Sorry to derail this thread. Ultimately, I just want to correct the facts regarding provably fair games. Mainly: it
is possible to create provably fair slots, and it
does provide a real benefit to players.
A reel with 5 single cherry instances on it can be weighted to come up cherry an extra 1 time in a thousand, if they want it to. That's how they adjust RTP without changing the pay table.
That's a good point: If you want to create provably fair slots, you cannot "weight" the reels. But, since you won't be adjusting the RTP on-the-fly for online games, then this really shouldn't be an issue anyway.
Of course a house could manipulate those figures. That's what licensing jurisdictions are supposed to audit, and why most reputable casinos operate out of Malta, Curacao, etc.
Provably fair systems allow players to
independently verify every single wager they make - usually immediately after the wager is complete. Effectively, this is a zero-trust system: players don't have to trust third-party licensing providers to be confident they're getting a fair game. In many ways, this is a parallel to bitcoin itself being a zero-trust system that doesn't force you to trust bankers in order to store and transfer value. I think that is one reason why bitcoin users are drawn to provably fair games.
It's worth pointing out that a "provably fair" casino using two keys could also cheat by discarding a hash that was unfavorable to the house without the player ever knowing about it.
If the provably fair system is implemented correctly, then this is not true. A player would be able to detect that the house has discarded the hash, and would immediately know they are being cheated.
Yes, it's up to the house to provide accurate pay-table. Nothing prevents the house from providing an inaccurate one. And that's the big problem and I am sure that's the point that Bitcoplay is trying to say.
If the house is lying about their pay table, then the player would know something was wrong as soon as they won something and didn't get paid the correct amount. This deception wouldn't last long.