Playtech is a true titan in the world of gambling software and is one of the biggest online gaming brands. It employs over 5000 people across several offices in the Isle of Man, London, Malta, Tallinn, and other cities. The company had revenues of over €1.5 billion in 2019.
At present, Playtech is a complete gambling software company. It is one of the biggest vendors of online video slots, progressive jackpots, table games, live dealer games, and other exciting casino software in the industry.
Playtech also supplies software and betting terminals to land-based casinos, betting shops, pubs, and other offline gambling locations. They even provide complete online casino software packages to operators.
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From Humble Beginnings in Estonia
But things were not always like this for Playtech. The company started out as a small firm in Tallinn, capital of Estonia in 1999. It was established by a group of investors, professionals, and online gambling enthusiasts, led by an Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi.
It took the company another two years to launch its first product in online gambling, in 2001. The company witnessed rapid growth in that decade, even overcoming the obstacles posed by the ban on online casinos in the US (2006) and the global financial crisis.
The growth was marked by the acquisition of numerous other companies operating at various levels of the industry. In casino game development, Playtech owns subsidiaries like Quickspin, Ash gaming, YoYo Games,
Over the years, they have linked up with major companies in gambling and sports betting, like William Hill, Coral, Paddy Power, and more. They even develop lottery software and games and have partnerships with state-owned lotteries in many European countries.
The State of Playtech Casino Games
From the above history, it is quite clear that Playtech is a name that carries a lot of weight in the online gambling industry. They have the resources and expert manpower to create some of the best slots and table games on the market.
The current catalog of Playtech games has over 650 titles spread across all known categories and niches. They are an industry leader in the creation and design of video slots. In the past, Playtech was the first company to bring authentic comic superhero-themed slots in partnership with Marvel.
The partnership ended when Disney acquired Marvel. Playtech then promptly allied with Warner Bros and DC Comics to bring out Justice League, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman-themed slots. They also have an impressive slot collection from subsidiaries like Quickspin.
No article about Playtech Games is complete without a mention of their live dealer games division. This is another area where the company has been a pioneer over the years. The Playtech live dealer blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and other game rooms serve both European and Asian markets with support for English, Spanish, Italian and Romanian languages.
Large Online Poker & Bingo Networks
Since the early 2000s, Playtech has also focused heavily on establishing massive online poker networks involving millions of players. To make this possible, the company has steadily acquired other poker and bingo software developers over the years.
Their iPoker network is the world’s largest online poker network in terms of the number of players. The same can be said about Virtue Fusion, their subsidiary that specializes in online bingo networks.
Reliable and trusted, but with some flaws
Playtech has licenses from many major gambling markets, like the United Kingdom, Malta, Spain, to name a few. There can be no doubt that they only use fair and 100% random algorithms for their games and software.
But the brand has also been caught in several controversies and scandals over the years. Almost all of these were the result of their approach in dealing with online casino operators. Companies like Netent are very strict about associating only with casinos that adhere to strict standards.
Playtech takes a more hands-off approach. This has resulted in instances where operators associated with the brand are accused of holding back jackpot payments, paying out large wins in installments, and things like that.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Playtech has excellent software, video slots, card games, poker, bingo, and live casino games for players. All their titles are guaranteed fair and come with excellent support for HTML5 and mobile gaming. The only problem stems from a few unscrupulous operators tarnishing the company’s good name by following unethical practices.
