Game behaviour, by market

A licensed online game is not only tested for a fair random number generator; regulators also dictate how it behaves around the edges of play — how quickly a round may resolve, whether it can auto-spin, what it must remind you of, what it shows about your session, where the result is actually decided, how long the round is logged, and what happens if your connection drops. Those rules are public, but they sit buried in dense technical standards and differ sharply by market. The matrix below gathers them so you can see at a glance what a game must do in your jurisdiction — with every cell traced to the regulator's own text.

What this compares

Seven behaviours, each a thing a player meets but rarely sees explained. Minimum round time: the shortest a game round may take. Autoplay: whether hands-off spinning is allowed, limited or banned. Reality check: the elapsed-time reminder and how it works. Net position: whether the game must show your running win or loss for the session. Server-side logic: whether the result is decided on the operator's server or your device. Log retention: how long the record of each round is kept. Interrupted round: what happens to a bet if the connection drops mid-play. None of these change the odds — they shape the pace, the transparency and the safety net around them.

How to read it

A figure — 2.5s, 10y — is the rule as the regulator wrote it. A red pill marks a prohibition (autoplay banned). A green pill marks a positive duty the game must perform (net position required). An amber pill marks a constrained or component-only rule — permitted with conditions, or partly covered. A dash means the behaviour is not mandated in that market, which is itself informative. Hovering any cell shows the exact rule and the clause it comes from; the full sources sit beneath the grid, market by market.

The one idea underneath

Most of these behaviours make sense once you hold a single fact: on a regulated game the server generates and logs the outcome the instant you commit to a round, and your device only presents an animation of a decision already made. That is why an interrupted round need not cost you a win, why a dispute is settled from the server log rather than your screen, and why a round can be paced to a minimum time. The keystone is set out in Server decides, device shows.

Why it differs by market

The same game meets a different set of legal objects and harm-reduction models in each jurisdiction. Some regulators legislate a hard speed limit and a live loss counter; others rely on monitoring or leave a behaviour to the operator's own responsible-gambling policy. So a game shipped to several markets is often the same engine wearing different configurations — a fact this comparison makes visible rather than hiding behind a single 'it's certified' claim.

What this is and isn't

This is a teaching summary built entirely from public regulator standards, not compliance advice; requirements vary by market and change, so confirm any load-bearing point against the current standard and the local regulator before relying on it. A few cells are marked medium-confidence where a primary server was unreachable at verification or a figure sits in guidance rather than the headline text — those are flagged honestly rather than smoothed over. The set starts at eight markets and grows a market and a behaviour at a time, each verified before it lands.

Worked example

Key facts

Behaviour by market

A figure (e.g. 2.5s, 10y) is the rule as written; ban a prohibition; req. a positive duty; partial a constrained or component-only rule; — not mandated in that market. Hover a cell for the exact rule and its clause.

Sources, market by market

Sources (3)