Software Provider: Playtech
Established: 1999
Number of Games: 500+
Location: UK – Isle of Man
Top Games: Age of the Gods, Beach Life, The Matrix, Gladiator, Thor, Rocky, Baywatch.
Playtech Casinos: William Hill Casino, 888 Casino and 777 Casino
Largest Payout to Date: CAD$10.8million – Beach Life 12 February 2012.
Awards: 2016 Best Digital Supplier World Gaming Awards, EGR B2B 2015 & 2016 Multi-Channel Provider Award, Best iGaming Software Provider of the Year 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016, EGR B2B 2014 Poker Network Award, EGR B2B 2014 Platform of the Year Award and many others.
Introduction to Playtech
Since its establishment in 1999, Playtech has become one of the industry leaders in gaming software development with almost 20 years of experience in the online gambling industry. The company places great emphasis on quality and playability which in turn, is taking online casino games to an unprecedented level.
The brand offers an extensive range of varied products including live dealer and casino games, bingo and poker networks and a mobile platform, allowing players to enjoy their favourite casino games anywhere and everywhere. Each and every game developed by Playtech, be it an online slots game, Blackjack, Roulette or Poker, impresses the user with superb, crisp and elegant visuals, immersive & authentic sounds, user-friendly player interface and hassle-free gameplay.
Playtech’s success is largely built on the company’s strong partnership with its licensed online casinos as well as its determination to always provide nothing but the very best first-class gaming solutions for players.
Almost two decades after its inception, Playtech has become the biggest publicly-traded gaming software company in the online casino business, with a strong presence in over 20 markets, 3,400 employees in 12 countries across the globe and more than 80 online and land-based customers. Despite its impressive successes, Playtech has no intention of sitting on its laurels and continues to make advancements through industry-wide cutting-edge innovations.
Technology
Over time, Playtech has amassed unparalleled technological knowhow. Their products are coded in mark-up and programming languages such as C+, C Sharp, Flash, Java Adobe Flash and HTML5.
The software developer is well aware of the latest trends in the online gaming industry. In 2012, Playtech joined forces with mobile giants, Mobenga, to develop ‘The Mobile Hub’. This development grants players instant access to the entire provider’s catalogue, thereby allowing them to play on the go via their smartphones and tablets. The Mobile Hub also enables casino operators to integrate Playtech’s mobile content into their different applications.
More importantly, the company’s mobile products are compatible with and run seamlessly on all types of portable HTML5-ready devices like iPhones, iPads and various Android and Windows-based phones and tablets. This allows online casinos to present their games in both desktop versions and on smart phones concurrently in identical formats.
The Playtech Edge
Playtech has developed a software program called the Enhanced Gaming Engine platform (EdGE). This program can be easily and efficiently integrated with many other systems. Currently, EdGE supports more than 25 different and unique providers with well over 500 different games available. The system can be implemented for download products, web-based products and with mobile applications. Within this platform, Playtech’s Online Casinos are able to use Playtech’s IMS (Information Management Solution), which provides all of the tools required to run an online casino smoothly and efficiently. One of the man advantages of the IMS is that it can be customised to meet the Online Casinos needs and desires. The overall system uses a RNG (random number generator) to assure games provide fair results.
Playtech ONE
Playtech has broken new ground in traditional Online Casino circles with its industry-leading Omni-Channel technology, Playtech ONE. The concept is so simple. It’ll leave you scratching your head wondering why it wasn’t thought of before now. Let’s see how to works using Playtech’s popular Age of the Gods Roulette as an example.
Quite simply put, Age of the Gods Live Roulette shares liquidity with all its online casino and land based slot machine brothers. The largest jackpot available is the Ultimate Power Jackpot, the highest of the four-tier mystery jackpot that links all the live products and all of Playtech’s Age of the Gods slot games. This ensures players have a larger prize pool that can be obtained more often as it is played more often.
Genius. Age of the Gods Live Roulette shares the progressive jackpots with its slot machine counterparts. Quite often, roulette games are often criticised for their lack of jackpot winning opportunities – but not with Age of Gods. Just like progressive slots, the jackpot round is activated at random.
Give it a spin at William Hill Casino, 888 Casino or 777 casino.
Download
Originally, Playtech provided their games only in download versions. This originally meant that in order to access of Playtech’s games, online players had to download and install software. This option is still available for players with slow internet connections (especially handy if you live in a remote or regional area of Canada without the speedy connections of the large cities). If you have already downloaded the games to your computer, you only need to transfer the gaming data and not the graphics. Still, nowadays most gamblers have access to high-speed Internet connections and prefer to enjoy their games directly in their web browsers but it is nice that the download option is still available if required.
Flash
Thanks to Playtech’s Flash game technology, online players with high-speed Internet can log in and enjoy their games directly online. Downloading their software is no longer a requirement as it had been in days gone by. Game play is fast and the graphics are of exceptionally high quality. Many games that do not require strategy decisions offer an auto-play function which avoids potential repetitive strain injuries when playing your favorite slots game. Speed and animation are both adjustable via the options menus of each game allowing you to set the pace of the game to a level you are comfortable with and suits your lifestyle.
Mobile
Online Casino Smart phone use now comprises more than 44% (and increasing rapidly) of the Canadian online casino market. Playtech has been leading in the development of transferring desktop gambling to mobile platforms, and as such most of their games catalogue is available for mobile play, compatible with mobile systems such as Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android (Samsung, HTC, LG, etc.).
Special Tip for Tablet Players
To play via an app it is best to orientate your screen into a landscape position. In order to maximise the gaming area, Playtech will prompt you to turn your mobile device on its side before the game commences.
Naturally, if you have a tablet then you won’t have to do this, but please do bear in mind that you may have to hit the unlock button to enable an easy switch from portrait to landscape in order to play smoothly and comfortably.
Multi-Player Games
Playtech have also developed a multiplayer platform that allows players to log in to a common casino lounge, upload avatars of themselves and chat with the other players playing the same game. These multiplayer games can take on extra exciting dimension when the games are hosted as part of an online casino tournament.
Casino Games
The company’s games portfolio covers every aspect of casino gambling, from online slots with huge progressive jackpots, to superb and elegant versions of classic casino games such as Roulette, Baccarat, Video Poker and Blackjack. As mentioned earlier, Playtech offer interactive Live Dealer Casino Games for that unbeatable Vegas feel. Additionally, in the Playtech library of games, you will also find a number of multiplayer poker games.
Their most popular games however, are the slots in the series of 243 betting line machines. These are high volatility games with a host of bonus games, free spin rounds, video animations and many extra features complete with superb graphics. In this series, you’ll find world-renowned titles such as The Matrix, Age of the Gods, Gladiator, Beach Life, Thor and the rest of their excellent Marvel Universe series online slots.
Playtech Online Casinos & Sports Betting
Playtech casinos offer 500+ games, one of the largest selections offered by a single software provider. Playtech purely provides the games for its online partners. They don’t operate the casinos. Naturally, overall quality as in most other fields varies. Two of the very best Online Casinos that utilize the Playtech technology are William Hill Casino and 888 Casino. Obviously, they have one thing in common: top notch casino games.
Alternatively, as Playtech is one of the top software providers worldwide for high quality online sportsbooks, both William Hill and 888 casino offer some of the best online sports betting you’ll encounter anywhere. Both online casinos offer great sports betting options on virtually every sport you can possibly imagine.
Specifically, they do an excellent job for Canadians with a full range of North American sports betting options available such as NHL, CFL, NFL, MLB and NBA.
Top Playtech Games
Personal opinions may vary of course, however, these industry-leading games below are played by thousands of experienced and educated gamblers around the world who prefer simply the best games on the market;
- The Matrix – My favorite. Based on the iconic Keanu Reeves flick. Neo is the One.
- The Age of the Gods – Omni-channel roulette games and progressive slots enabling huge shared payouts to be accumulated and be paid out more often over different game formats.
- The Beach Life – A quintessential online progressive slot offering life-changing multi-million-dollar payouts and record-holder of Playtech’s highest ever payout.
- The The Excellent Marvel Universe Theme online slots– Thor, Iron Man and all your other favourite members of the Marvels Avengers series make a stunning and elaborate collection of slots with high quality movie tie-in video animations.
- The Gladiator – One of the first ever movie tie-in online slots. The Playtech Gladiator online slot game is based on the movie of the same name, starring Russell Crowe (who won the Academy award as Best Actor for his depiction of Maximus, the Gladiator).
Several characters from the movie including Maximus, Commodus, Lucilla and Proximo appear as symbols. Real photos of these characters are used, along with actual video footage from the film, providing a visual feast for online players. There’s another progressive slots version of the Gladiator game. It is identical to the main game, however, with the addition of a progressive jackpot which can be won during the Gladiator Bonus round, if all 9 of the helmets that appear are gold.
Social Gaming
Playtech is famous for its social casino, poker and bingo games, available in as many as seven languages. These games allow players to interact and to make and meet friends from all over the different parts of the world.
Our verdict
To summarize, Playtech is among the largest, and one of the best, casino software game developers in operation today. As a result, their games offer excitement, flawless animation and world-class graphics. Check out their excellent games today at William Hill, 888 and 777 Casinos