Let’s start from the beginning. What is a provably fair game? In short, provably fair games are those games equipped with a mechanism that allows players to verify the fairness of the outcomes of the hands they’ve played via the integrated algorithm. It might not sound so hard, but the technology behind the provably fair algorithm is some of the most advanced in the industry. The provably fair is becoming more and more popular these days thanks to the rise of the popularity in the cryptocurrency casinos.

You have not only simple games, but also lotteries, dice games and so on which are now able to receive Bitcoin bets or any other virtual currencies. The provably fair games have come up immediately after the first Bitcoins were exchanged, as their main feature is the fairness that they’re offering. While in the normal casino business the entire process of randomization takes place behind closed doors, there’s no room for tricks on the blockchain.

One important aspect to keep in mind is, there’s no way to cheat a Bitcoin, as every transaction is both anonymous to the users but also public because of the blockchain or public ledger. This means all bets are public, or prizes are public and all payouts are public and therefore cannot be tricked. Also, thanks to the provably fair algorithm and the code behind it, everything that happens in the games happen without any human intervention.

Transactions are just a part of what makes a great casino or lottery game great. Most processes are kept hidden from players on regular casinos, like the notion of randomly selecting the winning combinations or numbers in the lottery. Provably fair platforms can reveal the processes and show players how they’ve done the randomization, ensuring everything was as fair as possible. Or, provably fair.

How a provably fair game works

First and foremost, there is no definitive way of proving is a game is 100% fair or not, regardless of what technologies you’re about to use on it. Second, there is a level of high fairness that can be provided for games that can ensure fairness to the highest level possible. Provably fair and blockchain provides that level because it ensures immutability and also transparency. If a casino platform that’s probably fair is programmed correctly, there will be no room left for the organizers to go ahead and cheat on players.

Once the level of fairness is installed, it is the job of the portal’s administrators to prove it to their players. They have to make sure people know there’s no room for cheating. This is possible when the platform issues and publishes the source code in open access. Also, the site has to provide the verification tools needed for players to verify the fairness of the games, which are called hashes.

When is a game provably fair

The minute a casino states that it works under the provably fair algorithm, a list of ways for you to verify this claim must be provided. Let’s look at a live example for you to better understand this notion, for example the True Flip Lottery which works on the blockchain and you might be familiar with. This is one of those games and platforms that have such a strong provably fair base, they’re given as an example to new casinos on the blockchain.

As soon as you enter the lottery’s site, you will encounter a link that transports you to the source code of the lottery, on a platform called Github that’s very popular amongst developers. Clicking on the link you’ll be faced with all the features of the game, the process it uses to draw the winning numbers and how it calculates and delivers the payouts.

The problem with showing the code of the game alone is, not everybody that plays the lottery is a coder. Thankfully there are many other ways in which a platform can prove their provably fair usage. In the case of True Flip, there’s a public hash people can use in order to verify if the winning numbers were indeed chosen at random. The important thing here is, even the owners of the platform have no control over how these numbers are generated.

These are the two main ways in which the provably fair casino can prove their usage of the algorithm, but many other examples of how providers can show this are available on the market. The truth is provably fair games come in scales, with some being extremely honest and open, while others have a less of a transparent showing of the behind-the-scenes.

The rising popularity of provably fair games

One clear indicator that provably fair games are becoming more and more popular is the increase in the number of platforms that are providing provably fair games. Gambling is a risky business. As a player, all the odds are stacked against you. So the more odds you have against you, the worst it gets. The idea behind provably fair games is, there’s no motive to have intransparency in a world where everything “works” against the players anyway.

There are unfortunately many scenarios in which players have been cheated and cannot prove it that they’ve gone through that at all as everything is kept hidden. Entire platforms cheated on their players and failed to deliver payouts, but nobody can demonstrate it because of the intransparent way they’ve set the site up. This is why so many players are moving to a provably fair platform and are trusting these new technologies for playing their favorite games in peace.