In the biggest revolution in casino gaming since the introduction of online gambling in the 1990s, LetBet is not only disrupting the current system of centralized gaming operators but also reengineering the blockchain.
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Since John Montagu (Earl of Sandwich) invented the sandwich at a poker table in the 18th century, the same casino games have dominated the global casino market. Game development has become a global digital market, but gamblers still favour the same games, which have undergone little variation. Bill Healey, Business Development Manager for LetBet, explains how LetBet’s next generation blockchain is raising the stakes in game development, while providing a more secure and profitable gaming environment for players.
The Merkle: Like video games, new casino games are a key competitive tool for casino operators. How will the transition of casino gaming to gaming ecosystems run on a lean digital ledger spur game development innovation in an industry largely lacking it?
Bill Healey: The blockchain supports game development innovation by addressing three key weaknesses of centralized game operators: trust, security and incentives.
The lack of innovation comes down to trust. For centuries, poker, craps, slot machines and blackjack have been the most played casino games. Players know these “tried-and-true” games and their rules, whereas new gambling games introduce unknown software code, rules and risks.
The ‘trustless’ blockchain is disrupting the centuries-old status quo by creating trust, in the way of transparent and provably fair global gaming platforms. The coin economy essentially derisks gambling by removing the distrust of third party operators and game developers. We are already seeing throngs of game developers producing new games for a more secure gambling world on the blockchain.
The Merkle: How will third party disintermediation make it safer for players in a market with a high level of fraud, exacerbated by cyber frauds in the online gambling world?
Bill Healey: That brings us to the second advantage, security. Games of chance have always been prone to manipulation. Online gaming controlled by complex computer code makes it even easier to engineer unfair outcomes. Blockchain gaming platforms disintermediate third party operators who manipulate betting outcomes and increase transaction costs.
Specifically, gambling implemented on a smart contract has been designed to deliver a provably fair and transparent gaming process. Escrow for games is secured directly from the players’ smart wallet and winnings immediately distributed to wallets once the game’s algorithm produces the outcome.
Another growing security risk is cyber fraud. Since funds are not held by a centralized third party, hackers cannot abscond with a large amount of money or personal information on thousands of clients.
Game mechanics can also be manipulated. Early on, the blockchain used games of chance to demonstrate how P2P games could be played and winnings distributed without the use of a central operator. In the Satoshi Dice game, for example, the outcome is produced in advance through encrypted code. Once the player ‘rolls’ his own dice, the operator cannot change his encrypted results.
Open source code makes it difficult for an operator to change the algorithm, unannounced, and thus the game outcomes without being seen. Distrust of gambling models is solved by a transparent and open source gaming system. Developers are free to use their own game models.
The Merkle: The operators are no longer sitting in the middle taking 30 percent of the revenues. How does this open, provably fair gaming platform distribute profits?
Bill Healey: The token economy rewards the whole Ecosystem—operators, game developers and players—through a crowdfunding model that shares in the revenues. Crowdfunding provides financial support for game developers while allowing them to retain intellectual property ownership. Rewards are generously handed out, often in the way of game tokens, thereby creating more liquidity and action on the platform.
Notably, LetBet does not charge transaction fees. With the removal of third party operators and their fees, developers and players can take home higher winning payouts.
The Merkle: It is widely reported that a trade off is required in exchange for the security and higher profit potential when gambling on the blockchain.
Bill Healey: One drawback on the blockchain is the slower transaction processing time. On the ethereum blockchain, this fairer, securer gambling experience is executed on the order of seconds. LetBet has solved this problem by introducing its own blockchain. LetBet’s ‘zero-chain’ blockchain platform supports a fully compliant smart contract system with the speed of a legacy centralized gaming system.
The Merkle: And what does this all mean for game development innovation?
Alongside speed, game developers gain many benefits from an open source blockchain platform. New gambling models are already beginning to interconnect to provide an even more enticing gambling experience[a]. The LetBet system also supports non-gambling applications, opening the doors to new gambling products, such as (EXAMPLE[b]). Game developers can further improve their games by using the LetBet Integration model, which provides access to the data and analytics of leading lottos and brokers such as Bet365, William Hill and BetFair.
The Merkle: How does the zero-chain blockchain improve upon the existing blockchain architecture?
Bill Healey: The LetBet zero-chain blockchain design enables rapid transaction processing times, no transaction fees, and a full random number generator.
The Merkle: In a determinist, consensus-based system, how does the blockchain deal with the requirement for random number generation in casino games?
The blockchain does not fully support random number generators. Therefore, developers produced a pseudo random number generator, (RNG), which is still used on gambling platforms on the Ethereum blockchain, which does not fully support RNGs. LetBet has produced the next generation blockchain to run RNG and deliver a fully random and fair game on its own zero-chain blockchain.
The LBT coin pre-sale began on January 20th, and provides a 50 percent discount off the price during the main ICO event, which begins February 25th.