You can personally check the fairness of every round when playing certain games at a crypto casino. These Provably Fair games include Dice, Plinko, Mines, Crash, and Limbo, as well as a small number of online slots and table games from crypto-native studios.
We’ll explain how to verify casino fairness in a few simple steps. You’ll learn how to rotate the seeds and confirm the casino didn’t tamper with the results.
We’ll also discuss how standard casino games are independently certified for fairness.
The Two Layers of Casino Fairness
When it comes to fairness, we can divide digital casino games into two categories:
- Provably Fair: These games use cryptography to let you personally check whether the casino manipulated the result. This is a relatively new innovation, so you’ll only find a handful of Provably Fair games at crypto casinos.
- Standard RNGs: Most crypto casino games are powered by random number generators (RNGs). These algorithms produce thousands of numbers per second, each corresponding to a specific result. The number generated as you hit “Play” determines the result.
You can’t personally verify the fairness of standard online casino games. However, you can rest assured that the results are fair if you stick to games from reputable software providers, and you play them at licensed online casinos.
We’ll explain how casino fairness works for most games below.
How to Verify a Provably Fair Result: Step by Step
It’s easy to check Provably Fair results. Just follow six simple steps to run your own crypto casino audit:
Step 1: Record the Hashed Server Seed Before Playing
The casino will publish a hashed server seed before you play a Provably Fair game. It’s like a sealed envelope, which you can only open after playing. Hashing is a one-way street: you can’t work out the seed by examining the hash, and the casino can’t swap it later. Make a note of this hashed seed so you can verify it later.
Step 2: Set Your Client Seed
Casinos aren’t fully in control of the results when you play Provably Fair games. You provide a client seed, which is combined with the server seed to generate each result. The site will set a default seed for you, but you can create your own if you prefer.
Step 3: Play the Game
Play the game, either for a single round or for multiple rounds. Provably Fair games use a nonce (number used once). This counter increments with each round, so each result is generated independently, even when the same server and client seeds are used.
Step 4: Rotate the Seeds to Reveal the Result
After playing, click the “Fairness” or “Provably Fair” button to rotate the seeds. Scroll down to the “Rotate Seed Pair” section and hit “Change.” This retires the current seed pair and creates a new one, which is why you can only verify rounds played on a seed pair you’ve already rotated away from. The casino will then show you the unhashed version of the server seed used to generate those results.
Step 5: Confirm the Seed Matches the Pre-Committed Hash
Plug the revealed seed into a SHA-256 calculator. Make sure the output matches the hash you were shown before playing the game. If they’re identical, you’ve confirmed the casino committed to the seed before you played, so it couldn’t have altered it after you hit “Play.”
Step 6: Recompute the Results
Finally, enter the unhashed server seed, your client seed, and the nonce into a verifier. You can use the game’s built-in calculator or an independent tool online. This allows you to reproduce each result from the seed pair. If the results match, you’ve confirmed the casino didn’t manipulate them.
Remember that the nonce changes with each bet placed using the same seed pair, so enter the specific nonce for each bet you want to check.
What to Do If a Result Doesn’t Verify
- If the verifier doesn’t reproduce your result, you probably entered the data incorrectly. Here’s what to do:
- Check the nonce first. Some games start counting at zero, and others start at 1, so it’s easy to get this wrong.
- Make sure you’re using the server seed from the correct pair. Rotating again will reveal a newer seed that won’t match older rounds.
- Look for a trailing space. Copying a seed with a trailing space is another common culprit.
- Confirm you’re using the right verifier. Games convert the hash into a result differently, so a Dice verifier won’t reproduce a Limbo round.
If the result still doesn’t match after you’ve ruled these out, take a screenshot of the seeds and nonce. You can then contact the customer support team and explain that the casino game verification didn’t work.
If you aren’t satisfied with the response, escalate the complaint to the casino’s regulator.
Verifying Fairness Without Provably Fair
Most digital casino games use standard RNGs to generate the results. You can’t personally check the fairness of each spin, hand, or roll when playing these games. Instead, you need to trust a third-party testing lab to audit them.
The main testing labs are BMM Testlabs, eCOGRA, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), and iTech Labs. There are smaller operators too, such as Eclipse Compliance Testing, Gaming Associates, and Quinel.
These labs specialize in auditing casino games for fairness. They examine millions of spins, hands, or dice rolls and ensure the results are statistically random, evenly distributed, and unpredictable.
The auditors also confirm that each game pays out at the stated return-to-player (RTP) rate and ensure there are no flaws or vulnerabilities in the underlying code.
If they’re satisfied, they certify the games. This system works well for games at licensed online casinos.
Companies like BMM Testlabs, eCOGRA, and GLI also certify live casino games like blackjack, roulette, and game shows for fairness. They examine the physical equipment and monitor the sessions to confirm everything is working correctly and fairly.
Red Flags
These are the red flags to look out for when choosing a crypto casino:
- No licenses or unverified licenses: Scroll down to the footer of the homepage to find the site’s licensing details. You should be able to click the regulator’s logo to confirm that the license is valid. If there are no licensing details, you can’t click through to the regulator’s site, or you click through and find the license has expired, that’s a serious warning sign.
- Unsubstantiated Provably Fair claims: If a site claims to host Provably Fair games, but there are no verifiers and you can’t rotate the seeds, the casino fails the sniff test.
- No published RTP figures: Some sites host obscure games, and they don’t publish the RTP rates. That’s concerning.
- Unresolved player complaints: Check platforms like Trustpilot for player feedback. If there are lots of unresolved complaints about withdrawal issues, you might want to look elsewhere.
If you spot one of these red flags, it warrants caution. When there’s a cluster of them, we’d recommend finding a different site.
Our guide to the best crypto casinos highlights established, licensed sites that offer fair games from the world’s leading software providers, as well as Provably Fair games.
Conclusion
Once you know how to verify casino fairness, the process is straightforward. Record the hashed server seed, set your own client seed, play, rotate, and then check the seed against the hash. A few minutes of work confirms the casino didn’t manipulate the results.
For the games you can’t verify yourself, licensing and third-party certification do the same job, so stick to regulated sites that host games from reputable software providers.
FAQs
Make sure the crypto casino holds a valid license and hosts games from reputable software providers. Licensed casinos are required to host games that have been independently tested and certified for fairness by specialist labs. Many leading crypto casinos also host Provably Fair games, which let you personally confirm the results weren’t tampered with.
You can check a Provably Fair result by rotating the seeds and revealing the unhashed server seed used to generate the outcome. Make sure it matches the seed that the casino pre-committed to before you played. You can then plug the unhashed server seed, your client seed, and the nonce into a verifier tool and make sure it produces the same result.
An eCOGRA certificate confirms an online casino game is fair. eCOGRA is one of the world’s top independent testing labs, which specializes in auditing slots and table games. It examines millions of outcomes to confirm the results are fair, impossible to predict, and in line with the game’s stated RTP.
Licensed casinos are required to host games that have been independently certified for fairness, so the games themselves are very unlikely to be rigged. Unfair treatment is more likely to involve terms, bonuses, or delayed withdrawals. If you believe a licensed casino has treated you unfairly, you can complain to the regulator, which can compel the casino to act and ultimately revoke its license.
Ilija is a CCN writer with 7 years of experience covering all things crypto. Ever since a fateful run-in with Litecoin in 2013, he's been an avid investor and writer in the space. When he's not maniacally hacking away at his keyboard, Ilija spends his time either hiking in nature or holed up in his apartment gaming.
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