What Does Provably Fair Mean for Social Casinos?
What Does Provably Fair Mean? - Provably Fair Social iGaming Explained
When you’re playing social casino games online, it’s important to know that the game outcomes are fair and randomly determined. In all forms of social casinos, there must be an element of trust between the player and the social casino, which is typically supported by a gaming license. Online social casinos and game providers must verify that their games are fair in order to receive a license, but players still have to put their trust in the game each time they place their plays.
There’s an easier way to know that your games are fair to play. The provably fair system gives players a chance to verify for themselves, increasing the trust between players and the social casino. You can play provably fair games at Stake Social Casino. Find out how they work in this complete guide.
What Does Provably Fair Mean?
Provably fair is a technology that ensures transparency and fair play within the gaming industry. It’s based around modern technologies such as the blockchain, which ensures that players can verify the fairness of every round of the game.
By using cryptographic techniques, provably fair games are completely random, with no possibility of bias or outcomes being influenced by the social casino or the player. What’s more, they are fully transparent, as every outcome of the game is viewable on the blockchain.
How Does Provably Fair Technology Work?
Being provable is a new concept for online gambling and is only possible because of the invention of blockchain technology, the same innovative technology that powers cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and more.
Blockchains are a unique way of storing data. Unlike a database, they’re decentralised, and data cannot be changed once it’s stored, making them immutable. These traits make them ideal for recording financial transactions, as well as social casino game outcomes.
Provably fair means the odds and outcome of a play can be proven, through code and blockchain transactions, to have not been manipulated.
In this sense, provably fair differs from random number generators (RNGs), which are the standard way to determine social casino game outcomes. Rather than using a closed system, provably fair online games are fully transparent, as each outcome effectively has a receipt of how it was generated.
What is the Provable Fair Algorithm?
Provably fair games use a cryptographic algorithm to generate a random “server seed” before each round. The server seed is then encrypted by turning it into a string of characters, in a process known as hashing. Before the game starts, the hashed seed is shared with the player before being combined with the unique “player seed” and the “nonce”. This ensures the results are random and completely fair. The secure method of encrypting the seeds using cryptographic hash functions means that neither the player nor the social casino can tamper with the outcome.
Key Components of a Provably Fair System
In the provably fair system, there are three main components of the cryptographic function that ensure that each result is truly random and verifiable. These are:
Player seed - The player seed is a unique, randomly generated number. You can use your own seed or have the game generate it for you.
Server seed - This random seed is created by the game and encrypted through hashing to prevent cheating.
Nonce - Short for “number once”, this is a number that starts at either 0 or 1 and increases each time you play to ensure the same cryptographic key is never reused.
The player seed is combined with the server seed and the nonce to generate a random result. After the game, you’re able to check the server seed against the hashed version you receive to prove the game was fair.
Example of Provably Fair Social Casino
The concept of provably fair gaming might seem confusing at first. Let’s break it down using the gaming process of one of the most popular card games on Stake.us, Blackjack:
The social casino “Shuffles” the deck of cards. The social casino provides the player with the hash (encryption) of the shuffle outcome.
The player provides his or her own seed, which is combined with the nonce, altering the order of the cards in the deck. How the deck was altered is unknown to the social casino.
A card is dealt, and the play takes place, resulting in a win or loss for the player.
The deck is shown both as it was originally shuffled by the social casino and as it was altered by the player. This makes it possible to prove neither party was able to manipulate the outcome of the play.
Why it's Important to be 'Provably Fair' in iGaming
Traditional social casino games use random number generators to determine game outcomes, but players have no way to verify that the results of each spin of the slot reels, roll of the dice or shuffle of the virtual deck are truly fair and random. Instead, they have to trust that the return to player rate is accurate.
Provable fairness increases the level of trust between players and the social casino through the following key areas:
Random outcomes - The process of combining seeds creates truly random outcomes.
Immutability - The outcome of the game cannot be changed by the social casino or the player.
Transparency - After the game result, the outcome is available to verify, along with the original server seed, which proves the game result was truly fair.
Player involvement - Players can choose their own seed, which gives them more of a say in the outcome of the game, even if the result is still random.
Fairness is an important aspect of social casino gaming, and being able to prove this helps players trust the outcome of each game they play. This increase in trust leads to players feeling more secure while playing, helping fair social casinos avoid accusations of cheating or unfair practices.
Understanding Provably Fair Gaming at Stake Social Casino
Stake Social Casino offers a wide range of fair social casino games, including slots, table games and live dealer tables. These games typically use random number generators to determine the outcome, but you can play provably fair games at Stake too. These games allow you to verify the result by checking the seed and hash each time you play, ensuring that each result is random and trustworthy.
