At Smartplay International, we design and manufacture lottery equipment and custom gaming devices for operators around the world. Our traditional lottery machines are considered inherently random because the turbulence and air mixing within their chambers ensure unbiased outcomes. When these machines are submitted to a certification body, they are relatively straightforward to validate, since their physics produce statistically fair results that align with widely recognized randomness standards.
But in today’s rapidly evolving gaming environment, especially with the growth of live game studios, many clients are no longer relying solely on traditional lottery draws. Instead, they are creating unique physical games designed to entertain, engage, and attract new players. These include plinko-style boards, oversized prize wheels, toss boards, and hybrid products that combine physical movement with digital scoring. These types of games fall into the broader category of live games—experiences often streamed to players in real time or offered in casino environments where novelty and entertainment are key.
The challenge for operators and developers is clear. How can you prove that these new games are fair, unbiased, and certifiable? This is where the process of randomness certification—and increasingly, live game certification—comes into play.
Why Randomness Certification Matters in Live Games
Randomness certification ensures three essential outcomes: compliance, fairness, and credibility.
For regulators, it confirms that the game outcomes are unpredictable and independent, meeting the same high standards required of any wagering product. For players, certification builds trust, assuring them that outcomes are not manipulated or rigged. For operators and studios, certification opens the door to regulated markets and makes their products more attractive to both players and business partners.
In the context of live games, certification is even more critical. These products are often broadcast in real time, where audiences can watch the action unfold. If a player suspects bias in a wheel spin or in how balls fall through a plinko board, trust is immediately eroded. Certification by an independent lab such as GLI or BMM Testlabs provides the credibility needed to assure players and regulators that the game operates fairly.
What Certification Bodies Look For
Independent auditing labs evaluate games based on three main principles.
- Unpredictability: Players should not be able to predict or influence outcomes beyond what is inherent to the design.
- Uniform distribution: Each outcome should occur with the probability expected from the rules or physics of the game.
- Independence: Each play must be independent from the last, with no carryover effects that influence subsequent results.
For a traditional lottery machine, these criteria are straightforward. For custom and live games, especially those that involve host input such as spinning the wheel or tossing an object — or inherent physical bias, certification requires deeper analysis.
The Certification Challenge of Physical Games
Take plinko as an example. When a ball drops from the top of a plinko board, it bounces down through pins until it lands in one of several scoring pockets at the bottom. To the casual player, this seems random. But in practice, the geometry of the board creates a distribution where most balls land in the center pockets. The outside pockets are less likely to be hit, not because of bias in the equipment, but because of physics.
Certification bodies know this. In fact, part of their testing involves confirming that the actual distribution of ball drops matches the expected theoretical distribution for plinko. If a million simulated drops cluster in the center in a bell-shaped curve, that is expected. Certification at this stage is not about making every pocket equally likely but about ensuring the observed results match what is mathematically known about the design.
However, when outcomes are tied to prizes or wagering, this distribution becomes a problem. If outside pockets pay higher rewards but are significantly less likely to be hit, regulators may require adjustments. One solution is to introduce a certified electronic RNG (random number generator) that overlays the physical play.
Adding RNG Elements for Certification
An RNG allows developers to separate the visual entertainment of the physical game from the fairness of the scoring. For example, in a plinko board:
- The physical ball drop determines the path.
- The scoring pocket values at the bottom are randomized electronically by the RNG before each play.
This means that even though the ball lands more often in the middle, every pocket has an equal chance of awarding the top prize, because the scoring assignment is driven by a certified RNG.
Similarly, in a prize wheel game, while the spin provides a physical outcome, the payout or multiplier associated with each wedge might be randomized electronically. This hybrid approach ensures fairness without sacrificing entertainment value.
Certification bodies will test the RNG separately, subjecting it to statistical analysis to confirm unpredictability and uniformity. They will also test how the RNG integrates with the physical component to ensure that outcomes remain independent and unbiased.
What Randomness Certification Looks Like for Live Games
When certifying a live game, auditing companies evaluate the entire system, not just one component.
- Physical testing: They simulate thousands of plays, measuring the distribution of outcomes on the physical device (plinko, wheel, or board). Results are compared to the theoretical expectations of that game design. For plinko, this means confirming the bell-curve distribution. For a wheel, it means checking that each wedge is landed on at the rate expected by its size in relation to the entire wheel.
- Electronic RNG testing: The RNG is subjected to rigorous statistical analysis, often including tests from the NIST suite, to validate randomness. Labs check for unpredictability, uniform distribution, and absence of patterns.
- System integration testing: The auditors then confirm that the physical and electronic components interact properly. In plinko for example, this means ensuring that the bottom pocket values are truly randomized at the start of play and are independent of the ball’s physical drop. In a wheel game, it means confirming that RNG-driven bonuses or multipliers are not correlated with spin outcomes.
- Hardware and software review: Certification also requires a full audit of the equipment and code. Auditors may examine the release mechanism, check the source code of the RNG, confirm that logs are kept of each play, and ensure the device is tamper-proof post-certification.
This holistic review is what defines live game certification. It is not enough to test a wheel or an RNG in isolation; the game must be certified as a system, accounting for the physical movement, the electronic randomness, and the player experience.
How Live Game Studios Can Prepare
For live game studios, the key to success is to plan for certification during the design phase. Here are some guidelines on preparing for certification:
- Define randomness early. Decide whether randomness will be purely physical, electronic, or hybrid.
- Prototype and test. Drop thousands of balls, spin the wheel hundreds of times, or simulate plays digitally to detect bias before a certification lab does.
- Integrate certified RNGs. Use RNGs to level out prize distributions or scoring opportunities where physical physics alone cannot provide fairness.
- Standardize player input. Consider automated release mechanisms or dampeners to reduce the influence of skill in games that are supposed to be chance-based.
- Engage with certification labs. Many labs will review your design before full certification, helping you identify risks early.
Studios that design with certification in mind avoid costly redesigns later and can move faster to market with compliant, fair, and exciting games.
The Growing Importance of Live Game Certification
As live games continue to grow in popularity, particularly in online casinos and streaming environments, regulators are paying more attention to fairness standards. These games combine the visual appeal of physical play with the reliability of electronic systems, making them some of the most innovative products in gaming today.
However, the more unique the game, the more important certification becomes. Players watching a live broadcast will immediately question outcomes that feel repetitive or biased. Operators cannot afford reputational damage, and regulators will not allow uncertified products into their markets. Live game certification provides the assurance needed to protect players, operators, and the integrity of the industry.
Certifying Innovation for iGaming
The future of iGaming lies not only in traditional slots, table games and lottery draws but in the creativity of live games—plinko boards, prize wheels, hybrid toss games, and other physical experiences enhanced with electronic RNGs. For these products to succeed, they must pass the rigorous standards of randomness certification.
Certification bodies evaluate the physical device, the electronic RNG, and the overall integration of the system to confirm outcomes are unpredictable, uniformly distributed, and independent. For studios and operators, the path to success is to design with certification in mind from the beginning, incorporating balance, fairness, and compliance into every stage of development.
At Smartplay, we work with operators and live game studios to help bring new concepts to market quickly while ensuring they meet regulatory requirements. By blending innovation with proven certification strategies, you can deliver games that are not only fun and engaging but also trusted, compliant, and ready for the global stage.
