As soon as you enter any casino’s lobby, you’ll see hundreds and even thousands of slots. Most players won’t notice, however, that none of these were developed in-house. All of the reels, bonus rounds, jackpots etc. Used by virtually every online casino are produced by a handful of slot providers; studios that create and test their products and license them to casino operators globally. This article will explain the slot provider sector and answer the question “who makes online slots?” Why do we always seem to see the same handful of slot games across nearly every casino?
Slot provider definition
The definition of a slot provider is a gaming developer that creates casino content and sells it to operators. A slot provider is primarily a b2b business. As opposed to selling directly to individual customers (you!), a slot provider sells its content to an operator. The operator manages customer accounts, accepts customer deposits and processes customer withdrawals. There is a significant difference between being a slot provider and operating an online casino.
Player complaints
When you encounter problems relating to late payouts at an online casino, you contact the online casino. Problems related to bonuses or how bonus rounds function should be directed to the slot provider. The slot provider is responsible for creating the math behind your favorite slots. The slot provider develops the slot engine, the maths model, the graphics, the gameplay, and determines the return to player (RTP). The slot provider also determines the volatility, hit frequency, maximum win potential, and how various features function in bonus modes. Finally, the slot provider covers the cost associated with obtaining regulatory approval for its games to be deployed in regulated jurisdictions.
When you access a slot game via your web browser, it is typically accessed from the slot provider’s own server. The slot game displays in a window provided by the casino, and the casino records wagers against your deposit balance.
Steps involved in deploying a new game from a studio to online casinos
Creating a new slot game takes many months of development prior to submission to an independent testing laboratory. The typical testing laboratories include Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), iTech Labs and ecogra. These laboratories operate under strict accreditation standards (typically ISO/IEC 17025), verify a slots‘ random number generator (RNG), simulate millions of virtual spins of a slot game and confirm that the slot game behaves as expected based upon its published return to player (rtp). Testing laboratories provide RNG certification for deployment in regulated jurisdictions. A slot game cannot be deployed in a jurisdiction if it does not receive RNG certification.
Pragmatic Play: volume, multipliers and global reach
You’ve likely played a Pragmatic Play game without knowing it. Since its rebrand in 2015, Pragmatic Play has rapidly expanded. Their strategy is quite simple: produce a lot of slots quickly, deploy them to as many locations as possible. On average, Pragmatic Play launches a new slot every week. At present, their catalog includes over 400 slots and live casino games as well as bingo and other verticals. Once you’ve seen one Pragmatic Play game, you’ll recognize the next dozen. Common characteristics include tumbling reels, scatter pays, random multiplier orbs landing randomly during free spins and buy features on most games in markets that allow it. Gates of Olympus is essentially the template: Zeus hovers near a 6×5 grid, multiplier orb symbols land randomly and either disappear harmlessly or award thousands of times your bet amount (capped at 5,000x). Sweet Bonanza does similar tricks with candy and its maximum win exceeds 21,000x.
NetEnt: classic video slots and polished gameplay
NetEnt has been producing slots for over twenty-five years. NetEnt’s influence on the modern appearance of slots is immense. Gonzo’s quest (launched in 2011) was one of the First slot games to introduce players to an Avalanche mechanism: winning symbols explode and new symbols cascade into empty spaces. Many cascading reels / tumbling reels type games owe something to this concept. Starburst was launched in 2012 and remains in almost every lobby today. NetEnt excels at polishing their games. Smooth animation, carefully crafted sound effects and clearly written paytables are hallmarks of NetEnt slots. For example, Starburst is a low volatility slot with expanding wilds triggering respins until no more additional wilds appear on the board and a maximum win value of approximately 500x.
Play’n GO vs Pragmatic Play: two strategies to scale
Both play’n go and Pragmatic Play are enormous companies with completely different strategies to achieve success. Play’n go is a Swedish company formed in 1997 that achieved success building mobile slots before anyone else did. Book of Dead (released in 2016) is probably their most successful game yet. It’s a ten line slot game with an expanding symbol during free spins that awards double winnings for each subsequent spin on each active line. It had become one of the top five most played slots in europe by spring of 2018. Reactoonz demonstrates the other end of Play’n GO’s spectrum: a cluster pays grid with alien characters, charging meters, and lots going on at once. One fascinating comparison between Play’n GO and Pragmatic Play is how they achieved dominance. Pragmatic aggressively pursued global distribution and quick release cycles. Play’n go chose regulated markets (where possible) focused on character driven series (Rich Wilde, Cat Wilde, moon princess), and took a more measured approach to releasing games.
Big Time Gaming and the Megaways effect
Big Time Gaming is a relatively small studio in Australia with an outsized impact. Big Time Gaming invented Megaways, a mechanic where each reel can display any number of symbols per spin – potentially up to 117,649 ways to win. The First megaways slot premiered in 2016. Bonanza Megaways proved incredibly popular by combining megaways with cascading reels and an unlimited win multiplier during free spins. Big Time Gaming made an astute business decision: rather than keep Megaways for themselves, Big Time Gaming licensed Megaways to other studios. That’s why you will see countless Megaways slots from providers like Blueprint Gaming, Red Tiger, Pragmatic Play, and numerous others. If you’re interested in finding Megaways slots from the best slot providers, Big Time Gaming is the original creator; however, Blueprint Gaming and Red Tiger are arguably developing the most popular versions.
Hacksaw Gaming vs Nolimit City: high variance crowd
While Pragmatic Play brought extreme variance into mainstream consciousness, Hacksaw Gaming and Nolimit City continue to push the limits further. Both studios cater towards players seeking extremely large multiple wins and understand that while many sessions may yield nothing remotely exciting – those rare sessions may result in large payouts.
Hacksaw Gaming began as scratch card developers and instant win games producers before transitioning into slots development. Hacksaw Gaming employs an immediately recognizable art style: flat designs with bold colors and slight cartoon elements are incorporated throughout their games – which is matched by several bonus buy options per game. Wanted Dead or a wild has a max win potential of 12,500x; while Chaos Crew packs an unusually large amount of volatility into a surprisingly small grid size.
Microgaming/Games Global: legacy jackpot titles
Microgaming states that they created one of the very First online casino software platforms back in the mid-90s; therefore their back catalogue is massive. In 2022 microgaming sold its content division to Games Global; who currently distributes games from microgaming’s legacy library along with dozens of partnered studios worldwide.
Therefore, when you view a game labeled “Games Global”, it could be a classic Microgaming title or alternatively from one of their many partnered studios.
Relax Gaming: hybrid model
Relax Gaming serves two purposes simultaneously. Firstly, Relax Gaming produces its own slots (such as the Money Train series and Temple Tumble); secondly, Relax Gaming operates a content platform which distributes slot games from smaller partnered studios worldwide. Specifically – money train 2 has gained cult status due to its hold-and-win style bonus – where collectors/payers persistently reside on the board interacting together. The addition of the dream drop jackpot granted relax its own progressive product.
Push gaming: small but punches above its weight class
Relax Gaming is much larger than Push Gaming; however, Push Gaming has been able to punch well above its weight class with notable successes such as Jammin’ Jars providing new ideas for cluster pay type games incorporating moving multiplier wilds, and Razor Shark remaining one of the most feared high-variance slots today.
Beyond Europe: additional global slot providers
Coverage is largely limited to European developers – although numerous global developers exist outside of Europe. PG Soft has taken the lead within Asia, and their Mahjong Ways represents an excellent example of mobile-specific design for phones using portrait mode from inception.
Additionally, Playtech is enormous as well, having branded slots, progressive networks, and substantial live casino operations.
Light & Wonder (previously Scientific Games), IGT, Aristocrat, and Konami stem from land-based casinos; thus, why Cleopatra, Wheel of Fortune, and MegaBucks-style games remain online.
Those titles possess decades-long brand recognition from land-based casinos.
Choosing between slot providers based upon your playing preferences
To summarize: choosing between slot providers ultimately means selecting a maths model preference. Themes are merely cosmetic; volatility levels (and accompanying feature sets/rtp settings) determine whether you enjoy playing your preferred session length/budget or whether you become bored/frustrated by your preferred session length/budget.
Prior to playing any slot, I follow this checklist:
Determine your budget/session length prior to determining how volatile you want your session to be.
- Match volatility levels to session length/budget rather than vice versa.
- Low volatility/lower budget = net ent classics (Starburst + most play ‘n go + blueprint games).
- High volatility/highest budget = Nolimit City + Hacksaw
- Gaming + Push Gaming + Big Time Gaming.
- Always check that you have confirmed the correct RTP version that your casino is utilizing prior to placing real money wagers.
- Finally – always check whether bonus buy functionality exists in your market/country prior to treating it as inexpensive (i.e., as a shortcut).
Reasons casinos choose to use multiple slot providers
Using only one slot provider would bore most players within seven days. Each studio appeals to different moods:
- Pragmatic Play for fast multiplier action
- NetEnt for comfortable classics
- Nolimit City for chaotic gameplay
- Games Global for jackpot hunters.
- Casinos require coverage across multiple jurisdictions – not all studios have licenses issued for all jurisdictions.
- Exclusive early access releases provide casinos with something their competition lacks for a few weeks – which becomes important in a competitive market.
Frequently asked questions
Which are the largest slot providers?
The largest slot providers by virtue of distribution/catalogue size are Pragmatic Play, Play’n GO, Evolution Group (NetEnt + Red Tiger + BTG + Nolimit City), Games Global + Playtech + Light & Wonder.
In Asia, PG Soft is considered one of the largest slot providers.
Which slot provider offers Megaways slots?
Big Time Gaming created Megaways and licenses it to other studios. Therefore, you will find Megaways titles from numerous other studios, including Blueprint Gaming, Red Tiger, Pragmatic Play, et al.
Which slot providers offer high or low volatility?
For high volatility players, consider Nolimit City + Hacksaw Gaming + Push Gaming + Big Time Gaming.
For low volatility players, consider NetEnt + Play’n GO + Blueprint Games.
Which slot providers offer mobile-friendly slots?
All modern slots are HTML5 compatible and cross-browser compatible; thus, all modern slots will play fairly well on mobile devices.
Which slot providers offer slots with bonus buy options?
Bonus buy options are available from numerous studios including Pragmatic Play + Hacksaw Gaming + Nolimit City + Push Gaming + Relax Gaming + Big Time Gaming; however, bonus buy functionality is generally prohibited at UK-licensed casinos.
