At a land-based casino or gambling hall, gravity, motors, and shuffling provide a great deal of randomization. This is the case for the order of the balls falling out of the bingo cage, which pocket the roulette ball lands in, and the order of the dealt cards in blackjack or baccarat. So, when these games moved online, randomization provided the greatest challenge to developers.
Online casino games, bar live casino games, are programmed, and so, in theory, the code that runs the games can’t be purely random because of the human input. Now, however, governing bodies like the UKGC ensure that games are fair by checking that they’re entirely randomized. This comes down to the random number generators (RNGs) crafted for these games, but for each iGaming game, they work a little bit differently.
RNGs in online bingo rooms
In online bingo, random number generators are used to determine which numbered balls are revealed in each round. As each game has a set number of balls – usually 75, 80, or 90 – the RNG’s range only needs to be from one to that highest figure, knowing to exclude revealed numbers. Like almost every game of bingo is played until a line, two-line, and house winner is revealed, the RNG can simply playthrough at random until “house” is called.
Where it gets mixed up a little bit with online bingo is in the rooms where the core game has additional features added. For example, many come with jackpot prizes dropped randomly, some of which are split between all players, others which can drop randomly on any given ticketholder. That said, the more popular forms of jackpots are those built up across several games by the RNG revealing a set number of a certain ball.
It is possible to achieve true randomness in computer programming to ensure that the bingo balls revealed in each round and game are produced fairly and at random. However, there’s also the method of pseudorandom numbers, where a seed value determines the initial call of the RNG, with subsequent numbers following on. As the seed number in a gambling game would be very closely guarded and atop a very long randomization queue, it’d still be nearly impossible to determine where the sequence begins.
RNGs in online slot machines
Created by inventor Charles August Fey, slot machines became very popular very quickly in his home of San Francisco, with the first three-reel game being the Card Bell. After pushing down a handle, the three reels with card suits dotted along them would spin quickly to randomly reveal a combination. With it being a physical contraption, people knew that there could only be so many symbols within the machine.
With online slots, in theory, reels could have hundreds of symbols on them, especially in games with several low and high-paying symbols. Pure and complete randomization of these reels, in theory, would be fine, but as there are other aspects of the game that need to be programmed to meet regulations, the RNG needs further controls. These are primarily the return to player percentage – to ensure that the game pays out as it should over time – and the volatility rating, which loosely determines the frequency and size of payouts.
Random number generators are the key pieces of programming that allow iGaming products, from bingo to slots, to be fair, with the randomization, even if tweaked to fit game parameters, allowing for real, luck-based gambling in the digital space.