§03 · Certification documents
Reading a certification report
A certification report is the document an accredited laboratory produces after testing a game. Knowing what it covers — and what it does not — makes it far easier to judge whether a game has been properly evaluated.
What a report is
When an accredited laboratory finishes testing a game, it issues a certification report. Reports like these are produced by independent labs such as eCOGRA, GLI, iTech Labs and BMM, and are supplied to the game’s maker and to the regulator that will license it. The report is a factual record of what was tested and what the lab found — not a marketing badge.
What it usually contains
- The item tested — the game title and the exact software version or build identifier.
- The standard applied — for online games, commonly GLI-19; the document states which standard the test was measured against.
- The laboratory’s credentials — its accreditation under ISO/IEC 17025 and the date of testing.
- The findings — confirmation that the RNG passed its statistical tests and the verified return-to-player.
A report covers the build that was submitted. If a game is later updated, the original report no longer describes the live version — which is why the test date and version on the document matter.
Confirming a report is genuine
Because a certification seal can be copied onto any website, the seal alone proves little. The reliable approach is to follow the report back to its source: accredited laboratories provide a reference number or an online lookup that confirms the report was genuinely issued for that game. If a report cannot be traced to the laboratory that supposedly produced it, it should be treated with caution.
A report, a certificate and a seal are different things
Three terms are often used loosely. The report is the detailed technical document a laboratory produces: what was tested, against which standard, and with what results. The certificate is the shorter formal statement that a given build passed. The seal is the small badge a casino may display to signal that testing has taken place. Only the first two carry detail; a seal on its own is merely a graphic, and its value depends entirely on whether it can be traced back to a genuine report. Reading a certification claim well means knowing which of the three is actually on offer.
Who sees a report, and who relies on it
Certification reports are not written primarily for players. Their main audiences are the game supplier, which needs evidence its product meets the standard, and the regulator, which uses the report as the basis for approving the game in its market. A player rarely reads the full document; instead the practical task is confirmation — establishing that a report exists, was issued by an accredited laboratory, and applies to the version of the game on offer.
Why the version and date are the details that matter
Because a report is tied to a specific build, the version identifier and the test date are the two fields that decide whether it still describes reality. A report from an accredited lab that refers to an old build tells a player little about a game that has since been updated. When a certification claim omits a version, a date or the issuing laboratory, that absence is itself informative — a genuine report has no reason to hide them.
How reports relate to a casino licence
Game-level certification and operator licensing are separate things. A certified game can appear at a casino that is not properly licensed, and a licensed casino is still expected to run games that have been tested. Checking both is covered in verifying a casino’s licence. For the testing itself, see how RNGs and fairness are certified.