance to provide better transparency to players, automate processes, and enhance their payout speed. This is why crypto casinos like Bitcasino can easily rise to popularity, even for non-crypto users.
How Blockchain Improves Online Casinos
There are multiple benefits that blockchain can offer to online casinos:
- Transparency: Every transaction made on a blockchain-based platform is recorded and visible to all. As users would be able to confirm their transactions and see what’s going on behind the scenes, they can trust the casino site better.
- Security: Most players prioritize safety when choosing an online casino site. They’d be keeping some money in their account and doing monetary transactions all the time. As blockchain provides better security, blockchain-based online casinos can provide better security measures.
- Fairness: Generally, casino games are chance-based, but players can rarely confirm the house’s fairness. As blockchain is all about transparency, operators can now provide a way to allow players to verify the game’s fairness independently.
- Speed: Traditional payment methods require several days to finish. With blockchain and cryptocurrencies, operators can provide speedy withdrawals that sometimes can be instantaneous.
- Lower costs: Transactions on blockchain-based platforms are cheaper. As there are fewer middlemen involved in the process, operators and players can spend less on extra costs.
How Blockchain Improves RNG Fairness
Most casino games, including roulette, are chance-based. However, unlike playing in real life, it’s hard for players to confirm the true randomness of the result. In traditional casino roulette games, players can see the ball roll with their own eyes. They can also observe how the dealer handles everything on the table and see everything go down in person.
Online roulette is different. Most things players interact with are computerized, which is hard to confirm. Players can’t see the mechanics behind the outcomes, so how can they be sure that the game is fair and nobody is manipulating the outcomes?
RNG is the mechanism that mainly handles a casino game’s outcome. It’s a foundational technology for every digital game of chance. The term stands for Random Number Generator. It’s an algorithm that’s capable of producing unpredictable outcomes. In short, the system works like a digital dealer that replicates real-life dealers’ randomness.
In roulette, RNG will simulate the wheel’s spinning and select a random number unpredictably. This allows online roulettes to mimic the randomness of physical wheels that players can’t control.
It’s a set system, so it should also prevent third-party manipulation. Thus, no one can tamper with the result or change the randomness to benefit certain parties.
The problem with RNG is that players can’t verify the numbers that the system has generated. There’s still a possibility of players falling victim to fraud. This is a concern for various parties, and the industry continues to look for ways to provide more transparency to players.
As blockchain provides a decentralized, distributed ledger, it gives a path for operators and developers to do so. Players can independently check the recorded randomness, so they can be more sure about the games they play.
However, as RNG is still made to follow a pattern using a computer algorithm, it can’t be called true randomness. The role of blockchain here is to ensure that those randomized numbers are free of manipulation. It also ensures they stay fair throughout their operation.
Smart Contracts for Roulette
Besides blockchain-based RNGs, operators can also utilize smart contracts to handle their game operations. When smart contracts are implemented to run an online roulette game, they’ll automatically handle bets and determine outcomes. It can also distribute winnings without humans handling the steps.
Once smart contracts are deployed, they can’t be changed. They’re theoretically becoming a set of unbreakable code, which runs independently and can’t be manipulated by anything. It’ll then run solely based on computer science and mathematics.
While handling payouts, smart contracts can be handy to give out instant payouts. It’s also a great system to have for complex games with a bunch of betting options that can be challenging to handle by humans.
Provably Fair
Another blockchain-based creation that has been helpful in increasing online casino games’ fairness is provably fair. It’s basically a technology that empowers players to independently verify each game round’s fairness and integrity.
Provably Fair games’ outcomes are backed by cryptographic algorithms. They can give players concrete evidence that the game they’re playing is fair and without manipulation.
Provably Fair ensures that:
- Players can verify each game round independently. They’ll get to examine the games’ mechanics and outcomes through the provided data.
- Random outcomes are guaranteed. The system merges RNG and cryptographic hashes to produce results. Thus, they eliminate any potential bias.
- Players get full transparency. All relevant data regarding the games will be available to players. Players can fully see what goes on behind the games, so they can trust that what they’re playing is fully fair.
The Difference Between RNG and Provably Fair
RNGs are the classic method for programming a game’s random outcome. They rely on complex algorithms to produce the results to ensure they’re unpredictable and appear to be truly random. The algorithms stay in a closed system where players won’t be able to see. When playing a game with RNG, players can only trust the game’s fairness.
Behind the scenes, providers who are implementing RNG will put the game through millions of tests to ensure the results are random. This is also a requirement they must go through to receive a certification for their RNG setup, as the industry has a fairness and reliability standard that developers must follow.
On the other hand, Provably Fair is a system with full transparency. The goal is also to create randomized outcomes, but they put forward verifiability for players. When a game uses a Provably Fair system, each of the game’s outcomes will have a receipt that details how it came to the specific result. Thus, players can independently check if they can trust the game and if the results they get are fair and not subject to manipulation.
