Here at Slots Play Casinos, we recognize that without the awesome creativity of the many online game providers that feed online casinos, there would simply be no market for online casino gaming.
Who are these game developers? How do they do what they do so well? Let’s take a close look at online casino game providers.
Land-based Casinos Use the Same Games, Sometimes
Online casinos are all digital with the exception of Live Casino Games that are becoming very plentiful and very popular at online casinos. Aside from the Live Games, everything at an online casino is digital.
At land-based casinos, there are a lot of games that are played at real tables. These are roulette, craps, baccarat, and blackjack to name the top games. At a land-based casino, you might be able to play keno or bingo at a live table.
Slots and video poker at land-based casinos are digital and use the same software as online casinos use.
From One Many
This is actually the opposite of the motto of the United States which is e pluribus unum or out of many one. In online casino gaming, there was once one online casino. That was in 1994. A few online casinos joined the business in the few subsequent years but in the 21st century, there has been a veritable explosion in the number of online casinos.
Today, the number of online casinos has reached the thousands!
Where Do the Games Come From?
They all need a lot of games. So, from one game developer, there has also arisen a large cohort of game providers to supply games to these thousands of online and land-based casinos.
In 1999, an entrepreneur named Teddy Sagi, based in Estonia, founded Playtech to develop online solutions for casino gaming. He needed a lot of expert help from software development, mathematics, and multimedia business sectors.
What Does Math Have to Do with Online Casino Games?
A lot of people understand easily that game developers work with software people and multimedia companies. But they often have a hard time understanding the role of mathematicians in developing online casino games.
Without mathematicians, there simply could not be digital casino games! The random number generator determines every outcome of a digital game and the RNG is entirely mathematical! Modern graphics and animation, which are the heart of online casino games, are all based on mathematics.
Slots Have Come a Long Way in the Last Century
Actually, slots have made great leaps forward in the last 20-30 years. These improvements are all based on graphics and animation.
Behind the graphics and animation of modern slots, we have enormously talented and creative people working in teams behind the scenes to bring you a new slot every month! A lot of online casinos will run a special promotion based on the new slot. Within these promotions are often great deposit bonuses and free spins.
So, a few creative types working in unsung jobs at game developers create a new game that brings bonuses and free spins to gamers!
There are thousands, tens of thousands or more, gamers who benefit from these many deposit bonuses and free spins every month! To channel Winston Churchill, rarely have so many owed so much to so few!
The Wild Symbols in Slots Have Gone Wild
One area where game providers are in fierce competition is in the ways the wild symbols in slots work. Where once there were no wild symbols, modern animation has made the wild symbol in slots a moving character!
Wild symbols move vertically and horizontally. They stick to a spot on the reels or they explode and in excellent Gremlins fashion create a lot of new wild symbols.
The Interplay of Game Provider and Online Casino
Once there were just a few casino games for online casinos. That was okay then since there were only a few online casinos. Today, there are so many casinos and so many game developers that there is a unique interplay between the two sectors of the online casino business.
Online casinos need game providers and game providers need online casinos. So, how much does a casino pay for a new game? This decision is made over the negotiation table.
What we do know is that there are some online casinos that carry games from more than one developer while a lot more online casinos have exclusive contracts with a game provider.
Who Determines the Return to Player Rate?
The game developer and the casino together determine the return to player rate. This is the rate at which money wagered is won. An online slot might have a return-to-player rate of 97%. This is a very good rate but it leaves out a very important point. In slots, there is also volatility. Volatility affects how the winnings are divided among all gamers.
Two slots might have the same return to player rate but one has high volatility and the other has low volatility. The former slot has fewer winning spins than the latter and, therefore, the average win in a high volatility slot will be higher.
But more players lose more than the return to player rate in high volatility slots.
Slots are the only game that can be calibrated to return a given percentage of wagers back to players. The return to player rate in online slots across all game developers is about 96-97%. The return-to-player rates in land-based slots ─ keep in mind that these are the same slots that players play at online casinos ─ are several percent less.
Graphics and Animation in Table Games
Here we are talking about games that are played live at land-based casinos. In order to be attractive to online casino gamers, the graphics and animation in these games have to be spectacular.
Blackjack is a game that plays well in digital form at online casinos. Craps and roulette are not quite there yet in digital form. However, all top game developers are working hard to create craps and roulette that will catch the fancy of millions of online casino gamers.
Slots Play Casinos Has a Role to Play
We review casinos and games. We also report on many of the hundreds of game developers. Reporting and informing are part and parcel of what we do. Our commitment is to make online casino gaming as fun and entertaining as possible.
To benefit the most from our reporting…
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