I had a few things I wanted to talk about, but needed to address on separate posts. Let's talk about "Provably Fair" casinos, and the theory that it actually is a fair way to proof how you won, or lost while playing a game.
When I first started playing at Stake.com, for example, I became acquaintances with Eddie Miroslav, who also started PrimeDice.com, we talked on a regular basis on Telegram, if I needed a comp, boosts, he would always help, and while I had one or two handsome cashouts, the games were all made by his team, coded by programmers who are all a part of the same "Brotherhood." Then Stake was sold to a different company, licensed in Curacao, and a large integration of platforms were introduced - Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, Wazdan, etc. Stake "prided itself" on the whole "Provably Fair" model. When you would challenge support with the questionability and legitimacy of this type of system vs. a regulated RNG, they would just send you a link made by their programmers, for their programmers.
Having worked in the land based industry for almost two decades, I've had my fill of our own patrons who'd have a bad gaming session, citing that we "tightened up" the games, that we controlled this, when the bottom line is that could be the farthest truth from reality.
Most casino patrons don't realise that at a brick and mortar casino, that when you sit down at a slot machine, you add your cash into the machine and get ready to play, before you even hit the "max bet" button - the outcome of the spin outcome that you are about to see was determined by the last play that the last patron playing that game when they cashed out. Make sense? In simpler terms, the RNG has determined the outcome for the next patron to play before they even sit down to play the game. Call it the, "outcome result of a slot machine in arrears."
Most patrons have never seen a PAR sheet for a slot machine. This is issued from the manufacturer for each specific machine, the payout percentage, the "hit frequency", etc. of what your patrons will be playing on. I've attached one which is provided by Bally's popular "Blazing 7's" 3 credit machine that became one of the most successful slot machines of all time among casino patrons. I'm using this strictly as an example of any given land based casino, in any given land based casino.
All slot machines in a land based casino act independently of one another, and each slot machine has its own assigned PAR sheet. For the purposes of our discussion here, we're discussing a Bally's Blazing 7's slot machine at any given land based slot machine. This is a three reel, one line, 3 credit game. The attached PAR sheet is fairly self explanatory to me, but to somebody who is new, this can look confusing. The first column indicates the three reel strips, and on each strip there are 16 symbols. So, on reel 1 there are 16 symbols, reel 2 there are 16 symbols, reel 3 there are 16 symbols. Then to the right are the reel "Factors", or how many times this Blazing 7's machine will hit those symbol combinations over about the "life" of this machine. This guarantees that our players will experience these pre-programmed outcomes within the time the machine is on our casino floor.
The "Provably Fair" theory is a completely different story. Can you verify that a hash was predetermined? Maybe. Who programmed and designed that hash? A programmer. I think the whole idea is just a complete farce. What's more, any site that uses a platform like IGT, Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, etc., these games operate on an RNG on the servers of the platform. There is no way to make these games "Provably Fair", because its just not possible. For a site like Stake, bc.game, PrimeDice, their original games, yes... the integrated brand platforms, no.
So proprietary games designed by programmers, verified and decided outcomes made and programmed by programmers with no actual legitimacy checks in place to verify other than, "yes, this was the "supposed" hash" that determined your win/loss... No, I don't think so. When you walk into our casino, we have legal supporting documentation for each game on our floor to show what outcomes a slot machine has. This isn't something that those sites who claim to be "Provably Fair" can say.
So the next time you see "Provably Fair", take that with a grain of salt because it means absolutely nothing to the legitimate gaming World.
Share on
Twitter
Facebook
Delicious
Reddit