Random Number Generators Explained

One of the most crucial focal points for casinos is fairness. Players understand that they won’t always win when they’re playing slots, roulette or blackjack. But they do expect a fair chance. Offline, in land based casinos, players can see the cards being dealt or the roulette wheel being spun, and this gives some comfort. But when it comes to online gambling, it’s more difficult for online casinos to prove they are operating fair, honest games, and there’s always a minority of players who feel suspicious – especially if they hit a losing streak.

This problem is compounded by rogue casinos, and the few fly by night operations that do still exist online. Players can understandably feel like they’re not sure which games are fair and which games are not, and that can undermine confidence in the whole online gambling industry.

In reality, while there are still some online casinos that are best avoided, the reputable casino operators use random number generators to ensure they are as fair and open as possible. These software scripts randomly generate numbers from an assigned set, providing values that interact with the visual display to generate results. These number generators play a crucial part in a number of online casino games, and by being independently verified as fair and accurate, give both casinos and players peace of mind.

Blackjack

The very nature of casino games means that the house is at an advantage in even the fairest possible game. There is no need for casinos to cheat on the odds – they are already in their favour in a fair game, and over time, the house will always profit. Random number generators ensure that the numbers appearing in each game are genuinely random, in the same way as blindly choosing a card or flipping a coin.

In online blackjack and other card games, random number generators are used to simulate drawing and dealing cards. Cards are assigned numerical values in the game software, and numbers are randomly generated as each card is dealt. At the same time, random number generators can be programmed according to the rules of blackjack. So if you’re playing with one deck, you won’t see the same card twice. Or if you’re playing with 5 decks, you could draw the same number five times, and so on.

The same rules apply to the house as to the player, and the RNG in this case simulates the effect of consistently shuffled decks. There’s no way you can possibly know which card is coming next, and neither the player nor the casino is put at a particular advantage. In that respect, the RNG makes online blackjack as fair, if not fairer, than in any land-based casino.

Roulette

Random number generators are also behind online roulette. When there’s no roulette wheel in place, it’s down to the random number generator to simulate the draw, and to decide where the ball lands. It’s not particularly glamorous behind the scenes, so casinos invest in fancy graphics that simulate actually sitting at a roulette table. You place your bets on the felt, watch the ball spin, and hear the result announced as the ball comes to rest. In reality, the result is decided at the moment the ball is spun, with the random number generator stopping on a chosen number, in line with the rules of roulette.

Players in roulette are particularly susceptible to feeling games are rigged. This often occurs because they see a run of red numbers, or odds, or even the same number appearing three times in a row. But with random number generators responsible for generating the results of each spin, in reality, this is an entirely random game – just as it is in land-based casinos.

The nature of random numbers means that there is no pattern, and every number has the same chance of being drawn on the next spin as every other – regardless of whether it was drawn before, or it hasn’t been drawn in a particular session. There’s no such thing as predictability in roulette – and random number generators are an efficient, effective way of delivering that.

Slots

Online Slots are the definitive example of random number generators in practice. One of the most popular games genres in online and mobile gambling, slots are purely chance based – there’s no telling when the reels will line up in your favour. Numbers are assigned to each icon and each reel, and when you press to spin, the random numbers settle on the result.

Again, this means there is no pattern, and no telling when you’re going to land a winning line. The machine doesn’t care – it’s randomly assigning numbers, weighted in accordance with the house edge. There are no patterns here either, and so long as the machine is operating at its calculated RTP percentage, every spin comes with an equal chance of winning than the last.

Random number generators are hugely important for all types of games, and without this technology, it would be nigh-on impossible to replicate the live casino experience. By randomly drawing results in accordance with the rules of different casino games, RNG technology is central to making online casino games fair and transparent for all players.