When you want to play online slots, how do you decide which ones you want to spin on? While you can consider a large number of factors, one thing that a lot of people will often overlook is the provider. The online casino industry has a lot of software provider options.
Every slot that you can play was developed by an online casino software provider. This can also be a great criterion to use when you’re not sure which games to play. By filtering down to a list of casino software providers, you can look at the reputation and overall features that each has to offer. Once you find the right option among the many casino software providers, you can start to look at the specific online casino slots that they develop.
This guide will help you understand the role of online casino software providers. You’ll also learn more about the types of games these developers make, get some tips to help you pick a good provider and more.
hen talking about software, you may think about an application that you download on your computer or phone. However, there are also software and apps that can run directly in your browser. One example of such software would be casino games that you can play online.
When you sign up at an online casino and decide to load up one of the games they host, you’ll essentially be launching software inside your web browser. The software allows you to change your bet and spin the reels, then calculate your winnings based on the symbols that landed.
The software that loads when playing these games is developed by casino game providers. These are the companies that create platforms that can run casino games. They are also responsible for actually creating games, such as online slots or live casino titles, that casinos can host.
There are different ways in which an online casino can then integrate these games into its own platform. Some providers use technology that allows the casino to host the game themselves. However, when it comes to live casino titles, things usually work differently. The game is loaded on the casino’s website but is hosted by the provider. This is because the provider actually hosts the live show and then sends out details after every draw to the casino platform.
This allows the platform to obtain data about the live casino game and make appropriate adjustments to your winnings or losses.
Let’s consider an example. You decide to play a live wheel game. There’s a host that spins a wheel. You have to decide on what colors you want to bet. You can bet on multiple colors, with each having its own bet size.
When the host spins the wheel, your bet has already been recorded. The moment the wheel stops spinning, there’s an API call that the provider sends to the casino. This ensures the casino can pick up the win (or loss) based on how you distributed your bet.
As you can see, this is a complex relationship that’s shared between the provider and the casino. While it’s complicated, it’s still important for the average player to have a basic overview of how things work. It also makes sense that some casinos have a limited number of providers that they partner with when deciding what games to offer.
Some of the major casinos will only work with the biggest and most trusted casino game developers. This ensures they don’t have to spend time on implementing slots that may not become hits on the platform.
There are lots of different things that set every online casino software provider apart from others. This is because they all take steps to try and create unique entries in the world of online gambling. If every provider made the exact same games, then there wouldn’t be a point, after all.
While you’ll find a lot of unique elements from every software provider in the gambling industry, there are also some similarities. These similarities usually involve the types of games that casino software providers tend to develop. You’ll often find them when looking at the best casino software providers.
One thing to note is that even though there are similarities in the types of games you’ll see from providers, each game provider still go through certain measures to ensure their titles have unique themes and designs. With this said, we’re going to take a closer look at the main types of games that the majority of top casino software providers tend to offer.
When it comes to online gambling, there are a lot of different game types. However, the one type that remains the most popular among gamblers is slots. These are the classic games where you bet on a slot and then spin the reels. Once you click on the spin button, new symbols begin to appear on the screen. When the spin is complete, the slot game will look for matching symbols on the paylines that you staked money on. If there are matches, it gives you a payout that’s related to the value of the specific symbols that match. This is a type of casino game that you’ll notice from all of these software providers.
Among these slot games, there are a couple of common themes that you’ll also notice. For many years, fruits and the bell symbol have been considered key elements in online gambling. That’s something that still continues to hold strong in the modern day. It’s also a theme that you’ll commonly see used by a lot of these software providers.
In these slots, you’ll usually be given an opportunity to match symbols like lemons, oranges, plums, watermelons, and cherries. Of course, each game needs to be unique, so developers are mixing things up. Some only include a few of these fruits and add new symbols to keep things fresh. Others will take a more modern approach to designing these fruity symbols.
Apart from fruit slots, you’ll also see that many providers have games that feature Egyptian themes. These games focus on Egyptian mythology, showcasing characters like Anubis, Cleopatra, and Ra.
While slots are considered to be the most popular type of online casino game, most providers also delve into other categories of games. This includes tabletop games, which is a category with a lot of different titles that fall underneath it.
Some examples of popular table games include:
It’s important to note that these are broad categories, and there are many variations of each. For example, providers will often create different versions of Blackjack. Popular options include European Blackjack and American Blackjack. There are also some game developers who will take extra measures to make their versions of these table games really unique. Yet, at the backend level of these games, they still work very similarly to each other.
Not every single casino software provider will fall into this category, but as it’s becoming very popular, more and more of these developers are starting to enter this market.
Live casino games have hosts that stand in front of a camera. These hosts perform various activities, depending on the type of game that you’re playing. Live dealer games are becoming very popular as people move from land based casinos to online gaming.
For example, in a live Blackjack game, the host will deal out cards. In a live wheel casino game, the host will spin a wheel after you’ve set your bet. There can be hundreds of people playing these games at a time. Developers who create live games will usually hire their own hosts for the games.
Many types of casino games have been turned into live titles. There are several reasons why people enjoy these games, but the interactiveness they offer is definitely one of the most appealing ones.
Many gamblers find that seeing someone live, deal out the cards, spin a wheel, or roll the roulette wheel feels more engaging compared to a static game that uses predefined graphics.
Some casino game developers will also create other kinds of gambling experiences. Sports betting, for example, is quite common. The online gaming industry actually has a large interest in sports betting.
They’re different from online slots and table games. While in video slots, you bet on reels that will spin, in sports betting, you’re actually going to predict the outcome of a match. If you’re correct, then you win a certain amount of money.
When you begin to explore the world of gambling, you’ll notice that there are many companies that actually develop casino games. Every provider claims to be the best in the industry and offers the most exciting games.
These claims make it really hard to understand which provider should really be considered to be at the top. That’s why you have to do some research on your side to see which providers you should trust when you decide to play online slots or other types of casino games.
There are a couple of criteria points that you can actually take into consideration if you’re not sure which providers are trustworthy and stay in line with regulations that have been set out for these game developers.
In this section, we’re going to explore the most important things that you have to take into consideration when trying to understand which of these game providers are truly the best. By looking at this type of criteria, it’s going to be easier to decide which providers you want to focus on when gambling online.
A lot of gamblers think that when it comes to trustworthiness, it’s something they should just consider with the online casino they decide to register at.
However, every game that the casino hosts is created by a casino software provider. You have to look at these companies as well and consider how trustworthy each of them is.
There are two things that you should consider when you’re trying to determine the trustworthiness of casino software providers:
The idea here is to get an overview of whether the developer is legit (licensed and registered) and if people enjoy the games that they create. This is going to already help you filter through the list of developers to a more concentrated number that you can continue investigating.
We’ve talked about the fact that most online casino software providers create both slots and table games. There’s also the rising trend of live games. However, even when a developer makes all three types of games, it doesn’t necessarily mean their games will be fun and fair to play.
That’s why you also have to take a closer look at the specific games that each of these providers has to offer.
Since many software providers will have hundreds of games in their portfolio, you can’t actually review every one of them individually.
What I’d recommend is that you actually pick a few of the games that the company showcases and analyze them. That’s going to give you some details about the types of games, designs, mechanics, and other elements of the titles you can expect from the casino.
Most of these developers will give you access to demo versions of these games. Take this as an opportunity to test out the games. You’ll be able to better understand how they play, the stability of the software they run on, and get an idea of how generous they are.
There are, of course, a couple of technical elements that you should also keep in mind while you assess the games the developer has to offer.
Start with the volatility of the slot. This is an indication of how risky the slot is. Low volatility or variance means the slot should give you regular matches while you spin.
However, don’t expect any big wins, especially early on during your session. Medium variance is what a lot of people prefer as it adds great balance to the gameplay of the slot.
There are many slots with high volatility, but be wary as they do carry much greater risks. Winning combinations will hit much less frequently with these games. However, a lot of high rollers prefer to play on high-variance slots. This is mainly because the chances of hitting big wins early on are considered to be better with these games.
The next thing to look at is a technical rating for the return to player. It’s often referred to as RTP. The higher, the better. The average is generally considered to be around 96%. You may find that some slots come with a lower value, but I’d advise to steer clear of anything that goes below 90%.
Not every slot or provider will give you details about this technical spec. However, there are methods to actually calculate the RTP yourself. If you don’t see this data on the slot, even when reviewing the paytable, then consider learning how you can calculate the RTP.
You’ll notice that there’s quite a large variety of providers that specialize in creating online casino games. Some of these have a better reputation than others. And when you know which of the providers are at the top of the industry, you can start to take a closer look at the specific slots that they have developed.
Using this strategy can make it much easier to find slots that are worth playing. I’d recommend taking a closer look at WMS, NetEnt, Amatic, and Elk Studios. These are some of the biggest names in the industry. Even though some of them are still quite new on the scene, they all have a positive reputation and a wide selection of games in their portfolios. Let’s take a closer look at the variety of popular games each of these studios has created over the years.
NetEnt:
WMS:
Elk Studios:
Something to keep in mind is that these are only three of the top-rated online casino software providers out there.
Other developers that are also worth mentioning include:
More than 90% of people in Australia own a smartphone. These devices have become incredibly powerful in the modern day and can do a lot of the things you usually do on your computer. With the average person in Australia spending about five hours a day on their smartphone, it’s no wonder many gamblers want to move from playing slots and other casino titles on a computer to their phone.
When you take a closer look at all of these casino software providers, there’s something you may overlook when you consider the specific criteria you’ll be using. This factor is the mobile-friendliness of the casino provider’s games. A lot of online casino software providers have adapted to the fact that people enjoy playing these games on their smartphones. However, the same cannot be said for every single company that develops casino games. If you’re someone who likes to play from your phone, then use this as another point when you assess the different online casino software providers that you can choose from.
Some of the major benefits that you can expect when choosing Australian mobile casino software providers include:
To determine if a provider’s titles are mobile-friendly, it’s a good idea to load up their website on your smartphone. Once you’re on the provider’s website, navigate to their games page. Most of these companies have this kind of page that lets you play demo versions of the slots and table games they make. Open up one of these demo games and give it a try on your smartphone. This is a useful way to know how well the slot performs when playing on your smartphone.
There are thousands of different online slots that you can play at digital casinos. However, they’re not all the same. Some tend to offer a more generous set of technical specs. While assessing these slots and trying to find ones that you want to play, it’s a good idea to also consider the many casino software providers. These are the developers behind the slots that you can play. This gives you extra criteria to use when filtering through these slots and makes the process of picking the right ones easier.