Draw integrity
Draws your customers can verify, not just trust.
A draw result is a claim. Most of the time the customer is asked to accept it on trust: trust the operator, trust the platform, trust whatever sits behind the button.
Beaver publishes the evidence instead. Enough of it that anybody can reproduce the result and check it.
Don't take our word for the draw. Check it yourself.
- Competition
- Example draw
- Entries committed
- 1,000
- Entry commitment
- 9f1c…a7e2
- Randomness source
- Public value, named before the draw
- Winning ticket
- #0417
- Status
- Independently verifiable
Illustration with example values. A real verified draw record will replace it.
Why draw proof matters
Fair should not mean "trust us".
The customer paid for a chance. They are entitled to know that the chance was real: that the list of entries was fixed before the winner was picked, that nobody chose the random number after seeing who would win, and that the winner came from that list and that number.
Reassurance does not answer those questions. Evidence does.
Evidence, not reassurance.
The method
Four steps. Each one checkable.
Commit the entries
The final entry list is frozen and a cryptographic fingerprint of it is published before the draw.
Name the randomness
The public source of randomness is identified before that randomness exists, so nobody can pick it.
Select the winner
The winner is selected from the committed list using that randomness, without avoidable bias.
Publish to verify
The values needed to reproduce the result are published, so anyone can check it.
Try it
Run a draw. Then try to cheat it.
This runs the method in your browser: commit a list of 1,000 entries, reveal randomness, select a winner, verify. Then change one entry after the commitment and watch the check refuse it.
- 1Commit the entries
- 2Reveal the randomness
- 3Select the winner
- 4Check it yourself
Entry list 1,000 entries
Commitment (SHA-256 of the list)
Not committed yet
Randomness
Named before the draw, published after. Nobody knows it yet.
Winning ticket
Pending
Verification
- Entry list matches its commitment
- Randomness was named before it existed
- Winner recomputes from the published values
Press Run the draw to start.
A demonstration of the method, running in your browser. It is not a live Beaver draw, and it does not use Beaver's exact algorithm or randomness source. The "randomness" here is a stand-in for a public value published after the entries are committed.
Live Beaver draws do this for real: committed entry lists, future public randomness, tamper refusal, unbiased selection and a public verifier.
The pieces
What each part protects against.
-
Committed entries
Nobody can add, remove or change an entry after the fact.
Live
The published fingerprint would no longer match.
-
Future public randomness
Nobody can choose the number after seeing the list.
Live
The source is named before the value exists.
-
Tamper refusal
A changed list stops the draw.
Live
If the entries no longer match their commitment, the draw does not run.
-
Unbiased selection
Every eligible ticket has its fair chance.
Live
Selection is designed to avoid the subtle biases naive random picking can introduce.
-
Public verification
Anybody can reproduce the result.
Live
Not only the operator. Not only Beaver.
-
Instant wins
Instant should not mean invisible.
Live
The instant win allocation is sealed and committed before sales open.
Free entries too
The route changes. The chance does not.
Accepted free entries go into the same eligible pool as paid entries, so the commitment covers the whole population the winner is drawn from. A postal entrant with no account can still be selected and contacted.
- Committed pool
- Draw
- Proof
Audit trail
The draw is one record. The operation is another.
Public verification answers one question: can somebody reproduce the winner from the published evidence? Two other records answer the rest.
- Audit trail: which sensitive changes happened around entries, money and marketing, who made them and why.
- Evidence pack: which compliance controls were active during a period.
Different question. Different evidence.
Careful wording
What we do not say.
- "Provably fair" as decoration
- Certified or independently approved (we have not been)
- Live streamed or second screen draws (roadmap)
The evidence does the talking.
Questions
Technical questions
What exactly is committed?
A cryptographic fingerprint of the final eligible entry list, published before winner selection. Change any entry and the fingerprint changes.
Why does it matter when the randomness is chosen?
If the random value could be chosen after the entry list was known, it could be chosen to produce a particular winner. Naming a public source whose value does not exist yet removes that possibility.
Who can verify a result?
Anybody with the published values: a player, a journalist, a regulator or a rival operator. That is the point.
Does verification prove the promotion is legal?
No. It proves how the winner was selected from the committed entries. Whether the promotion is structured lawfully is a separate question. See UK prize draw compliance.
Is Beaver certified by anyone?
No. We do not claim certification or independent approval. We publish the evidence so you do not need to take anybody's word for it, including ours.
We expected you to check
See a real draw in a demo.
Bring your awkward questions about draws. They are our favourite kind.
