Industry News

The RNG scaling problem

Published

1 month ago

March 18, 2024

George Miller

Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Lorenzo Nardini, Head of Technical Compliance and Maths Services, at ComplianceOne Group

When I was a child, I lived in Italy and I used to play some card games with my friends. There is a huge variety of Italian traditional card games: Briscola, Scopa, TreSette are only a few of them. All these games are played with an Italian deck of cards, which consists of 40 cards divided into four suits, each containing ten cards ranked from one to ten. (If you are not familiar with these cards, I suggest searching them online as their artwork is beautiful and it varies across the different regions of that country). Most of the games I played required an equal distribution of cards among the players. This was easily done when playing in two or four as each player would get respectively twenty or ten cards each. However, when we played in a group of three, a problem naturally arose: how could we equally split the deck since 40 is not a multiple of 3? Fortunately, this was not a difficult problem and for most games it was perfectly acceptable to simply remove (reject) one card from the deck and then to assign the remaining ones in 3 groups of 13.

Later in life, I discovered that this seemingly childish problem was a recurring issue for gaming companies seeking certification for their Random Number Generators. In the gaming industry, the generation of random numbers is a core element that enables gaming platforms to produce unpredictable events. In this regard, RNGs are the engine that games use to decide, for instance, the final position of the symbols in a slot machine, the cards that will be dealt in a Poker or Blackjack hand, or when the plane will crash in the recently popular Crash games.

Each Random Number Generator is unique in terms of its components and the applications for which it is designed to generate random events. You can have a software RNG that is based on famous (in this community) algorithms such as the Mersenne Twister, you can have cryptographically strong solutions that take entropy from random events. I even once read a short paper about a “banana” RNG based on the natural decay of potassium atoms inside that fruit.

Regardless of the basis of your RNG solution, it will most likely generate unscaled random numbers. The most typical format is probably the 32bit which means the RNG returns a number between 0 and 2³²-1 (that is 4,294,967,295). This range is typically too large to be directly employed to generate game events: most card games require numbers between 1 and 52 as that is the standard deck size, numbers for slot machine outcomes typically range in the hundreds or thousands, and if you simply need to decide where the ball will land in a virtual single zero roulette, you simply need to request a number between 0 and 36.

How to then use the 32bit number to create outcomes for all these games? Assigning a number from the “large” range to one in the “small” range is called “scaling”. There are several methods to perform this operation and, in order to comply with jurisdictional standards, most countries require that the scaling method is performed in such a way to not introduce any bias, that means that all mapped numbers (also known as final outcomes) have the same probability to occur.

This is, in fact, the same problem that I was facing as a child when trying to equally split the deck of cards. And in the same way, this is easily solved when the large number (2³² in our case) is a multiple of the target range, though this is seldom the case. This is exactly where I have seen multiple suppliers of RNG solutions failing their testing: ignoring that the target range not always divides the unscaled one results in having final outcomes that are not equally likely. Effectively, this means that when playing a roulette game, it is more likely that the ball lands on 0 rather than on 36.

However, the same solution I used as a child when playing cards in a group of three can be applied here: simply discard/reject some values until we are left with a multiple of our target range. For instance, if you need your RNG to generate numbers for a slot game in the target range 100 because such is your reel length, you first get an unscaled number in the 32bit format (that, remind, is 0 – 4,294,967,295) and then you discard it in the unlikely event that this is at least 4,294,967,200. All remaining numbers are then equally mapped to the target range by taking the remainder of their division by 100 – which simply means you take its last two digits.

To many, this might seem like a trivial problem. Yet, I was surprised by how frequently I encountered this exact issue when testing RNG solutions. The issue had to be reported to the supplier, failing their testing, that meant that they eventually had to rewrite some portion of their code, make a new submission and, all in all, spending extra budget and time for something that can be easily avoided.

While the RNG scaling problem may seem simple, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are far more complex issues in the world of RNGs that require expert guidance. Understanding these problems is the first step towards improvement. If you’re looking for someone who can not only assist you in navigating these challenges but also help you understand them in a clear and accessible way, I’m here to help. Let’s work together to enhance your RNG solution and make your gaming platform stand out.

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Industry News

SKS365 keeps investing in people: GROW People Management Program took the next level

Published

3 days ago

April 24, 2024

Peter Tolan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

11 experienced people managers from the SKS365 group’s 4 locations gathered last week in Belgrade for the new GROW People Management Program. From 15 th to 19 th of April, through trainings, discussions, and social connections, people had the opportunity to further grow individually and as a team, while enjoying Belgrade’s city center and rivers.

Created in 2023 with the purpose of building foundation people management skills across the organization, GROW initiative evolved this year by including a new, advanced program for experienced people managers to further consolidate their skills and prepare for future opportunities.

Building and fostering connections, sharing experiences, and enjoying team building experiences – all these activities have been part of the GROWpmp agenda for the 11 people managers coming from Commercial, Product and Development, Finance, and Sportsbook departments of the group’s 4 locations – Malta, Italy, Austria, Serbia.

GROWpmp included a variety of topics that people managers in SKS365 recognized as the key areas for management development. Topics such as influence through communication, team effectiveness, DEI, through to presentation skills and business topics like understanding finance and management reporting, were delivered with the support of external professionals and internal experts, while designed and organized by the SKS365 People & Culture team.

Industry News

Kindred’s Share of Revenue from High-risk Players Shows Slight Increase

Published

3 days ago

April 24, 2024

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Kindred Group plc’s (Kindred) share of revenue from high-risk players showed a slight increase to 3.2% (Q4 2023 3.1%) in the first quarter of 2024. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, the high-risk revenue share decreased marginally. The percentage of detected customers who exhibited improved behaviour after interventions came in at 87.1% (compared to 87.4% in Q4 2023 and 83.0% in Q1 2023). This sustained trajectory in the improvement effect after interventions, observed over an extended period, serves as a testament to the strong dedication and collective efforts throughout the company. It reflects Kindred’s ongoing commitment to fostering positive change within the industry.

“We continue to see our share of revenue from high-risk players fluctuate quarter to quarter, and we are working closely with all teams across the company to support customers towards a more sustainable gambling experience. However, it is encouraging to see that our Journey towards Zero data has steadily decreased since 2020. A similar trend can be seen across the healthier gambling behaviour effect after interventions. This tells us two things: our work is paying off, but we need to continue to push ourselves to propel a sustainable progression,” Alexander Westrell, Director of Communications at Kindred Group, said.

“It was very encouraging to witness the open and transparent discussions at the Sustainable Gambling Conference in London on 20 March, where those with lived experience shared their important stories. Also, it is evident that technology is moving forward, and will provide greater opportunities to detect and intervene in the future. We hope to see more regulators engage with the industry and with experts to secure a more sustainable industry for everyone,” Alexander Westrell added.

Industry News

PENN Entertainment Names Aaron LaBerge as Chief Technology Officer

Published

3 days ago

April 24, 2024

Niji Narayan

Reading Time: 2 minutes

PENN Entertainment announced that Aaron LaBerge has been named Chief Technology Officer (CTO) effective July 1, 2024, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Mr. LaBerge will report directly to PENN CEO & President Jay Snowden.

In his new role, Mr. LaBerge will be responsible for driving the technology strategy and execution for PENN, while leading the multinational team of technologists and serving as the key business leader for the company’s Interactive division.

Mr. LaBerge spent more than 20 years at The Walt Disney Company, in two stints separated by five and a half years as a technology entrepreneur. He was most recently President & Chief Technology Officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN where he was responsible for driving all technology and product development in support of The Walt Disney Company’s two media divisions. In that role, he helped set the vision and strategic leadership for how Disney uses technology to enable storytelling and innovation, drive its business, and create unparalleled consumer experiences with entertainment and sports content.

“We are thrilled to have someone of Aaron’s caliber join our PENN executive team. Having overseen a global organization of thousands of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, and data scientists that created some of the largest scale and most successful media properties in the world, there is no better candidate to lead our Technology and Interactive division into its future. I know Aaron is looking forward to working with Todd George, our head of operations, and our entire Executive Team to continue growing our position as a leader in online gaming, sports betting, and digital sports media,” Mr. Snowden said.

“I’m excited to join another talented team at PENN Interactive and lead our technology strategy. PENN Entertainment is at the forefront of the fast-changing gaming and sports media industry. I plan to use my experience from Disney and ESPN to help make ESPN BET an essential piece of the sports fan experience. Together, we’ll push the limits and redefine how fans interact with sports and gaming,” Mr. LaBerge said.

Prior to his most recent role at the Walt Disney Company, Mr. LaBerge was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at ESPN from 2015 to 2018. At ESPN he played an instrumental role in the growth of ESPN’s consumer-facing digital media products and services – leading many of ESPN’s most ambitious and challenging projects and helping establish ESPN’s position as the leader in digital sports and innovative sports technology development. He was a key architect in the design, development, and engineering of ESPN’s state-of-the-art facilities in Bristol, CT; Los Angeles, CA; Charlotte, NC; and Austin, TX, as well as data centers and infrastructure that connect those facilities around the world, as well as the technology design and development to support the launch of the multi-platform SEC Network.

Between 2007 and 2012, LaBerge was co-founder and CEO of Fanzter, Inc. – a venture-funded consumer software and digital product development company. At Fanzter, he directed all day-to-day operations and led the development and launch of a variety of consumer-focused internet and mobile products, ground-breaking social and commerce technologies and more.