The online betting and gaming industry is expected to double in size by 2024, reaching a figure just shy of $100 billion in annual revenue by the middle of the decade. It’s explosive growth for an industry that has already seen explosive growth in the 21st century. But the people fuelling this push aren’t the stereotypical camel-coated bookies, nor the traditional casino bosses; it is, like so many other industries, the tech guys who are revolutionizing the iGaming business.
Indeed, if you want to know what’s happening in gaming, you need to look beyond the sportsbooks and casino floors to places like Malta and Gibraltar, regarded as the Silicon Valleys of the iGaming industry. Here, software developers are working on innovative gaming concepts, aiming to bring things like VR, AR, AI, wearables and video games into the iGaming sphere.
There are literally hundreds of different developers who specialize in iGaming solutions, both in creating the games and platform solutions. Many of them have become corporate powerhouses, listed on global stock exchanges and growing much bigger than the gaming companies they supply. Below we take a look at some of the most innovative and prominent examples:
Playtech
One of the biggest success stories in the industry, Playtech went from being a tiny startup in Estonia to a global powerhouse of iGaming. Its main trait is the creation of branded games, which incorporate licensed material from movies, tv shows, rock bands, and so on. You can see a massive range of Playtech’s casino games at mansioncasino.com, where you can get a flavor of how the developer creates crossover appeal in its branding. The key to its success, however, is that Playtech does not brand games simply for the sake of it, but incorporates the source material into the gameplay. The result is that games like Justice League and Robocop become mini-extensions of the movies.
Microgaming
If you have ever wondered who is credited with launching the world’s first online casino game, then look no further. Microgaming was one of the first companies to see that all roads led to the internet, churning out 100s of games from the mid-90s onwards. Like Playtech, it likes to dabble in a bit of branding with games like Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones, but the sheer volume and diversity of its output is incredible.
Evolution Gaming
If you have followed the online gaming industry over the last decade, then you will be aware that live gaming has become a cornerstone of its present and future. Companies like Playtech and Microgaming are heavily involved in this, but Evolution Gaming is like the niche developer that the cool kids love – a bit like Tesla operating in the traditional car industry. Evolution has ripped up the script when it comes to offering casino games on a live format, sometimes promoting new gaming concepts ahead of traditional card and table games.
Blueprint Gaming
A real up-and-coming developer that has exploded onto the scene towards the end of the 2010s, Blueprint understands one key concept very well; namely, that the average casino game should be about much more than winning money and that they should resemble video games. As such, the developer has come up with some incredibly creative gaming concepts, especially in its range of slot games. In fact, playing a Blueprint slot game will make you reconsider everything you thought you knew about slots.
NetEnt
We mentioned earlier that iGaming basically covers sports betting and online casino gaming as the one industry. NetEnt, arguably more than most, seems to believe that they should be intertwined. The company is really pushing for the idea of virtual one-stop shops for betting, gaming and socializing. This idea was best seen with the roll-out of its betting widget during the last FIFA World Cup, which allowed players to bet on sports events through the croupier, play live casino games and discuss the soccer matches, all from the comfort of their homes.
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