When you’re gambling at a land-based casino, there is some surety that the games work as advertised and the results of the game are fair, random and in accordance with the payout rate for that particular game.
If you’re playing roulette at a brick-and-mortar casino, for instance, then you are actually there in person and you can see the dealer conduct the game right in front of your eyes and you know for sure that the ball lands on a certain number completely by chance and is thus is totally luck-based and fair for all parties involved.
However, if you were playing roulette online, then all you see is an animated representation which is not bound to the laws of physics. In fact, there is even a chance that the program or game software has been tweaked to ensure you lose. This way, the casino stands to make much bigger profits. But this would be utterly unfair, wouldn’t it?
Great bonuses and fantastic game-play is all well and good. But it’s also important for players to know they’re choosing a casino that ranks high on trustworthiness. This can only be confirmed if the right testing is implemented and fairness is guaranteed.
So, how do you know that online casinos provide fair game results to its players? Are you just blindly trusting the results that you are handed? Well, this article will enlighten you exactly this subject. We describe in layman terms how online casinos provide fair and transparent gaming and what additional steps they take to protect their players from cyber-attacks.
Random Number Generators
Before we delve into how online casinos provide the most up to date cybersecurity for their players, let’s discuss how online casinos offer fair gaming.
Basically, online casinos utilize a computer algorithm which is called a random number generator (RNG). An RNG is price of computer code, which when executed, will give out a completely random number each time. There is no discernible rhyme or reason to how the number was spat out. Therefore, nobody can predict which number is going to be produced. By leveraging such an algorithm and tying the random number produced to the result of the game, the casino can offer game results that are not premeditated by them in any manner. Ergo, the RNG makes an online casino game just as random and luck-based as a land-based casino game that transpires right in front of your eyes.
Independent Testing and Certification
The question now is – how do you know, a gullible player, know that the random number generator algorithm is actually being used and it actually works to facilitate fair gaming?
For exactly this purpose, there are various independent, third-party auditing and testing companies. These companies have no tie with the casino operators and the success of failure of the operator has no bearing on these auditors. Their only job is to test a casino’s RNG and make sure it is truly fair. Once they verify this, they provide certification stating so.
These checks happen intermittently and sometimes randomly so that the operator has no opportunity to amend anything just prior to an audit.
For an online casino to be trusted and provably fair, it must hold a seal of approval by such independent testing companies. Only such casinos receive the appropriate licenses to offer their services. Players are also generally aware of these certifications and tend to sign up with casinos that are certified as provably fair. This makes the certificate something online casinos chase after.
Two of the renowned testing organizations in the iGaming industry are Technical Systems Testing (TST) and Gaming Laboratories International (GLI).
Online Casino Licensing
If there is one golden rule to follow when gambling online, it is – only play at casinos that hold a valid license from a reputed online casino regulatory body. Some of the most well-known and respected licensing commissions include the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, Curacao eGaming Commission, Malta Gaming Authority, etc.
When a casino is licensed, it assures the player that the casino meets certain standards of fair gaming, data protection, responsible gambling, etc.
License issuers regularly conduct quality checks on casinos they have licensed and ensure that they continue to meet the required standards. If the casino is not up to the mark on any metric, the license is suspended or revoked.
Data Protection
When you sign up with an online casino, you generally have to provide various personal, contact and even banking details. A lot of this is sensitive data that you would not want in the wrong hands. So, how do online casinos protect the data of their customers?
Well, any online casino worth its salt will have SSL encryption technology. Simply put, this is a system where any data that is stored or being transmitted is encoded in a way that no one else but the intended recipient is able to decipher and make sense of it. So, if a cyber attacker was to steal the data, it would simply be garbled and thus useless to the thief.
Transparency
While it’s true not all online casinos are very forth coming in terms of bonus rules and other T&Cs when playing certain games, this is mandatory with the majority of the fully-licensed operators. After all, they’re considered reputable and trustworthy precisely because they’re fully-transparent. And while they may not publish their wagering requirements alongside their promotional offers, they do list said restrictions in fine print on their websites. That being said, it is ultimately the players’ responsibility to make sure they’ve read the conditions before committing to signing up and playing at the casino of choice.
