Polker: Online Betting and the Importance of True Provable Fairness

Polker is an online poker game that utilizes blockchain to provide provable fairness for its players. Built on the Substrate Chain on Polkadot, Polker allows players to choose from a number of different cryptocurrencies to play with. NFTs, VFX and 3D animation are used to give players a unique and immersive gameplay experience.

Korea IT Times talked to CEO of Polker, Min Yi about online betting and how blockchain can change it.

Q: Why do you think online gambling has seen such growth over the past few years? What problems do you associate with centralized online betting sites?

Transparency. The fact that centralized online betting sites do their routines behind close doors with very little transparency of their operations. They could 'technically' be altering game mechanics in their favor. That's why our platform makes more sense. All of the operations and randomness is recorded on the blockchain and is accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Q: What can blockchain do that addresses these problems?

The blockchain provides the transparency needed to operate in a very trusting manner. The fact that our operations are recorded indefinitely on the blockchain allows users the ability to audit the gameplay from start to finish from any game since the launch of our application.

Q: What is it about Polker that makes it so trustworthy?

We use the blockchain for our provably fair system and to generate our random numbers. From day one we record the gameplay to the blockchain for users to look up at any time to prove that we haven't manipulated anything. The random numbers generated use the inherent random nature of the hashes on the blockchain, along with our user's and our own submissions to the chain, to create truly random numbers.

Q: 3D animation and VFX play a huge part in the Polker gameplay experience. What makes these features so attractive to today’s player?

We use state of the art 3D graphics with Unreal Engine 4, the leading game engine today. The VFX, 3D animation, and stunning environments the game engine allow us to do, all lead to a very immersive experience.

Q: A revelation of this crypto cycle has been the rise of the NFT. How will NFTs be utilized in the Polker experience?

We plan on using NFT collectables as rewards and for the user to purchase, show off, trade, or sell. I think they will be great collectible items that every user on the platform will strive to get.

Q. Could you please tell us about the True Random Number Generator that Polker utilizes?

It all starts when the player creates their own personal 'seed'. We take that seed and combine it with our own on the platform side. Combined together we send this off to the blockchain which gets added to the transactions on a block. All those transactions will generate a unique hash which is almost impossible to guess. We use that hash as our basis to create our true random numbers.

Q: Polker allows players to bet in many different cryptos. Why do you think this was important to implement?

Because we believe the player should be able to play with whatever crypto they want when they want. We are trying to bridge the gap on these limitations. Imagine you sit down with your friends and start playing a game. In person you could throw whatever is valuable into the pot. Well we want to do the same, only with any crypto you wish…

Q: Does Polker plan to ever expand beyond poker into other games? What is the roadmap for the launch of Polker?

We are going to be releasing a closed beta at the end of the month to a handful of people. From there we will release a demo version shortly afterwards which will have a lot more features available. We hope to see the full launch in early July.