A Guide to Online Casino Software Developers

Let’s talk about casino software.

Hey, don’t roll your eyes – casino software is an important topic. Seriously.

Casino software impacts so much of your experience online: the games you can play, the odds you get, the rules you have to follow, table limits, and so much more.

That’s why it makes sense to have at least a basic understanding of online casino software. You should know who the top 10-20 software providers are, what makes them unique, and the types of games they offer.

Once you know this, finding an online casino will be so much easier. You can immediately skip a casino, since you’ll know they won’t have the games you want to play, or you’ll immediately join a new casino because they sport Microgaming software, and that means you get to play Mega Moolah.

We’re telling you, it makes this online gambling thing much, MUCH easier.

We’ll show you the most popular developers, tell you their biggest strengths/weakness, and then explain how they’ll impact your gambling experience online.

Let’s get to it.

The following is a short list of the most popular casino software providers and a little about them.

We’ll list the tier-2 software providers afterwards.

If you’re a US casino player, then chances are you have or will play an RTG game in the near future.

They also run an online poker network, and have even started working in the VR market with a focus on VR roulette.

NetEnt is widely considered one of the best software providers in the online gambling industry.

They offer gaming products for the casino, poker, and sportsbook industries. Amaya bought the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker in 2014 for $4.9 billion.

They changed their name in 2017.

They have received several awards – including Game of the Year – for their live dealer products.

This wraps up the more popular software providers, though some of this is merely opinion. There are many others, which we’ll list now. Many of the following have excellent games and software you should check out, too:

You can see a more thorough on this site.

In case you’re still skeptical about how important casino software is, we want to show you the different ways software will impact your experience gambling online.

In no particular order…

One of the impacts you’ll feel right away is the platform you’re able to use to play the casino’s games. This includes any combination of the following options:

• Mobile – Can you play casino games on your tablet or smartphone? How many games do you have to choose from?
• Download – Does the casino offer a download? Is it compatible with Mac computers?
• Instant Play – In case you don’t want to download software, or if you have a Mac, does the casino offer an instant play casino (also known as a browser casino) you can access from your browser window?
• Live Casino – Some software providers specialize in live dealer games, and very few virtual game providers deal with live dealer games.

Platforms will be hit and miss because of who casinos choose to work with.

For example, RealTime Gaming – last we checked – does NOT offer live dealer games. So, if you play at a US casino, it’s likely powered (partially) by RTG, meaning there’s a good chance you won’t be able to play live dealer blackjack or roulette.

But if you can find a casino that works with Evolution Gaming or Global Gaming labs,or an all-around casino such as NetEnt, then you’ll be able to find at least a couple live table games.

And that’s just one example of how software will impact your experience. Let’s look at another.

We touched on this a little with the first reason, but another impact you’ll feel is game selection. Here are all the different ways software providers will impact your experience:

• The specific kinds of games you can play. That includes slots, table games, video poker machines, live dealer games, etc.
• The game variations the casino will have. This can be the difference between having 2 or 20 unique blackjack games, for example, like Atlantic City Blackjack, Single Deck Blackjack and European Blackjack.
• Your mobile game selection. We talked about mobile in the last point, but only about whether the casino offers it. But even if they have a mobile casino, that doesn’t mean they’ll have the games you want to play. Many casinos have a limited selection (< 50 games), most of which are slots. A very rare few will have 100+ games

Part of the game selection available to you is also determined by the laws/regulations the software provider needs to follow due to where they’re licensed. We’ll talk about that in a second.

The software provider will impact the rules you’ll need to follow. Take blackjack, for example:

The rules will, in turn, impact the odds of the game you’re playing. The more rules that favor the player, the better your odds.

We weren’t sure what else to call this. But the software provider a casino uses (or doesn’t) will affect whether you can play your favorite brick-and-mortar slots online.

For example, in Las Vegas, we’ve played Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. We’ve also played Monopoly, Iron Man, Spider-Man, 60’s Batman & Robin, The Flintstones, LIFE, and many other recognizable titles based on popular games, movies and celebrities.

You can play many, if not all, of these online. But you need to find the right software providers, such as IGT, NetEnt, and Microgaming.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, not everyone will be able to play these games online (including us).

One of the biggest impacts you’ll feel regarding casino software is whether you can even play their games.

Probably the biggest reason (or only reason?) is where you live.

A good example is Microgaming. You won’t find a Microgaming-powered casino that accepts Americans. Not one. And if you do, we doubt they’re a legit casino, much less a safe one that will be in business for long.

Not if they want to keep their license, much less stay in business.

If you check out many casinos today, you’ll find that they work with 5-10 different software providers. But you may find that games from only a couple of them are available to you.

And that’s because many software providers are prohibited from offering their games to players in specific regions, so casinos have to hide these games from users in those areas.

We cover this (when applicable) in our reviews. You can also read the terms and conditions of the casino you’re thinking about joining to see if there are any games prohibited to players in your area.

And there you have it.

There are probably other ways casino software will impact your gambling experience online. But the reasons above, whether it’s game selection, platform or rules/odds, will have the most impact.

Before we wrap things up, we want to briefly talk about why you need to be careful when choosing the casino and casino software you use.

Because, even though software providers are more or less in the background, they run a business in an industry where billions of dollars are generated annually.

In other words, you don’t want to make the mistake of thinking software providers are angels and incapable of doing wrong. Or worse, ignoring them altogether.

Like casino operators, you will find software providers who do shady things. The most recent example that comes to mind is BetSoft.

You can go check out the entire story, but we’ll give you a quick rundown of their shenanigans:

• A player won a jackpot using free spins. However, both the casino and BetSoft refused to pay the player. They said that there were rules that said that progressives wouldn’t be paid out if won during a free spin. This rule wasn’t added until after the incident.
• For months, BetSoft’s progressives were locked (aka impossible to win).
• Their licensing and auditing is questionable at best.

You can also see VegasClick.com for a timetable of when these different shenanigans occurred.

BetSoft handled things so poorly that Casinomeister.com gave them their dreaded Head in the Sand award in 2016.

So, with that in mind…if a casino were only powered by BetSoft, wouldn’t it make sense to tread with extreme caution, while totally avoiding max bets on their progressives – and maybe even avoid the casino altogether?

And that’s one software provider of dozens, maybe more.

What’s more is that you cannot rely on either the casino or software provider to vet the other. A good example is RealTime Gaming and Playtech – you’ll find dozens of relatively solid casinos using both software providers.

However, you’ll find plenty of scumbags using them, too. It goes both ways – and that’s the point. You can’t rely on a software provider or casino to ensure the other is legit. Only you can do that.

The bottom line – you want to make sure the casino you’re playing at is legit from top to bottom… and that includes everyone they partner with – even software providers.

It bears repeating – software providers matter.

They impact nearly, if not every, aspect of your online gambling experience. The software a casino uses will impact the platform you play from, the game selection, the rules, jackpots you can play for, and much, MUCH more.

It’s in your best interest to know who the best software providers are in the entire industry and the casinos they power, as well as the software providers and the casinos they power that are specifically available to you (if they’re even different).

This is absolutely the fastest way to find the best online casinos with the games, variants, and platform you want… while simultaneously avoiding all those that don’t.