21 Dec

Inside the Testing of Online Gaming Systems

On December 21, 2016 posted by hiddenusername in Baccarat, Bingo, Blackjack, Blog, Keno, Poker, Pokies, Scratch Cards No Comments

One of the most common questions from people who want to try gambling online is this:
How do I know the games are really fair?

It’s a more than reasonable question. For the answer, we’ll turn to the experts at iTech Labs, an Australia online gaming systems testing facility whose job it is to make sure the games are 100% fair.

iTech Labs was founded in 2004 by a group of acutely knowledgeable men with more than 50 years experience combined in the interactive games industry. Their primary goal was to ensure that players, like you and me, are privy to a respectable, reliable and integrity-driven online gaming environment.

How Are Games Tested?

Every real money casino game, bingo game, poker game, scratch card, etc. is developed by a software programming company. These include major brands like Microgaming, Playtech, NetEnt, NYX Gaming, Scientific Games, IGT, the list goes on. Most gambling websites license one or more of these software brands to provide their members with a complete portfolio of games. Other operators may develop their own in-house, proprietary software.

In order to get those games onto the market, developers hire inependent online gaming systems testing laboratories, like iTech Labs, to run arduous evaluations of each and every game. If the game is proven to be fair, the laboratory will approve and certify it. If a game does not pass testing, the software company is notified, and that game is removed from the gaming suite until its developer fixes the issue and resubmits it for testing.

The Australia online gaming systems testing firm’s certification process is no simple matter, and is honesty quite expensive for software companies to initiate. A single blackjack game, for example, will be run through rigorous testing, playing through over a minimum of one million hands to ensure the random shuffling generator – which controls the odds of receiving any single card – matches the same mathematical probabilities of a real-life environment.

For other games like slot machines, keno, bingo and scratch cards, random number generators (RNGs) are programmed into the games – the same RNGs used to control physical slot machines in land-based casinos. An RNG-based game is run through the same extensive testing phase to determine its payout percentage over an extended period of time.

That payout percentage must at least meet industry standards. The majority of online slots far exceed that level, paying anywhere from 92% to 98%; well above the rate of land-based slots.

But How Do You Know The Games Are Fair?

Knowing how online gaming systems are tested, and knowing whether a particular operator’s games have undergone such testing, are two different things. Fortunately, all it takes it a moment of due diligence on the player’s part to determine that.

The ISO/IEC 17025 certified testing laboratory has an impressive list of top-tier clients in the iGaming industry. Each operator and software supplier that contracts it’s services displays the esteemed iTech Labs logo directly on their website, certifying that the software has been extensively audited and approved by the firm.

The Australia online gaming test lab isn’t the only one in existence, though. There are actually many independent agencies out there that perform systems audits to the same laborious degree. For example, Royal Vegas displays the eCOGRA Safe & Fair logo, indicating its software was tested by eCommmerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA).

Below is a list of distinguished testing labs and the logos that represent their astute involvement. Be sure to look for one (or more) of these logos when seeking out an online gambling site to do business with.