Online casino games have become incredibly popular, making gambling more widely available to millions of users who enjoy playing for money at home. But while online betting generated $53 billion in annual revenue last year, the industry faces a challenge in demonstrating the fairness of online casino games, especially when it comes to generating random numbers.
The emergence of crypto gambling and blockchain technology provides an opportunity for online casinos to remedy this challenge. Verifiable random functions are a feature unique to blockchain that can ensure full transparency and provable fairness for online betting games.
Verifiable random functions are a cryptographic tool that makes it possible to generate random values that can be verified by any third party. Known as VRFs for short, they work by taking an input value and a secret key in order to generate an output value that’s a function of both. The output can be verified via a proof that’s generated by the input value and secret key, ensuring its randomness and preventing any manipulation.
In this way, VRFs provide a way for online casinos to offer provably fair betting games, boosting their reputations as a place where bettors can gamble safely.
What Is A Provably Fair Casino?
The best crypto casinos use open-source VRF algorithms that make it easy for players to inspect and verify the fairness of each game. They allow players to check that the outcome of games really is truly random and not manipulated behind the scenes. Betting platforms can further increase transparency with the use of verifiable hashes, where the casino creates a cryptographic hash before each game begins. This represents the initial game data and is made public, guaranteeing that the outcome is truly random and cannot be altered by anyone.
In addition, some casinos make it possible for players to provide their own seed, or random data, that influences the outcome of games, ensuring that the operator has no way to control the results. Once the game has finished, the casino will reveal the original data plus the seed to determine the outcome. Players can then independently verify the results are fair by comparing the data with the cryptographic hash generated beforehand.
Provably Fair Gambling In Practise
Duelbits operates a provably fair betting platform that includes both sportsbetting as well as in-house casino games called Originals, such as the Duelbits Blackjack table and Duel Poker, plus Dice games, Plinko and even classic Roulette tables, which make use of VRFs to ensure full transparency and fairness.
When a player initiates a bet on Duelbits, its server creates a random seed and hashes it, before sending it to the player’s device. This hashed value is then combined with an additional input from the device, such as a click or keyboard movement, creating a unique client seed. The client seed is then sent back to the server and hashed again to create a final seed that determines the outcome of the bet in a random way.
This process is fully transparent, with players able to verify the hashed values and ensure no behind the scenes manipulation takes place. Once the game is finished, Duelbits reveals the original random seed, enabling the user to verify that the outcome was random and fair.
By generating its results in this way, Duelbits says it can offer bettors a level of trust and confidence that traditional online betting platforms cannot match. Players can be 100% certain that the outcome of any game is random and never rigged. Moreover, the output values and proofs generated by its VRFs can be verified by third parties such as regulators and auditors, paving the way for independent audits of its platform to ensure the full integrity of its provably fair games.
This adds to the other advantages of crypto betting, which include transparent and fast transaction settlements and rapid withdrawals, with blockchain able to process payments in a matter of minutes – much quicker than traditional platforms are able to process fiat currency.
Duelbits, with its provably fair games and its commitment to transparency, helps to elevate the reputation of the broader gaming industry, promoting a safer and more reliable environment that appeals to experienced gamblers as well as those who are new to betting.
Enhances The Appeal Of Online Casino Games
Blockchain’s unique VRF functionality is a significant leap forward for the online gaming industry, providing a way for players to independently verify that every bet they make is resolved fairly and transparently. By implementing provably fair standards, betting platforms can eliminate any concerns over unfair practices and promote a safe and reliable environment where every player has an equal chance of winning, based on the advertised odds. They can set a new standard for fairness and accountability, increasing trust and attracting more bettors to participate in the unique thrill offered by games of chance.