user13797: I have a bitcoin lottery that is still in the prototype stage (bitsplit.it).
I believe that the game will be much more appealing, for certain reasons, if players (and the house) both don't know when the next winner will be chosen.
However, I am having a hard time with coming up with a (feasible) way to prove that the house doesn't know when the pot will split.
Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

user11253: You could leverage the blockchain itself and use something based on the hash of the current block. For example, the block hash will end in a 0 bit roughly half the time. It will end in 00 bits roughly 25% of the time, etc. This is exactly the same idea as the bitcoin "difficulty" parameter, you would be using the hashes as a roughly constant rate stream of unpredictable random bits.
I think everybody who participates would agree that the block hashes are not predictable in advance.

13797: <p>I have a bitcoin lottery that is still in the prototype stage (bitsplit.it).</p>

<p>I believe that the game will be much more appealing, for certain reasons, if players (and the house) both don't know when the next winner will be chosen.</p>

<p>However, I am having a hard time with coming up with a (feasible) way to prove that the house doesn't know when the pot will split.</p>

<p>Any ideas are greatly appreciated.</p>
 11253: <p>You could leverage the blockchain itself and use something based on the hash of the current block. For example, the block hash will end in a 0 bit roughly half the time. It will end in 00 bits roughly 25% of the time, etc. This is exactly the same idea as the bitcoin "difficulty" parameter, you would be using the hashes as a roughly constant rate stream of unpredictable random bits.</p>

<p>I think everybody who participates would agree that the block hashes are not predictable in advance.</p>
