Provably fair

In online gambling provably fair describes an algorithm which can be analyzed and verified for fairness on the part of the service operator.^[1] Provably fair algorithms are often used in the operation of an online casino.

In a provably fair gambling system, a player places bets on games offered by the service operator. The service operator will publish a method for verifying each transaction in the game. This is usually by using open source algorithms for random seed generation, hashing, and for the random number generator. Once a game has been played, the player can use these algorithms to test the game's response to his in-game decisions and evaluate the outcome by only using the published algorithms, the seeds, hashes, and the events which transpired during the game.

The benefit of a provably fair system is that third-party verification and auditing is usually unnecessary. Results of bets for which the outcomes are mathematically predetermined are harder to scrutinize and thus the system can add a degree of trustworthiness to a gambling operation. It could also potentially expose the operator to hacking attempts if there are undisclosed security flaws in the open source software.

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