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How backend works on gaming platforms
The gaming platform is an "orchestra" of dozens of services: from authorization and wallet to integrations with game servers (RGS), anti-fraud, marketing and reporting. The task of the backend is to ensure honesty, speed, scaling and compliance with regulation with a convenient experience for the player and operator. Below is a practical map of components, flows and solutions.
1) Reference architecture
Channel layer
API Gateway/Edge: TLS/MTLS, WAF, rate limits, idempotency, API version, canary routes.
BFF (Backend for Frontend): REST/GraphQL for web/mobile/partners, data aggregation, response cache.
Domain services
Identity & Access: registration, SSO/OAuth, MFA, sessions/tokens, device management.
Profile & KYC/AML: questionnaires, documents, sanctions lists/POP, addresses, age/geo-gates.
Wallet & Payments: multicurrency/denominations, lock→settle, PSP/banks, returns/chargebacks.
Catalog & Entitlements: list of games, feature flags by jurisdiction, licenses/accesses.
Game Session Broker: start/end sessions, proxy to RGS/providers, request signatures.
Promo/CRM: bonuses, freebies/freespins, missions, segmentation, promotional budget limits.
Tournaments/Leaderboards: Ratings, Anti-Stathpadding, Prize Pools.
RG (Responsible Gaming): time/deposit/loss limits, reality checks, pauses/self-exclusion.
Risk & Fraud: behavioral scoring, multi-account graph, devices/payments/arbitration, case management.
Content & CMS: banners, pages, localization, A/B options.
Notifications: e-mail/SMS/push/WebSocket, frequency caps, "quiet hours."
Reporting & Compliance: uploads to regulators, gaming/financial reports, audit trails.
Platform
Event Bus (Kafka/Pulsar): rate/payment/feature events, CDC, audit trails.
Data Platform: DWH/Lakehouse, streaming ETL, fichestore for ML (risk/recommendation).
Observability: logs/metrics/trails (ELK/OTel/Prometheus), alerts, SLO.
Secrets & Config: KMS/Vault, configs on Wednesdays, phicheflags.
CI/CD: build/test/scan, blue-green/canary, schema migrations, 4-eye release of risk modules.
2) Key data streams
2. 1 Login → session
1. BFF → Identity: authentication, device/geo.
2. KYC/AML: age verification/paperwork, sanctions.
3. RG: applying limits and self-exclusion status.
4. Issuing a token, opening a game lobby (directory by jurisdiction).
2. 2 Bet/Game Round (Slots/Bets)
1. The client → the Gateway API → Game Session Broker.
2. Broker signs the request, calls RGS: 'bet → outcome'.
3. Wallet: 'lock (bet)' → after outcome 'settle (net)' is idempotent.
4. Audit: immutable entry '(req, outcome, walletTxId, mathVersion, hash)'.
5. Telemetry: events in Kafka, mission/tournament updates.
2. 3 Payments and conclusions
PSP adapters (cards, open banking, local methods), SCA/3DS.
Anti-fraud/AML: scoring transactions, sources of funds, holds/manual verification.
Idempotency at the level of PSP orders and collbecks.
3) Accounts, KYC/AML and access
Profile model: master data, documents, addresses, preferences, consents (GDPR).
Versioning and "traces" of changes (who/when/which field).
KYC processes: asynchronous webhooks from providers, retrai/escalation.
Geo/age-gates: stop rules at the gateway and BFF levels (do not show prohibited products).
4) Wallet and cash flows
Balance scheme: cash/bonus/locked/in transit.
Contract bets: 'lock → outcome → settle' with TTL and repeatability to success.
Currencies/denominations: accuracy, rounding, rate/fixation at the time of the transaction.
Anti-corruption/logs: immutable movements, reconciliations, double entry (two-way accounting).
5) RGS Games and Integration Catalog
Layer of adapters to providers, mapping methods/signatures/errors.
Jurisdictional flags: auto-spins, buy-feature, min RTP/speed, age restrictions.
Health-check games, automatic shutdown at SLA Replays of rounds by '(seed, step, mathVersion)' - via RGS. 6) Promo, missions, tournaments Promo wallet: debiting bonus funds with priority, wagering rules, mouthguards. Mission engine: declarative conditions (events → rules → rewards), anti-abuse (duplicates/bot patterns). Tournaments: real-time leadership boards, anti-stathpadding, transparent criteria, prize payments are idempotent. 7) Responsible Gaming (RG) Limits (deposits/rates/time), reality checks at intervals, time-out/self-exclusion. The principle of "RG signal older than promo": any marketing events are ignored for players in pause/self-exclusion. Reporting and intervention log (who/when/basis/outcome). 8) Risk and antifraud Data: devices, behavior, payments, communication graph (phones, cards, IP, addresses). Models: deposit/withdrawal anomalies, multi-accounts, bonus carousel, arbitration of outdated quotes. Reactions: scoring → limits/holds/2FA/manual check; reason-codes and appeal. 9) Data and Analytics Streaming ETL (Kafka → Flink/Spark) + DWH/Lakehouse (BigQuery/Snowflake/Redshift). Fichestor for ML (LTV risk/recommendation/forecast). Data directory, owners, SLA datasets. Privacy by Design: pseudonymization, PII minimization, data subject rights (request/deletion). 10) Observability and SRE Metrics: p95/p99 API, TPS by game, settle error, latency PSP, RTP/frequency deviation, broker load. Logs/Traces: correlation 'requestId '/' roundId', distributed traces via OTel. SLO/alerts: target thresholds (for example, Spin p95 ≤ 120 ms, settle error <0. 01%), "quiet hours" of notifications. Incidents: playbooks, "war room," post-mortems with action items. 11) Scaling and regions Stateless services + horizontal autoscale; sticky-sessions - only for live games/complex bonuses. Multi-AZ at least; Multi-Region: asset-asset for reads/catalog/telemetry, asset-liability for wallet/jackpots. Quotas and backpressure: per-tenant/per-game TPS limits, PSP/RGS connection pools. DR plan: RPO/RTO goals, regular switchover exercises. 12) Safety and compliance Accesses: Zero-Trust, MTLS/JWT, short-lived tokens, RBAC/ABAC, Just-in-Time accesses. Secrets: KMS/Vault, rotation, signed artifacts, supply-chain scanning. Data: encryption "at rest" and in the channel, masking/tokenization, exfiltration monitoring. Audit: WORM logs, merkle chains, change control. Regulatory: reports (GLI/eCOGRA/BMM, local regulators), storage of logs by time, geo-localization of data. 13) Process stack (typical) Kernel: Go/Java/Kotlin/Node. js; REST/gRPC/WebSocket. Repositories: PostgreSQL/MySQL (transactions), Redis/Memcached (cache/idempotency), ClickHouse/Druid (real-time analytics). Queues/bus: Kafka/Pulsar; CDC (Debezium). CDN/Edge: CloudFront/Fastly/Cloudflare for assets/widgets. ML/Fichestor: Feast/Tecton/Vertex/Featureform. 14) CI/CD and quality Pipeline: build → linters/tests → SCA/DAST → e2e in → canary/blue-green environment. Database migrations: Liquibase/Flyway + "two-step" changes (dobav→napolni→pereklyuchi→udali). Contract tests between services, test containers, chaos testing (latency/failures). Feature-flags, fail-closed by default. 15) Mini-streams and pseudo-schemes 16) Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them Resolving the outcome on the client → disputes and failure of certification ⇒ only server-authoritative. No idempotency in rates/payments ⇒ double write-offs ⇒ idempotency keys + retry-safe. '% N' while mapping RNG ⇒ bias ⇒ alias/rejection sampling. Mixing telemetry and audit ⇒ weak evidence base ⇒ separate channels and storage. Lack of RG stops in promo ⇒ regulatory risks ⇒ RG flags older than marketing. Heavy external RPCs in the critical path ⇒ high p95 ⇒ cache/batch/asynchron. Without DR/multi-region ⇒ long downtime ⇒ switchover plan and exercises. 17) Large platform checklist 1. keeps outcomes and money honest and idempotent, 2. integrates with RGS/PSP through robust contracts, 3. scales and survives failures, 4. respects regulatory and Responsible Gaming, 5. provides transparent visibility and fast releases. It is this foundation that allows you to safely grow, quickly launch content and maintain the trust of players and regulators.
Withdrawal:
Client → API Gateway → BFF → Game Broker
↘ idempotencyKey store (Redis)
Broker → Wallet. lock → RGS. spin → Wallet. settle
↘ Audit(WORM) ↘ Telemetry(Kafka)
← Outcome (checksum/signature)
Client → Payments API → Risk/AML → PSP Adapter
↘ Wallet. hold → PSP webhook → Wallet. settle/release
↘ Notifications/CRM → Reporting
Honesty and money
Games and integrations
User and RG
Reliability
Safety
Data
Processes
The backend of a gaming platform is not one "thick" service, but the coordination of many strictly defined modules with their SLOs and controls. Successful architecture: