Random Number Generator: What It Is and How It Works

If you read up on how the casinos operate, then there is a pretty good chance that you have come across “Random Number Generator”. They are used for many things in casinos and they often tend to be the subject of debate among the casino goers about how they actually work. Nearly all casinos land-based or online like Baazi247 use some form of Random Number Generators.

Also read | Live Casino Vs Random Number Generator: What is the difference?

In this article we will look into what exactly these are and how do they affect our gambling. Also, can you rig them?

What is Random Number Generator?

The easiest definition of RNGs would be “any physical device or computer program that produces a set of numbers which are not in any sequence i.e., do not follow a pattern.”

That means the generator produces a number or a set of numbers that are made as random as possible.

The addition of the randomness factor in gambling is not new. It has been done from ancient times. Things like shuffling of the card, tossing of coins. This is to create a sense of unpredictability and put everything up in the hands of lady luck.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? Who would actually sit to play say Teen-Patti if they knew user X is going to get a predefined set of cards? The very essence of gambling is to wager money on something that you don’t know will happen a hundred percent, but there is definitely a chance of it happening. Take out the unknown, it’s not gambling anymore.

How do they work?

Okay if you want to get into the nerdy stuff, let’s do it. There are two types of RNGs that are in use. First off, Pseudo RNG.

Pseudo RNG: Pseudo RNG is the RNG produced by a computer program or any program following a specific algorithm. This works with a seed number and a set of specific operations that we do on this number.

Let’s consider one random seed number, 443. The first step is to double it. It’s 886. Now let’s divide it by 128 and take the remainder. The remainder is 118. Since we take a remainder every time, the remainder is between 0 and 128. There you have it, the first number is 118.

There is not any specificity to what operations we can do to produce numbers.

This was only a small example of Pseudo RNG. There are other lot complex methods of producing such random numbers like Mersenne Twister, Middle square among others.

The second type of RNG is the True RNG.

True RNG: The true RNG doesn’t need the seed number. It is slightly better than pseudo-RNG because it can be compromised if one can find the seed number out.

It wouldn’t be easy though, as you remember, seed numbers are not the actual numbers, you need to find out what operations are being done to the seed number.

In Ture RNG, it is done by hardware. The real randomness the indeterministic. That means we don’t know where the number would go from position A. Machines, however, are deterministic. We know what the machine does if it is in a certain state.

So Real RNG is better than Pseudo RNG, but not really random. They are random enough in a way our brains cannot comprehend, but they are not random in the real sense of the word.

Furthermore, the RNG system is used in almost all of the casinos to ensure fair gameplay and random outcomes.

How does it work on Casinos?

Okay, after all that talk, let’s see how we interact with random number generators in the slot machine.

A generator, which is hardware, is generating numbers even when it is not in use. That is, no one is playing slots at the moment, the machine is ON, it is generating numbers.

When you go ahead, put your coins in, and hit spin, the machine gives out the next three numbers it produces. By a set of operations, similar to what we discussed above, these numbers direct to specific symbols on the reel of the slot machine.

Hence you get the symbol that your number corresponds to.

The randomness here is the moment you hit the spin button. That’s random, as the machine is producing the numbers constantly.

Here are five popular Indian casino games that follow the RNG (Random Number Generator) system:

Andar Bahar

  • Traditional Indian card game.
  • Players bet on “Andar” (left) or “Bahar” (right).
  • RNG system in Andar Bahar ensures fairness of card distribution.

Teen Patti

  • Popular Indian card game similar to poker.
  • Players compete with three-card hands.
  • RNG in Teen Patti ensures random and unpredictable card dealing.

Indian Rummy

  • Variant of the Rummy card game.
  • Players aim to form sets and sequences.
  • RNG ensures random card distribution for fairness.

Slots

  • Widely popular electronic gaming machines.
  • Random number generator determines spin outcomes.
  • RNG ensures completely random results.

Roulette

  • Classic casino game.
  • Players bet on spinning wheel outcome.
  • Roulette RNG system identify winning number or color.

Dragon Tiger

  • Dragon Tiger is an RNG-based game.
  • It is a popular card game where players bet on the Dragon or Tiger side having the higher card.
  • The outcome is decided by a Dragon Tiger random number generator (RNG).
  • The use of Dragon vs Tiger RNG ensures that there’s a fair card distrubution.

Can I rig it?

Well, theoretically yes. You can rig it. But it’s definitely not easy, to say the least. You’d need a powerful enough computer to process all the data and you need to have all the data. Who is going to give you that? Casinos? I think not.

As we have talked about before. It is only theoretically less random. But in practice, it works great. For analogy consider the question can you count every grass blade in a football field down to a single-digit and be correct?

Theoretically yes, it is possible. But how sure will we be of the result? Yes, it is just similar to that. It is doable but there is enough randomness that we cannot fathom or get around to it.

Don’t worry, the licensed online casinos are vetted for their use of Random Number Generators. The licensor vets the casino and sees if they are really employing the randomness to the agency’s satisfaction.

Come on down to Baazi247 where we promise you’d get to gamble the way it was supposed to be, fair. We have plenty of slot games and card games like Baccarat, Dragon Tiger, Andar-Bahar.

Here is another article that you may enjoy: Skill-based Slot Machines- Do they exist?

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