QUANTA Betting on the
Konstantinos Farris, CTO at Quanta, discusses the key benefits of the blockchain and what it means for operators, suppliers and affiliates.
L
ast month’s ICE Totally Gaming made one thing very clear about the direction in which the global online gambling industry is heading. Blockchain technology, a “hot topic” for several years now, has knocked
down the door and is fast becoming the platform of choice for operators, suppliers and affiliates looking to futureproof their products, services and businesses.
Champions of the blockchain have long been
talking the talk, but last month’s exhibition proved they are now walking the walk. It was great to see FunFair – the brainchild of former PKR founder Jez San – showcasing its technologies and talking to delegates about the power of the blockchain, while we launched our Isle of Man licenced blockchain lottery platform in front of a packed crowd. But while early adopters such as FunFair and
Quanta are now deploying proprietary blockchain platforms and products in a meaningful way, there remains a group of sceptics unsure of how it works, the upsides it offers, and why it will be the foundation of all online gambling platforms and products in the future. It is clear, then, that more needs to be done to educate the wider industry. With that in mind, it’s worth discussing some of the benefits the blockchain offers when compared to more traditional technologies and platforms. From security to speed via scale and scope, blockchain is better in almost every way, allowing operators, suppliers and affiliates to streamline their businesses and, crucially, offer their customers a significantly superior experience.
Security
The blockchain is more secure than traditional platforms. Centralized applications are vulnerable to attacks like DDoS, but these attacks don’t work on a decentralized platform. Also, because there is no single point of failure, online gambling sites powered by the blockchain never suffer outages or downtime. This, in turn, means all the necessary player protection tools are always available and 100% effective. In addition, blockchain technology provides
60 MARCH 2018
increased data protection as transactions can’t be altered by a third party. It also helps when it comes to holding player funds; there is a clear record of the deposits and withdrawals made, making it almost impossible for operators to use player funds to finance the running of their businesses, which has happened in the past.
Fairness
The blockchain guarantees the fairness of game outcomes. At present, licenced online gambling operators are required to have their random number generators (RNGs) tested and approved by independent third-party auditors, but players still lack trust in the outcome of games. Blockchain RNGs are “provably fair”, which means both the operator and the player contribute to the random number generated. Each provides a “seed”, which is combined to
generate the random number that decides the outcome of the game. Once the game has been settled, the player can reveal the operator’s seed, and tally it back with their seed and the random number generated. In short, it allows them to confirm that the game outcome was completely random and, as a result, fair. Quanta has taken this to the next level with its
RANDAO RNG. This is a type of decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that makes use of community participation to generate random numbers and is governed by a smart contract that outlines participation rules. This makes the RNG even more impervious to manipulation and other security concerns than standard RNGs by implementing the following: • KYC verification as a condition of RANDAO participation.
• Token pledge as an additional condition of RANDAO participation.
• A two-sided structure to eliminate the chance that some external group can collaborate to drive a particular number through the RANDAO.
Transparency The blockchain ledger is public and open, which
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74
