The problem with trusting a lottery
In a traditional lottery you cannot see how the numbers are produced. You rely on regulators and auditors. In an online lottery, a dishonest operator could in principle pick numbers that favour themselves and nobody outside would know.
How a CryptoDrawz draw is made
Before the draw, the list of tickets is closed and summarised into a fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash). The random value comes from drand, a public randomness beacon run by a group of independent organisations. It is published at the draw time, so nobody, including us, can know it in advance.
The winners are a fixed calculation on those two things. After the draw we publish the ticket list, the fingerprint, the random value and the winners on the Draws page. A button there repeats the calculation in your own browser.
What you can check as a player
Verifiable randomness covers the draw itself. It is worth being clear about what that does and does not tell you.
- It shows the winners follow from public data and were not hand-picked by the operator.
- It does not change your odds: winning is still a matter of chance.
- It does not replace checking that online lotteries are legal where you live.
- It does not cover paying the prizes: that still relies on us, which is why every result is public.
Fair is not the same as risk-free
A fair lottery still has a negative expected value for players, because part of every pool is not paid out as prizes. Treat tickets as entertainment, set a budget, and read the responsible gaming page if you want limits.
Frequently asked questions
What does provably fair mean?
It means the random numbers come with a proof that anyone can verify, so a player does not have to trust the operator’s claim that the draw was fair.
What is drand?
drand is a public randomness beacon run by a group of independent organisations. It publishes a fresh random value every few seconds that nobody can predict or change, and anyone can look it up.
Does provably fair improve my chances of winning?
No. It shows the draw was not manipulated; your odds are the same. Winning is a matter of chance.