Are Online Casino Games Really Fair? RNG Audits, Volatility, and Payout Checks for NZ Players
For each losing spin or deal that follows, the same thought comes to mind. Can the casino prevent winning combinations from coming up? This reaction occurs as the money continues to be lost and there seems to be no combination that brings any wins.
The reality is far from such accusations, though. It is based entirely on math. Online casinos do not need to cheat their way to profit. It is already present within their system. However, this process is obscured from players’ eyes by means of complex algorithms and formulas that most people do not care to research.
To see what is going on behind the screens, one needs to understand how games are made and checked by independent bodies. For the casual New Zealand gambler, it may look like sheer luck. From the operators’ point of view, it has more to do with volume and probability.
How Random Number Generators Work
An important element which lies in the foundation of all pokies, poker cards, and roulette wheels is the Random Number Generator. Also called the RNG, it is basically software that creates random number sequences without an ability to predict them.
Whenever someone presses the ‘spin’ button, the game takes the number generated at the time and produces the corresponding outcome. As for the spinning wheels, they serve as more of a decoration than anything else. The results will not change after pressing the button.
The sequence of random numbers is used differently in different games. On slot machines, it is assigned to various positions on reels. In roulette, it is translated to certain points on the spinning wheel. In poker and other games of cards, it translates into the next card from a virtual shoe. This is carried out precisely according to mathematical formulas.
Hot and cold streaks can thus be very deceptive. An RNG does not possess any memory. It does not know that the bonus has not triggered for the last couple of hours or that the jackpot was won last week. Winning and losing streaks come naturally from randomness.
Who Actually Controls The Games
It is assumed by many players that the casino can tighten and loosen the game at any time. In contemporary online casinos this is hardly possible.
Usually, casinos are platform-based. For instance, they may contract game providers such as Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, and Microgaming. The game software is housed on servers belonging to the suppliers. The casino domain is basically for account management and advertising.
The game suppliers have their licences and reputations as well. For every bet that is made via their software, they take a share regardless of the outcome. It is not in their best interest to tamper with one casino’s version of the game. Once certified, that is the version delivered to all partners. The casino does not obtain any access to the game source code or the RNG either.
How Labs Audit RNGs and Payouts
Nobody should just take a casino or a provider on trust. In a regulated environment, casinos must demonstrate that their games play fairly. That is handled by testing labs.
eCOGRA, iTech Labs, and GLI examine game code and pummel it with massive amounts of simulated gameplay. They verify that the numbers follow a true random process, the actual payoffs correspond with the pay table, and the return to player is consistent with what is declared.
As players, the information may seem abstract, so here is what matters and what the auditors really sign off on:
- The behaviour of the RNG, to ensure that there is no bias in the numbers produced
- Long-term RTP, to check whether the game is indeed paying back the claimed percentage
- Game rules and pay tables, so that features and prizes are activated and awarded properly
After the testing is finished, the labs issue the certificate and the testing report. This should be available on the casino platform. The logo at the end of the page should link to a page with the operator and provider names and a statement that the RNG and payouts were tested.
Return to Player, Volatility and Why Fair Games Feel Like Ice
The Return To Player, RTP, is the statistical amount estimated over an incredibly long duration of play that a certain game is expected to deliver back to the player. In other words, a pokie with 96 percent RTP would normally payback $96 on every hundred dollars that it received from players.
The method through which the return is delivered to the player is volatility. Slots that have low volatility pay smaller sums of money, more frequently. On the contrary, slots that are high volatility pay large amounts, but this rarely happens. Two different slot games may have similar Return To Player, and one being gentle and the other brutal because of differing levels of volatility.
Typically, the perception of fair is derived from confusion regarding the nature of volatility. One who plays high volatile games with low budgets and after spending forty minutes seeing zero payout could think that he or she is being cheated. In actuality, it is behaving how it was supposed to.
Fair does not mean that the game should go smoothly, but rather that overall averages are correct and each spin is likely to hit some feature trigger or line win based on odds. Volatility matching, compared to RNG, matters much more when it comes to bet and playing session sizes.
Red Flags Related to Off-Brand Offshore Casinos
Most New Zealand gamblers tend to use offshore online casinos rather than local options, simply because there are few of them. One thus needs to know how to differentiate between legitimate operators and online casino businesses that have no proper regulation behind them.
The safest online casinos will display a license number on their website, typically linking to the license issuer’s web page. They will present a list of their suppliers right from the lobby. A legitimate online casino will offer information about the game RTP. There should be logos of the certification agencies like eCOGRA and iTech Labs that are clickable.
Red flags related to a casino include a complete absence of license or mention of an unknown authority. There may also be a lack of any game supplier and RTP in the rulebook. Logos of laboratories may just be static pictures without links. Finally, withdrawal issues may arise if you win big and are asked to upload additional documents.
Each of these signals does not mean by itself that something is wrong, but the combination is obvious enough. A casino that tries to hide behind its regulations and providers effectively uses the fact that 99.9% of players do not bother to look up this information.
What NZ Gamblers Can Do About It
There is little chance that an average gambler will check codes themselves and run lab tests, yet certain facts matter. Looking up license information and laboratory certification takes no time at all. Finding RTP on a slot game help page should be easy too. Playing slots made by well-known companies instead of proprietary ones is the first step.
The online casino gambling experience is never going to be like a coin toss. This is because every game is rigged with the built-in edge, while gambling sessions may sometimes be difficult due to variance. So here fairness should be interpreted as the following characteristics: game rules and terms and conditions are honest; game RTPs are honest; finally, the games work as intended according to third-party validation.
All in all, for those New Zealand gamblers who value these criteria, the goal is to get the most out of the part of the online gambling business that wants to be transparent.
