Topic: Should online casino games be open source? - page 3. (Read 716 times)
I think that people overestimate meaning of open source. I believe that whenever people see open source somewhere, the immediately start to think that someone has already evaluated software, checked its code, found errors or weak points, and developers have all that fixed. Kind of "100% legit tag". So without hesitation they trust funds and personal data to that software. So to speak, they shift responsibility onto others. If casinos would become open source, nothing will be changed much, casinos possibly get more trust, but that can also have a negative effect, as scam casinos would add "open source" to their name and wait for gullible users.
That would actually be good as it would give us a chance to test if the casino is actually working as intended or ripping their customers off. Come to think of, I think I have never heard of a casino like that. The casino owners would say that they didn’t want to share their secret sauce but then they don’t have to provide the full code maybe? Only share the actual algorithm that decides the winner and that would be enough to test the behavior of the casino.
That’s a brilliant suggestion op.
*pats on the back
That’s a brilliant suggestion op.
*pats on the back
That is what the excuse usually looks like and I am sure there is common sense on that question among all casino game developers.
What I have always asked myself is when these casinos use slot games from well known casino games developing companies (iGaming), is there any way for those casinos that buy let's say some slot machines, to tamper with the code afterwards? Are the casinos provides with options to tamper around with the RTP rate or can they limit jackpots somehow or do they have to accept the way those slot machines are built by the software companies the casinos obtain those games from?
It would good if they want to show the source, but it high unlikely to happen except newly poor casino who create their game from scratch. If you expect gambling providers to show their source, I'm sure it will not gonna happen sooner or later because other people can easily copy their source and casinos don't need to rent from them.
Also it's need big demand from the gamblers to force the casino to release the source, while most gamblers don't care with that at all.
Also it's need big demand from the gamblers to force the casino to release the source, while most gamblers don't care with that at all.
By virtue, it is a high risk for any serious casino, so we should perish that idea, it will not happen in this current atmosphere.
It remains as an idea and we all know that the established casinos won't do that. They're also putting their business at risk with this since they're established to make a business and they've got still some ways to verify their fairness. If it's all about being fair, they do it but there's a heavier side of them being on the business side. It's understandable and that's how it goes, there were some attempts in the past about it to become decentralized and be an open source but those attempts were the one that perished. 
This idea may seem at first glance like an act of transparency on the part of the casino. Allowing anyone to review the software to ensure the games are fair and not manipulated, or contribute improvements and new ideas, gives users added confidence.
This is a good thought and I've also thought of it many times. We all know these days that the so-called provably fair is not fair or provably anymore, they are simply a cover-up in most cases. However, as we are thinking about fairness, casinos will be thinking about how exposed they could be in their manipulations and how possibly the system could be exploited against them in the name of an open source.By virtue, it is a high risk for any serious casino, so we should perish that idea, it will not happen in this current atmosphere.
This idea may seem at first glance like an act of transparency on the part of the casino. Allowing anyone to review the software to ensure the games are fair and not manipulated, or contribute improvements and new ideas, gives users added confidence.
However, there are extremely negative aspects such as the intellectual property of exclusive games, the possibility of malicious individuals modifying the code to create fraudulent versions of the games, and the impact on the compliance with laws and regulations to which casinos are subject.
What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
The fear is that it can be modified and resold by certain individuals, I once read an article that there are some game scripts that are illegal and can be controlled by the buyers from who wins and loses when someone wants to play there while with licensed and regulated games tend to be expensive but it can be fairer than the illegal ones currently circulating they can set the API and modify the management of the game.However, there are extremely negative aspects such as the intellectual property of exclusive games, the possibility of malicious individuals modifying the code to create fraudulent versions of the games, and the impact on the compliance with laws and regulations to which casinos are subject.
What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
Of course I support this, because it can be seen publicly, whether it is because of luck that someone can get a win and or is a setting from the casino itself.
But I am interested more if gambler would be qualified enough to see, find, examine, analyse casinos software.
I suppose not. I also already mentioned this point above in the thread. Let's assume, hypothetically, that proponents of open source gambling, who cite open source as an important argument, would have to substantiate their thesis with statistical data on the proportion of programmers among gamblers. Even if such statistics are available, I believe that less than one percent of programmers are there. Then open source code as a means of control is simply ineffective, since it is incomprehensible to most non-specialists. Open source code on GitHub is effective for collaborative development, because 99.9% of users there are programmers. But a casino is not a GitHub.
This is something I've asked before and I could swear a few people said that these games can be "provably fair" but not much more outside that. How does one do that? If I walk in to a casino, say in Vegas and start playing slot machines, am I going to be able to ask them, "hey I've put 1000 dollar in this thing, maybe about 50 pulls and still haven't won anything, I don't think its fair can you prove it to me that it is? What are they going to say?
Either that they don't know or that depending on the amount that you bet, there are already pre-arranged numbers of spins for a big win. Most likely, the first option. 
Seriously, even if a casino claims that, won't prove it. Slot providers don't want something open to everyone, the same as casinos. I'm more than 99% sure that no casino will ever be open source in anything.
I used to really like slots and over time until now I realized that slot games provide win that are always not commensurate and will not be felt because the defeat occurs gradually even in almost every round you can't get the same return as the amount of the bet that has been determined.
If that is done, it will clearly be very detrimental to the casino, people can think badly and have the perception that there is some kind of program for manipulation that ultimately most gamblers avoid certain games like slot, no casino will want to do it even though for gambler it is very profitable thing.
From gambler point of view it is a good idea to be able to look through every gambling process and check if casino is honest. From casino point of view that isnt fair, its an interference in business. Then any business should be open source. To make everyones possibilities even, casinos should be able to see gamblers full balance: accounts statement. Fair rules. You look at mine, I look at yours. But I am interested more if gambler would be qualified enough to see, find, examine, analyse casinos software.
Won't there be "well-wishers" for open-source code who can harm the game's owners? I think everything related to finances will be guarded, since there is always the possibility to steal what can be stolen, calling it a software error. We can agree that for players, open source will be an indicator of honesty, but for the casino, as it seems, there may be trouble.
I had another thought regarding this issue. If we consider open source and closed source products, using the example of graphic editors, we can see that closed source products are more technologically advanced, have a better user interface, are faster, more productive, are updated more often, have official technical support, i.e. have a significant advantage for the user. Many users choose them for these reasons. In the gambling sphere to choose from just nothing so we all use casinos with closed source code and do not even think about it. I think that even if we had the opportunity to compare, we would still choose a closed source casino because of the advantages described above.
I think it should be, if you are referring to provably fair games as people tends to look at those bet and verify it and also, it being open source could be beneficial for the owners as people can check for vulnerability too. Also it's a transparency to make your audience trust you more. I've played with a closed source, cheap casino (tried it out of curiosity) using TRX as their main currency and also a TRX based game, I can't verify my bets and even thought the chance of winning is more than 90% in their dice game, I lost 9 times in a row lol.
Though I only lost $5 to it.
Though I only lost $5 to it.
This idea may seem at first glance like an act of transparency on the part of the casino. Allowing anyone to review the software to ensure the games are fair and not manipulated, or contribute improvements and new ideas, gives users added confidence.
What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
Casinos have this policy where they of running a semi open source system. They do not have to let their games be open source if it is going to affect their business. There are certain parts of the open source that should be open sourced - we want to know how fair the game is, we also want to know truly random the game outcome. But for the other parts that could be tempered upon by bad actors, they should not disclose it to the public. They need to protect their business. What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
I guess that’s what we all want but we’re still seeing plenty of casino games that aren’t open source. It’s understandable, though, since there are many factors to consider. The top concern is security risks, and we can’t ignore intellectual property concerns either. These are some of the reasons why not everything is open source. At the end of the day, it’s all about reputation so if a casino is reputable, their games are likely trustworthy, whether they developed them in-house or not.
However, there are extremely negative aspects such as the intellectual property of exclusive games, the possibility of malicious individuals modifying the code to create fraudulent versions of the games, and the impact on the compliance with laws and regulations to which casinos are subject.
I like the idea of open source but its quite problematic when some or many users can alter the game codes. Let say the liquidity is there or there is a organic funds being generated by it, we cant say for sure if this will be smooth til the end. Some will turn into it and try to exploit it. Maybe we want that for transparency but if this platform bloom good then the next thing we shpuld worry is the security. Its a good debate indeed regarding this.
That would be nice if we can see all casinos games are open source or provably fair which means that gamblers can verify all their bets so there wont be suspicions from the gamblers. For now we have limited open sourced games, most of them are in house games created by the casinos starting from dice, crash, limbo, plinko, keno and few numbers of slot. While there are low number of open sourced games by 3rd party providers. Talking about the possibility of having all casino games to be open source, I think the chance is low unless 90% or even more gamblers start to leave those games because of that reason so the game providers start to change their games in order to get the gamblers back.
It may be a good thing for casino games to be open source, meaning the public can see the transparency of the code and contribute to making the game fairer for the users. But maybe the reason why developers are reluctant to make their games open source is probably because they don't want the public to see their code and know what secrets they have made in the game, and also to limit someone who wants to exploit the game or hack the game. So these basic reasons make game developers only make their game code closed. But I personally don't have a problem with that, because popular developers usually have the reputation and credibility to keep their games fair to the players.
What it is for casino to open source though? Unless they've built their own games. So far most casinos have gambling operators, those slot game machines, and I doubt that they are going to open their code for us as this is a intellectual property. And we all know that there are a lot of competitions with slot developers, so there's no way that they will share the code and their competitors going to see it.
For me just play with a reputable casinos if you have doubts about the fairness. As their reputation precedes themselves, and you can check your seeds to see if it is provably fair or not.
However, there are extremely negative aspects such as the intellectual property of exclusive games, the possibility of malicious individuals modifying the code to create fraudulent versions of the games, and the impact on the compliance with laws and regulations to which casinos are subject.
Yes, this is the problem which is why the curtains are closed. It's gambling and one mistake of modification, especially in the algorithms, could ruin it all, and the one who's going to suffer after it is the business itself. What is your opinion?
I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
I do believe it's not needed as they always provide some explanation in their terms of service below the provably fair section. There are too many wannabe coders and hackers in this era, and if it's an open source, they are also opening problems for their business. So, the best way to keep it a little bit clean is to just explain it to their customers, especially the centralized gambling. I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed here before; if so, I apologize in advance.
I think this is also a job for those who will give them licenses. They have to make sure that these online casinos are keeping it fair and not just robbing the gamblers.
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This is something I've asked before and I could swear a few people said that these games can be "provably fair" but not much more outside that. How does one do that? If I walk in to a casino, say in Vegas and start playing slot machines, am I going to be able to ask them, "hey I've put 1000 dollar in this thing, maybe about 50 pulls and still haven't won anything, I don't think its fair can you prove it to me that it is? What are they going to say?
Either that they don't know or that depending on the amount that you bet, there are already pre-arranged numbers of spins for a big win. Most likely, the first option.
Seriously, even if a casino claims that, won't prove it. Slot providers don't want something open to everyone, the same as casinos. I'm more than 99% sure that no casino will ever be open source in anything.
It may be a good thing for casino games to be open source, meaning the public can see the transparency of the code and contribute to making the game fairer for the users. But maybe the reason why developers are reluctant to make their games open source is probably because they don't want the public to see their code and know what secrets they have made in the game, and also to limit someone who wants to exploit the game or hack the game. So these basic reasons make game developers only make their game code closed. But I personally don't have a problem with that, because popular developers usually have the reputation and credibility to keep their games fair to the players.
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