Online Software Providers

Online Casino Gambling Software Provider Reviews

Online casino gambling software is a multi-billion dollar industry, with more than 160 players in the market, each developing and distributing systems for playing casino games over the Internet, or over satellite channels, or really any system that permits user interaction.

The most common variety of casino gambling software out there has you downloading a program to install from the casino operator’s site. The software will still connect to the Internet, but the fact that it runs separately from your web browser means the provider can offer a more visually impressive and content diverse experience. Other casino software for online gambling runs on the operator’s web servers, and you play games over a secure connection inside your web browser.

Despite the huge number of developers, a number of companies stand out as front runners and trend setters in this fast moving market.

Wizard Gaming Review

software-wizard-gaming

Presently Wizard Gaming offers only online slot games. The 23 slots cover the entire spectrum of online slot games. There are four 3-reel slots that include Odin’s Loot, Kitty Cash, Manga Money and Eldorado Gold. These mirror the traditional slot machines of land casinos and are still popular with a segment of online players. However the video slots are the most popular format and therefore it is no wonder that Wizard Gaming has seventeen such games in its suite. These include Cashasaurus and Divin’ for Pearls that are very popular. Wizard Gaming has recently introduced two progressive slots – Trust Fund Baby and Opulence. One of the hallmarks of a good online gaming service provider is how much information it provides about its games. Online players can find detailed descriptions of the Wizard Gaming online slots at its web site. The information includes the details of the rules, symbols, paylines and payout tables. Clear and sharp screenshots of the games can also be seen.

The appearance of the games is also very attractive. In a recent upgrade new spin animations have been introduced. The wild and scatter symbols are also animated as they lead to the bonus rounds. Online slots have become an audiovisual medium and Wizard Gaming has taken care to introduce suitable sound effects and music. Wizard Gaming online slots offer both types of bonus games prevalent in the industry. These are free spins and bonus games on the second screen. The bonus games on the second screen are usually the pick “x” out “y” type, but come with booby traps. If the player picks a booby trap then the bonus round ends. This adds excitement to the game.

Wizard Gaming software has excellent administrative features as well. In the recent upgrade new anti-fraud tools and back end reporting enhancements have been added. Some of the other features available are complete transaction logging and data back up in multiple locations.

Wizard Gaming is licensed by the Curacao Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the jurisdiction of the Netherlands Antilles. The software, particularly the random number generator, has been tested for fairness by the independent iTechLabs of Australia. Wizard Gaming games can be currently played at Gold Rock Casino and All Star Slots. In the coming year Wizard Gaming will add the complete range of online casino games to its portfolio.  Wizard Gaming online casinos will then feature blackjack, video poker, roulette and other games along with high quality slots.

Microgaming Software Review

software-microgaming

Microgaming was founded on the Isle of Man, and in 1994 launched the world’s first online casino. Today their software is the backbone of more than 120 online casinos, and they’ve proven themselves as a pioneer and a trendsetter in the online gambling sector.

The year after their groundbreaking casino launch, the company developed and released a set of tools that allowed their clients to manage an online casino and to track the behaviour and usage of their players. The quality of their tools meant that they quickly became one of the most preferred system providers to a growing number of online casino operators.

But their influence doesn’t end simply at software design. In 1997 Microgaming became the founding member of the Interactive Gaming Council, a forum for the online gambling industry to meet and discuss issues affecting them.

Later they were also a founding member of the eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) organisation, a significant body that defines standards of honesty, fairness and transparency for its certified members, and provides an interface for players to voice any disputes that may arise.

Microgaming’s most famous piece of software is called Viper, and can be downloaded from any casino that runs the Microgaming platform. Viper provides the interface through which players interact with a Microgaming enabled casino. It provides realistic graphics and sounds that give players as close to a real casino experience as is possible.

Viper also allows players to configure their level of skill so that the games they play will be enjoyable for them. The range of games available is dazzling – the average casino powered by Viper has around 300 titles available to their players, including now classic casino games like 10-Player Power Poker, Bonus Blackjack and video slots, and more arcade style titles like their licensed Tomb Raider series.

Microgaming also provides a great deal of software in the web-based arena. For this type of game, a player doesn’t download software to their computers, but instead plays games directly inside their web browsers. They load very quickly, allowing players to get going as soon as they log into the casino.

Beyond automated games, Microgaming have also developed a system that leverages a real casino dealer to play card games with online players. Dubbed LiveDealer, the system allows online players to view the dealer and their hands via live streaming video broadcast from webcams.

Microgaming is also famous for running some of the richest networked progressive jackpots in history, and is estimated to have paid out in excess of $200,000,000 in winnings so far. Some of their more famous jackpots include Roulette Royale, Major Millions, Poker Ride and Mega Moolah.

Staying on the cutting edge, the company is currently throwing its weight behind gambling platforms for mobile devices such as cellphones and PDAs, which many perceive as the future of remote gambling.

Playtech Software Review

software-playtech

Playtech was formed in 1999 by a group of entrepreneurs who saw an unexplored niche in the marketplace. Unlike other software developers who built and licensed casino software, Playtech’s strategy was to collaborate with land-based casinos.
 
This gave them unique insight to pinpoint what they perceived to be the weaknesses in existing gaming platforms – most online casinos were fairly basic at that time. They soon realised that players wanted an experience that was as close to a visit to an actual casino as possible, so they set about making this happen.

In 2001 Club Dice opened for business. It was the first online casino to run Playtech’s new platform, and its feature set was impressive for the time, including multiplayer modes and a VIP club. Significantly, it also introduced the idea of complimentary rewards – something found in abundance at a land-based casino but not seen before at an online casino.

Over the next few years Playtech innovated many features which are now standard at most online casinos. These include the ability to view playing histories, live streaming video for poker dealers, live customer support via online chat, and the ability to recruit affiliates. Playtech notched up another world first when it developed a tool to combat compulsive gambling, which is integrated into their platform and demonstrates the company’s social responsibility.

Playtech’s innovations proved extremely popular with players, resulting in high demand for their software. From 2002 onwards the company experienced large growth, with many partnerships being formed with Russian, East Asian European and African casino companies.

2003 saw the launch of Playtech’s first bingo network, Ruby Bingo, which is operated on their behalf by InterContinental Casinos. Into this area Playtech innovated new usability features like pop-up game schedules, “quick buy,” and customised daubers – another feature taken from land-based casinos. They also introduced the idea of private chatrooms, which today are seen attached to almost every game.

In 2004 they entered the sports betting arena, but more significantly this was also the year that they launched iPoker. Ipoker’s interface became a trendsetter because it allowed users to switch between 2D and 3D representations of the game. If you a new computer you could experience the game in full 3D with lush graphics, but if your system was older and couldn’t handle the video requirements, you could still participate in 2D mode, a very democratic approach.

In terms of the end user experience, all of Playtech’s software is available either to download or to play within a web browser as a Flash game. It’s graphically rich, and filled with interactive features that go over and above simple gambling, making them an attractive option for players worldwide. The software is vetted and audited by Technical Systems Testing, a third party testing firm that works with many of the major software developers to ensure that their games are fair and honest.

Playtech’s consistent growth saw them float on the London stock exchange in 2006, with their initial value set at around half a billion pounds.

CryptoLogic Software Review

software-cryptologic

Cryptologic was founded in Canada in 1995, born out of the mutual efforts of Mark and Andrew Rivkin. They analysed the emerging Internet market and perceived a need for a secure, encrypted service that offered banking and money transfer facilities to the foundling e-commerce sector. Their first offering – which is still in operation today – was an e-Cash service that allowed commercial websites to accept payments over the Internet.

In fact, the service was so successful that within a year of opening for business, the company was floated on the Canadian Stock Exchange where it has been actively traded ever since. Today Cryptologic stock is bought and sold at nearly every major stock exchange worldwide.

Through their interactions with their e-commerce clients, they became aware of the fast growing and extremely lucrative online casino market, and so they created a subsidiary group called WagerLogic, whose sole purpose is the development and distribution of gambling games and casino management platforms.

After acquiring a casino license, the company launched the InterCasino online gambling site in 1996, one of the few original online casinos still operating today and still one of the biggest. WagerLogic used InterCasino as a sandbox to test out new games and innovative ideas in online gambling, the best of which became integrated into their WagerLogic suite of software which they made available for license.

In 2002 the WagerLogic software was certified on the Isle of Man. This made WagerLogic the first provider of internet gambling software to submit itself to the same stringent conditions and regulations as a land based casino. WagerLogic in turn applies these same standards to all licensees of its software.

All online casinos that license WagerLogic’s platform have to submit to a monthly audit by authorised agents to ensure that regulations are being adhered to. The audit checks that at least the minimum payout percentage is being honoured by each establishment, and that the results of every game is completely random and fair.

This goes a long way towards inspiring confidence and trust amongst regulars to WagerLogic’s casinos, a philosophy that Cryptologic well understands as it continues to build on the trust it earned from its roots as a financial services provider.

Such trust relationships evidently work, as Cryptologic and their WagerLogic-powered casinos have continued to thrive despite having made the decision to shut out the US market. In the wake of the American Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), no online casino licensed by WagerLogic will accept US players.

In terms of the end user experience of WagerLogic’s software, players can experience more than 200 titles available. You can expect to find a huge range of titles including classic casino games like Blackjack and Poker – it’s estimated that WagerLogic software processes more than 400,000 hands of Poker per day.

Additionally you’ll find many more exotic titles such as Bejewelled and the puzzle game Cubis. WagerLogic are also well known for their series of “Marvel Super Heroes” slot titles, developed under exclusive license deal with Marvel Comics. 

RealTime Gaming Review

software-realtime-gaming (1)

Realtime Gaming Software was founded in 1998 with the express purpose of developing software and solutions for the online gambling industry. As such, it got into the game a lot later than some other companies, but it this had no impact on its epic rise, proving that their corporate slogan, “Take Gaming Seriously,” is well chosen.

The company quickly became one of the most relevant developers in the sector, not only because of the quality of the product they brought to the marketplace, but because of their involvement with industry bodies such as the Interactive Gaming Council, and the iGGBA.

Realtime Gaming Software provides solutions for online casino operators, and has an impressive number of licensees. Their success is largely based not only on developing excellent games, but also on designing great management tools for online casino owner, who they don’t dictate to.

Realtime Gaming’s strategy has largely been to provide excellent tools for running an online casino, but unlike other industry giants such as Cryptologic and 888.com, RealTime Gaming does not demand that their licensees follow strict guidelines or regulate them to enforce compliance.

One area where this practise is most significant is the adherence to gambling legislation within a given geographic area. Realtime Gaming leaves it up to the online casino licensee to ensure that their operation is in compliance.

Leaving this decision in the hands of individual operators has meant that a large number of Realtime-powered casinos have continued to welcome US-based players in defiance of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a piece of American legislation many consider to be unclear.

This means that in an era where companies like Microgaming have all but closed their doors to the USA resulting in punishment at the stock exchange, casinos running Realtime Gaming software have continued to thrive.

The company’s software is extremely popular with online casino operators, not least because it does not dictate what a casino’s payscales should be. It also allows operators to set their own payout percentages, but the software is audited and certified by Technical Systems Testing (TST), an internationally accredited testing group, to ensure that its games are truly random.

In terms of the player’s experience of Realtime Gaming software, the company prides itself on impressive graphics and realistic simulations of casino play – even to the extreme of modelling the physics of the dice used in their craps games. They’re also known for fast action, famously being able to run 7 hands of Blackjack a minute.

Realtime Gaming runs some of the richest networked progressives in the industry including Card Shark, Shopping Spree and It’s Good To Be Bad. They’ve also developed speciality games such as Keno and Bingo.

There’s a wide variety of classic casino table games like Roulette, Poker, Pai Gow, Baccarat and  Caribbean Stud. One area where they stand out from the crowd is their excellent video poker, offering more than 20 different variants of the game.

Rival Gaming Review

software-rival

Rival Gaming Software – or Rival Powered as it is commonly known – is one of the newest players in the online casino software sector. The company is based in Cyprus, and only entered the market in 2006.

In a sense this gives it an edge. Time moves faster on the Internet, with new trends appearing thick and fast. While most software companies are constantly updating base products developed years ago, Rival is in the unique position of offering something completely new with no prior efforts to colour it.

Understandably, it has a smaller number of licensees – around 20 – than some of the big dogs like Microgaming and Vegas Technology, but that number is hardly insignificant when you consider that Rival has been operating for only two years.

But Rival Powered’s age is not the only thing that makes it unique. Unlike almost every other developer out there, Rival Powered offers no online versions of its games – everything is download only.

Because of the basic differences between downloaded and online games, the significance of this decision appears to be that Rival Powered focuses on delivering only a specific level of gameplay that’s nearly impossible to replicate with any accuracy inside of a web browser. Certainly the graphics and sound are richer than you could expect from games presented online.

In fact, this is the driving force behind one of their most popular products – iSlots (or interactive slots). Rival Powered could easily have produced yet another flashy pull-the-lever slot game such as those developed by every other provider out there. Instead, they chose to create something entirely new.

In Rival Powered’s iSlots game, players become characters in a glossily animated storyline that they interact with as they play. It is rich and immersive, and as players complete rounds of slots, they unlock further instalments of the storyline. There’s an aspect of randomness to it so that players don’t experience the same story every time they play.

This has proved to be a huge success, and interestingly, Rival Powered will let you play the game for free – you don’t necessarily have to gamble to enjoy iSlots. Of course, if you’re not betting anything, you won’t be able to claim anything if you win either.

From a management perspective, Rival Powered offers its licensees some of the most advanced online casino operation tools in the business. The RivalPro Backend solution features a component called RivalInTouch, which can generate customised reports full of information you select, which it either emails out at regular intervals or delivers to PDAs, so that licensees are always aware of what’s happening on their sites even if they aren’t local to their servers.

RivalPowered’s security is also impressive, with built-in fraud protection in the form of their  RivalPro component. It also uses an integrated IndentiPrint system to track operator functions – you can’t perform any administration without providing your fingerprint, and this is a great way of both keeping hackers out and ensuring that your staff always behave in the interests of the company.