Bitcoin and blockchain technology are changing the face of online gambling. Digital currencies, peer-to-peer payment systems that cut out the banking middlemen, and instant payouts are just the start. The real game changer is Provably Fair Gaming, which lets you verify the fairness of each game round and removes trust from the equation.

Online casinos have tried and essentially failed to overcome skepticism over rigged games since their inception in the 1990s. Outside audits and licenses just aren’t enough when a game is going against you. Check the endless rants on Reddit and Trustpilot for proof, and the nagging doubt you’re just going to lose money to a rigged casino game on a screen has held the whole industry back.

Provably Fair Gaming can change all that, and it’s a cornerstone of the crypto casino revolution. Now, 77% of crypto casinos offer Provably Fair gaming. Until recently, Provably Fair games were mainly limited to Arcade games like Bitcoin Dice and Crash games, but now we’re starting to see Provably Fair Slots and Table Games like Blackjack and Roulette as the technology goes to the next level.

Provably Fair is a blockchain-powered technology that uses cryptographic algorithms to provide verifiable proof of every game round. It shows that the game was random, pre-determined, and not altered in any way during the game.

Players can audit the game after every round using provided data. Cryptographic hashes and Random Number Generators ensure unbiased outcomes, and the system’s total transparency removes any incentive for a casino to manipulate individual games.

The first Provably Fair game was SatoshiDice in 2012. However, internet technology, blockchain, and coding have improved to the point that Provably Fair could become an absolute standard for all online casino games, and it should

Players receive a cryptographic “receipt” to verify each result after the fact, eliminating blind trust. This openness has made PF a favorite in crypto gaming, with platforms like Stake and Bitcasino leading the charge. In short, RNG asks for faith; Provably Fair provides proof.

Provably Fair Gaming leverages cryptography to lock in game outcomes before bets are placed, preventing manipulation.

It combines three key components:

• Player Seed: A unique number the game provides.
• Server Seed: A hidden number created by the casino’s server that you don’t see until after the game is complete.
• Nonce: A counter that increases with each bet. Essentially, it’s a serial number for each individual bet.

How Does Provably Fair Gaming Work in Complex Games?

This simple 3-component Provably Fair mechanism works perfectly for simple games such as Bitcoin Dice, Crash games, and even Roulette, with one simple outcome. But we’re seeing Provably Fair Blackjack, Slots and other games now. So, how do they work?

For full Provable Fairness, the entire shuffled deck must be fixed and logged before any player decisions, so the cards can be traced back to the first one dealt. That is precisely what you’d do if you were rigging a game, for entirely different reasons.

Effectively, the process includes:

1. Shuffling the Deck or Multiple Decks

The casino generates a server seed and uses that to create a shuffled deck, or the player can provide a client seed to further randomize the shuffle. The combined seeds and nonce are hashed to produce a final shuffle, and the deck order is then fixed and logged.

2. Hash Commitment

Before the game, the casino provides the server seed’s hash, which is the commitment to this exact card order. The player receives the hash, making tampering with the card order impossible from then on.

3. Game Play

The player/s proceed through the game, and the decisions and outcomes do not affect the Provably Fair Gaming aspect, which focuses purely on the deck order.

4. Post Game Verification

When the game is complete, the casino releases the server seed, which combines with the client seed and the nonce to recalculate the deck order. If it matches, then the game is deemed fair.

SatoshiDice is generally considered the world’s first Provably Fair game, and it launched in 2012. It was a simple game that involved picking a number between 0 and 100 and betting on whether the Random Number Generator would go higher or lower.

It was a beautifully simple game that turned into a smash hit that accounted for more than half of all Bitcoin transactions at one point. But could the first version of Bitcoin Dice have worked without Provably Fair tech? We doubt it because it would have been so easy to rig.

SatoshiDice used a much simpler form of Provably Fair gaming tech, but the foundations were laid. BitZino, Just-Dice.com, and PrimeDice followed in its footsteps, and in 2016, the major crypto platforms started to build out entire portfolios of Provably Fair games. These arcade games included crash, mines, coin flip, and HiLo games.

Now, Shuffle Casino offers Provably Fair Table Games like Roulette and Blackjack, while BC.Game, Stake, and Rollbit have selections of Provably Fair Slots. With Slots, the sequence of symbols is hashed in advance using the same server/client seed and nonce system. This has allowed Telegram casinos, with simple messenger-based displays, to explode in popularity. Without the PF mechanism, people just wouldn’t trust them.

We’re heading to the point where every casino game could and should be Provably Fair, but we’re not there yet.

Provably Fair Technology has completely changed the face of online gambling, and in some unexpected ways. The modern crypto casino scene is moving away from Poker, Baccarat, and even Roulette and embracing a new world of simple, faster, and straightforward games of pure chance that simply might not work without provable fairness.

Spribe reported a 450% increase in Crash game user share in 2022 alone, Aviator is licensed to more than 2,000 casinos and there are more than 1 million crash bets placed every day. The majority of new players are aged 24-34 and they appreciate the social and interactive elements, together with the speed and crypto integration.

Crash games have become the dominant force in crypto casinos, usurping Slots, Blackjack, and Roulette to the point that they’re the default landing page on sites like Stake and BC.Game. In 2024, Crash games accounted for 25% of crypto casino revenue, according to Statista.

Other simple games that have exploded in popularity in recent years include variations of Bitcoin Dice, Mines, HiLo, and Coin Flip games.

If every game can be Provably Fair, why aren’t they? It comes down to the user experience, graphics, and gameplay, which are generally better with games built on a centralized server. Games built on the blockchain have technical limitations, and the graphics and gameplay are basic at best.

PF technology requires additional resources to manage cryptographic functions and perform real-time verification. Graphically intensive games can cause issues like lag and visual fidelity problems that are unacceptable in the modern world.

While the more complex games rely on fixing the shuffled deck, counting back and verifying each step through every player’s decision is a complex task that can interrupt the flow of the gameplay. A simple RNG uses one seed to shuffle the deck, but PF requires step-by-step verification, and that could mean 100 cryptographic processes in a 10-hand poker session.

Blockchain congestion and transaction fees are also issues that developers have to overcome if they want to provide blockchain-based games. Due to compatibility issues, that seems more easily done on the casino side than on the game provider side at the moment.

Layer 2 scaling solutions for the Ethereum network and alternative blockchains like Tron and Solana are potential solutions, while other developers are looking at hybrid models with PF on the backend and rendering off-chain. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution as yet, however, and getting it wrong could create fees of $0.10-$0.50 per spin and introduce verification delays of 30-60 seconds a time, which would seriously impact playability.

The major game providers like NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Habanero Gaming, and more still host their games on a centralized server and rely on an audited and licensed Random Number Generator. 75% of their income comes from non-crypto casinos in any case, according to the 2024 H2 Gambling Capital Report, and it’s not good business to take on all these challenges for the minority of crypto gamblers – but this can and probably will change with the market.

Hacking Provably Fair is technically possible, but it’s a seriously complex task. According to the MIT Technology Review, the SHA-256 hashing algorithm is so secure that cracking it could take a supercomputer billions of years, and even quantum computers shouldn’t be able to do it.

Casinos implement layers of security and encryption, including SSL technology, on the sites themselves. In 2023, only 0.02% of PF-related complaints involved security breaches, and according to the Crypto Gambling Foundation, they were all traced to user error rather than any system flaw.