What Does Provably Fair Gaming Mean?

11/08/2022 | Categories: Gambling Guides | Published by: Joe | Last updated: 05/01/2024

Anyone who has read more than a dozen online casino articles or so likely knows that this sector got established in 1994, a year when Antigua and Barbuda passed the Free Trade and Processing Act. A few months following this event, Microgaming developed the first internet casino software, and in 1996, the World Wide Web’s initial gaming platform, InterCasino, powered by WagerLogic’s payment processing technology, debuted.

Fifteen years after this occurrence, the first crypto gambling sites appeared, and they were poker ones. Dice platforms succeeded them, pioneering the concept of provably fair gaming. It should get noted that a year before, in 2010, the original Bitcoin exchange showed up on the scene, democratizing the value of BTC units and paving the way for wide Bitcoin adoption. Hence, as illustrated by the info in this paragraph, online gambling was one of the first sectors that jumped at the chance to try its hand at replacing fiat money with a digital alternative. An investment that is now paying massive dividends.

That said, over the past few years, provably fair gaming, one of the cornerstones of this gambling category, is seemingly drifting off into obscurity. Most crypto casinos now have accepted regulatory approval as something that is the norm, using it as a tool that allows them to feature high-end slots and live dealer games, something they otherwise would not be able to do with no licensing/monitoring seal of approval.

Below, we explain what provably fair gaming means. Then we go into listing the most popular options from this genre and if it has a future in modern online gambling.

How Does a Provably Fair Algorithm Work?

Provably fair, as a term, in the world of online gambling, describes software that generates random game results and that players can use to analyze the arbitrary nature of this procedure.

Though these algorithms (provably fair) originated from the interactive gaming sector, they have now found an application in online contests, giveaways, digital treasure hunts, and for trading purposes at cryptocurrency exchanges.

The standard way these algorithms function is by incorporating three variables in each game round. These are a server seed, a client one, and a nonce. The server seed is a number that the operator running the product provides. The client one gets supplied by you, the player, or the used browser. And the nonce is a variable that increases by one with each round played, in most cases. It allows players to track which hand is which during a gambling session. These three interact and are the secret sauce of provably fair gaming.

Before a game round begins, you, the player, get an encrypted hash from the server seed containing the outcome of a game about to transpire called the secret result. The operator cannot affect what will happen, and you cannot predict what will come up in the session due to data ciphering technology getting used here. When the round is about to start, the game takes the player seed and applies it to the previously supplied result. This process will differ depending on the game played. Once the round finishes, the secret and the final results get passed on to you, the player. So, the operator displays the event’s client seed, and you can input it into a trusted third-party calculator that shall return a hash. Such calculators are readily available on most gambling sites and are easy to find via a simple Google search. Then, after this calculator does its magic, you can check to see if the calculated/produced hash matches the server one. If it does, nothing suspicious has occurred.

Essentially, provably fair games let you ensure that nothing nefarious has happened during your gameplay and that everything was left up to Lady Luck to decide.

What Are the Most Famous Provably Fair Games?

Undoubtedly, crypto dice games are the rulers of provably fair gaming. These products trailblazed this genre as its originators and set the stage for all successors to come. Perhaps you remember Satoshi Dice, one of the first online crypto dice sites operating since 2012, named after Bitcoin’s creator. Several years back, in the mid-2010s, over a hundred quality dice-only sites existed on the internet. Currently, only a handful are still going strong.

Concerning the second most popular provably fair pick, that is up for debate. However, most crypto gamblers will probably agree that that honor should fall on Crash. Its premise is rudimentary, as with all provably fair games. It revolves around placing a wager and watching a multiplier grow until it unpredictably crashes. Your job, as a gambler, is to trust your instincts and pull out before it does.

Other super-established provably fair gaming options include hi-lo, Plinko, mines, coin flip, limbo, wheel, and roulette. You can find most of these on many of our reviewed platforms.

Is Provably Fair Gaming Still Relevant?

They still have their niche fans, for sure. Yet, to us, it seems like most have moved on from enjoying provably fair gambling options. Though a crypto staple, most coin-based gambling sites have decided to get licensed so they can feature slots and table games and be competitive with their fiat counterparts, trying to grow their user bases to previously unattainable heights. Gaining regulatory approval from Curacao’s master license holders has allowed crypto casinos to offer thousands of games in their lobbies. Thus, in the past year or so, most of the platforms we have reviewed on BTCGOSU had upwards of four thousand titles on their game pages.

Hardcore crypto fanatics may still enjoy crash and crypto dice, many likely do due to a sense of nostalgia these produce. However, it is hard to argue that these products’ gameplay, which is rudimentary at best, is very appealing to mainstream gamblers. They lack the excitement and visual flare that reel-spinners and presenter games deliver. So, they only get chosen for betting fun by specific players who know their contribution to the crypto gaming sphere or ones who just love simple games.