How casino software is created
Online casino software is not one "game," but an ecosystem: game engines and mathematics, cryptographic RNG, payment and bonus logic, anti-fraud, KYC/AML, storefronts, mobile clients, telemetry, DevOps pipeline and regulatory requirements. Below is how it is built in practice.
1) Product architecture: what the platform consists of
Gaming clients: slots, roulette, cards, crash games, live video. Web (WebGL/Canvas), iOS/Android (Unity/Native), desktop (Electron).
Game Server (RGS): sessions, rules, bets/payouts, RNG calls, outcome log.
Platform (PAM/CMS): player accounting, wallets, bonuses, missions, RG limits, segmentation, content.
Payments: integration with PSP/crypto wallets, KYC/AML, fraud signals.
Antifraud and risk: models for identifying "mules," collusions, bonus hunting, multi-accounts.
Analytics and marketing: event buses, DWH/BI, A/B platform, trigger campaigns.
Admin panel: managing content, limits, shares, storefronts, payment limits.
Observability: logs, metrics, alerts, replays of rounds, incident rate.
2) Life cycle: from idea to release
1. Discovery: market goals, jurisdictions, payment corridors, RG requirements.
2. GDD/TK: document with mechanics, RTP range, volatility, features, UX flows.
3. Model: design of payment tables, event probabilities, balancing.
4. Prototyping: fast client + server echo endpoints, first simulations.
5. Production development: sprints, code review, safe integrations.
6. QA and certification: auto tests, load tests, RNG/statistics, preparation of laboratory package.
7. Staging/canary: limited traffic, monitoring metrics and errors.
8. Global release: rollout by region, A/B feature flags, post-marketing.
9. Support: balance patches, content events, SDK updates, incident response.
3) Maths and RNG: Heart of Fair Play
Model of the game: target RTP (for example, 96% ± tolerance), volatility (low/medium/high), frequency of bonuses, distribution of winnings.
Simulations: billions of rounds to test RTP/variance; construction of quantiles, hit-rate, duration of "dry" series.
RNG: cryptographic PRNG (e.g. on AES/ChaCha stream). Sowing from systemic entropy, regular reposting, separation of streams by games.
Integration: RNG → mapping in the outcome space (symbol weights, event odds) → payout calculation.
Logs of honesty: sides, nonce, hash control of build and payment tables; round replay capability.
4) Client side: speed, compatibility, convenience
Graphics and animations: WebGL/Canvas, 60 FPS, sprite optimization, butching.
UX: Available bet sizes, quick tips, spin history, readable rules
Accessibility and localization: fonts, RTL languages, currency/formats, hints and voice acting.
Mobility: fast start (<3 seconds), retention in the background, saving traffic.
Client protection: anti-tamper, resource signatures, secure channels (TLS pinning).
5) Back-end and platform
Microservices: RGS, wallet, bonuses, KYC/AML, directories, notifications, reporting.
Money consistency: idempotent transactions, two-phase confirmations, protection against "double write-offs."
Event bus: Kafka/PubSub for telemetry, bonus triggers and fraud signals.
Repositories: Postgres for transactions, Redis for sessions/cache, object storage for media and logs.
Scaling: auto-scaling by QPS/CPU, geo-replication, near-real-time caching.
6) Payments, KYC/AML and fraud
PSP/Crypto: cards, e-wallets, bank transfers, on-ramp/off-ramp.
KYC: identity/address/age verification; POP/sanctions lists.
AML: anomaly monitoring, turnover limits, source of funds, SAR reports.
Antifraud: rules (velocity, device fingerprint, proxy/VPN), behavioral models, graph signals of multi-accounts.
Risks: phishing, chargebacks, promotional abuse - countermeasures and blacklists of devices.
7) Responsible play (RG) by default
Instruments: limits of deposits/rates/time, self-exclusion, "cooling."
Signals: increasing frequency of sessions, "chasing" a loss, night peaks - soft warnings.
Transparency: history of operations, time counters, visible status of limits.
8) Certification and compliance
Laboratories: RNG statistics (NIST/Dieharder), RTP compliance with the declared ranges, correctness of outcome mapping.
Version control: hash-freezing artifacts, building signatures, sending via whitelist.
Jurisdictions: KYC/AML differences, bonus limits, T&C content, rate limits, age barriers.
Documents: model, simulation reports, RG guides, incident procedures, data retention policy.
9) Testing: Quality and Scale
Unit/integration: payment rules, wallet, bet anomalies.
Statistical: comparison of simulations with a benchmark (RTP/volatility).
Load: QPS peaks, jackpot promotion, degradation in case of failures.
Security: API pen tests, dependency analysis, secret scan.
Live monitoring: canary for 1-5% of traffic, SLO for latency/errors, auto-rollback for alerts.
10) DevOps and operation
CI/CD: assembly, tests, static analysis, signature, dev/stage/prod, feature flags.
Observability: metrics (APM), logs (centralization, masking of personal data), request tracing.
Backup and DR: backups, recovery plan, cold regions.
Incident management: on-call, runbook 'and, post-mortems and preventive tasks.
11) Live Casino: Special Engineering
Video Streaming: Low Latency (HLS/DASH/LL-CMAF), Adaptive Bitrates, Bet and Outcome Synchronization.
Physical accident: real decks/wheels + cameras/sensors; the server captures events, the client displays them.
Table scaling: sharding players, chat moderation, protection against spam and collusions.
12) Provably Fair for crypto games
Combined sides: server_seed (hashed in advance), client_seed from the player, nonce in rounds.
Check: after the session, the server opens the sid; anyone can replicate the outcomes and ensure honesty.
Limitations: RNG transparency does not replace audit of model and operational processes.
13) Analytics, A/B and content economics
Telemetry: bets, deduction, time to bonus, feature frequency.
Economy: jackpot management, seasonal events, in-game items store (for social products).
A/B tests: bonus frequencies, tutorials, different UX variants, impact on LTV/responsible play.
Anti-manipulation: protection against "retraining" players for patterns, compliance with RTP tolerances.
14) Roles and team
Game math designer/analyst: RTP/volatility, simulations.
Game/Client dev: render, animations, optimization.
Server/RGS dev: round logic, transaction consistency, scale.
Platform/Payments/KYC engineers: integrations, fraud signals.
QA/TA: auto tests, load, lab packs.
Sec/Compliance: secure development, compliance, audits.
DevOps/SRE: CI/CD, observability, fault tolerance.
Producer/PM/UX: value hypothesis, timing, quality of experience.
15) Security "by default"
SDL (secure development lifecycle): threat-modeling, secret-management, least privilege.
Client: asset protection, anti-manipulation, integrity check.
Server: limited perimeters, WAF/bot protection, rate-limit, network segmentation.
Data: disk and channel encryption, key rotation, PII minimization.
Audit: unchangeable logs, anomaly alerts, regular external checks.
16) Content plan and updates
Release footage: monthly new themes/mechanics, rebalance seasonal features.
Compatibility: retention without "breaking" updates, migration of database schemes without downtime.
Jurisdictions: different RTP pools/restrictions, local age requirements, back office with regional settings.
Creating software for casinos is engineering at the intersection of mathematics, security and user experience. A successful product combines an honest model and a crypto-resistant RNG, a convenient client, a reliable payment and anti-fraud system, a strong DevOps and strict certification. This approach allows you to release games quickly, scalably and within the requirements of a responsible, transparent and safe ecosystem.