Playtech Casinos

Playtech are one of the biggest casino software providers in the world. In fact, they actually claim to be the biggest, although we cant really say for sure. One thing we do know is that the company have been pumping out some of the most exhilarating casino games in the industry since their introduction in 1999.

Whilst the company are predominantly an online entity, they have strong ties to land-based gaming as well, powering the first land based casino to go online in 2002. It's undoubtable that Playtech roots lie in the online casino industry, with the majority of their time being spent developing this section of company, but they also offer up services in sports betting, poker, lottery, online bingo, binary and social gaming.

There are two standout features that Playtech have been keen to develop and these are their ties with branded games from companies such as HBO, Marvel, MGM, NBC and Universal along with their keen eye for design. We've often found it pretty easy to spot a Playtech design casino game, mainly down to how slick they look and the features that these games include.

Playtech have also been lucky enough to team up with some of the biggest players in the gambling industry, with names including Betfair, Coral, William Hill and Paddy Power. Companies like these will only work with the best, so it's a massive accreditation for Playtech to be powering these types of online casino.

Playtech Casino Games

Playtech have been renowned for the sheer volume of games that they offer to their punters. They currently have over 500 to choose from, but what's more impressive is that they strive to integrate over 50 new titles each year. Whilst you would think, as a result, the overall number of games would rise, we've noticed that what they tend to do is discontinue games that either aren't performing well or don't stand up to their high gameplay standards. We've found this to be a much more efficient way in developing games, as it keeps everything fresh and gets rid of games that have run their course.

The versatility of their product allows users to play in both a flash and downloadable product. Whilst all the games are available for both forms, we have noticed that some games aren't on offer by certain casinos for their flash based browsers. Honestly, we aren't sure why, but if you cant find the game you are looking for, then it might be worth downloading the client to see if it's there.

Playtech are strictly a software provider and they don't offer any standalone version run by them. This isn't uncommon for casino software providers and there are actually very few (if any) in current circulation.

The graphics, as we mentioned earlier, is probably the standout feature for Playtech games. The slots especially seem to have a depth that very few software providers offer. Instead of merely just sitting there and spinning away, you get really involved with the storyline that's taking place and become emerged in what's going on. But, this isn't true for all there games and we have noticed that they have their fair share of titles that are a little below par. Again though, they have been known to discontinue products that aren't up to scratch and replace them with new games that are, keeping Playtech constantly feeling fresh and modern.

One thing that we have always related Playtech games to is their feature games from within online slots. Now this may just be us, but Playtech always seem to have some of the best features going. Games such as The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Wolverine, Iron Man 3, Spider Man and The Money Drop are particular favourites, each with exciting feature rounds to keep players coming back for more.


Playtech offer over 500 gaming choices from their current portfolio, with a huge number of those coming in the form of online slots. They do range quite dramatically in terms of what you get from each game, but we were particularly impressed with some of the licensed titles and how deep they have become.

We have mentioned a few of these titles above but a few more favourites include The Sopranos, Thor, Ghost Rider, King Kong and so many more. We would guess that's it's the biggest range of licensed slots in the industry and it's easily our favourite software provider when it comes to the range that's on offer.

There's a good mix of the older 3 reel games along with the newer 5 reel offerings that Playtech provides. As mentioned, the features for each slot will vary, but you can often expect bonus rounds, free spins, multipliers, free bets and some juicy progressive jackpots in there for good measure.


Playtech offer up three varieties of blackjack, each with ranging features. The first is your standard blackjack table, which you should be pretty familiar with. The second is Blackjack Surrender Multi Hand, where you get the table to yourself and can play as many hands as you wish. The final variant is that of live dealer dealt blackjack. This is actually pretty new to the Playtech armoury but it's a cool process where you can actually see and interact with your dealer whilst watching a live video feed of the cards coming down. It's a slower process than that of playing online, but simulates the land-based game pretty well.


You get 5 different roulette options from Playtech, each having their own unique identity Your regular game is offered but we were intrigued to see their Marvel incorporated roulette games, with the one that we tested having bonus rounds and progressive jackpots included as well. You can also pick from the multi wheel game, which is great fun, allowing you to place your bets on one table but taking the pay-outs from up to 8 wheels. You will need to pay 8x your bet though, so it can get expensive.

Video Poker

You get 7 variations of video poker which include jacks or better, aces and faces, deuces wild, 2 ways royal, 25 line games, 4 line games and 10 line games. What we will mention is the designs of these types of games are so much nicer than their competitors. Video Poker always seems to be a game that gets overlooked when it comes to design, but we think that Playtech probably have the best looking games in the industry. Not to mention that there are 7 variants, with most only having 2 or 3.

Other Games

Some other games to note on the Playtech network include Rubik's Riches, Cashblox, Keno, Bonus Bowling, Penalty Shootout, Derby Day, Virtual racing, Rock-Paper-Scissors and Heads or Tails.

Mobile Casino Games

Playtech have been very proactive in the mobile casino market, making sure that they have a dedicated version of their software in place. This isn't just the availability of their software on a mobile device, but a complete re-design that is developed and targeted for use on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

They state that the majority of their games have been coded in HTML 5, but that they only operate on iOS and Android devices for the time being. We would expect, given that it's HTML 5, that they software be available to more platforms in the not so distant future.

We were unable to find the exact number of games that were on offer for mobile users but looking around some of their bigger promoters, it looked as if pretty much all the online games were available on a mobile device. Obviously we haven't tested each and every game, but the bigger titles such as Iron Man 3, The Sopranos and Spiderman were all on offer.

About Playtech

Playtech were originally an Estonian based company started back in 1999. Entrepreneurs who were already a part of the online casino industry founded the company and it was they who decided that there was a gap in the market for Playtech.

Since then the company have gone on to be big players in the online poker and online bingo industry, as well as online casino. They run the iPoker network and a successful bingo network making them one of the most powerful companies in the industry.

In 2006 the company was traded on the London Stock Exchange and they still hold the title of the biggest software developers in that gambling industry of whom are publicly trading. The company are continuingly trying to improve their portfolio and acquisitions in 2010 of several key players from a number of gambling sectors including poker, bingo, mobile and sports book, have underlined the determination and sheer growth of Playtech.