Online casino software drives our online gambling pleasure

Online gambling is only possible because software has been developed which makes it possible and  in the same way that internet shopping has become more and more popular so has gambling online. It seems impossible to imagine that all of this which we take for granted has in fact been developed in relatively few years. There are still plenty of people around who remember that the only way to place a bet was to go to the local bookmaker and most of those were pretty dingy places full of smoke. If you wanted casino gambling it was even worse as casinos were a rarity and of course an Irish casino did not exist at all. All that has changed and with casino software and sports gambling software everybody has access to online gambling from the comfort of their own home. The area of casino software has probably shown the most dramatic changes over the years bringing more and more casino games within reach of everybody. Way back in the beginning of online casinos everybody tried to write their own casino software which had mixed success but there was a change when one of the online casino companies decided to stop offering a casino and concentrate on writing software for others. This prompted others to follow suit and today virtually no online casino writes its own software and there are a number of casino software suppliers.

The availability of online casino software has also meant that it is easier to create an online casino so that today there are hundreds to choose from however they are not all what they seem to be so care is advised when choosing. A safe way is to use a portal such as gambling.ie which checks out new online gambling sites including online casinos to make sure that they are fit to be listed. One of those checks concerns licensing and where that license is registered while another checks that the casino software they are using has a random number generator which is regularly checked by a third party. There are a number of casino software suppliers although far fewer than there are online casinos which in turn means that you are going to come across the same casino games on a number of different online casinos sites. This is not a problem and in fact under certain circumstances it can be a definite advantage. For example in the area of casino gambling there are what are called progressive jackpot slots. The jackpots for these casino slots are not fixed but build up over time with every spin contributing a very minuscule amount until it is won. These jackpots can easily reach many millions of Euro and clearly the more spins there are the faster the jackpot will build. If several online casinos are carrying the slot in question the faster the jackpot will build. This also in some way explains why online casinos are very happy when one of their players hits an enormous jackpot when you might expect them to be in mourning. The reason being that it is the casino software supplier that is administering the jackpot and when the jackpot is won it costs them nothing extra but they can of course use the fact that their player has won for all sorts of promotions.

The main players in the casino software market are NetEnt, Microgaming who often have casino slots under the brand name Quickfire, Playtech and Amatic Industries who operate online under the name of Amanet. This last mentioned player is interesting as although they have been in the industry for many years they have only relatively recently entered the online market. Prior to this Amatic was better known for their slots technology in the cabinet style machines that are found in clubs and casinos which means that the brand name is not well known at all despite the fact that some of the slots will be. They also bring some of the simpler casino slots to online casinos that have for example only three reels and one winning line. This type of slot does appeal to some Irish casino players as they are very easy to follow. A good selection of these slots can be found at www.casinocasino.com which can be accessed directly from this site.

NetEnt on the other hand is probably best known for some of the more quirky video slots such as Gonzo’s Quest™ or Jack Hammer™. These video slots are different because instead of using five reels  they operate with 15 symbols on screen which are completely independent  of each other. This enables multiple wins to stack up in different ways. Gonzo’s Quest™ which is based on an explorer in Peru has a win multiplier for successive wins which moves from 1X to 2X to 3X and 5X. Successive wins are achieved when winning symbols are automatically replaced by new ones with no further stakes being required. There are also wild symbols and free spins symbols which are called free falls in this slot and they are particularly interesting as in free spins mode the win multiplier starts at 3X and moves through 6X and 9X to 15X the win with all wins being cumulative. Jack Hammer™ and Jack Hammer 2™ which is a very similar slot use a different technique whereby winning symbols are held instead of being replaced and all others are spun again. This feature is called Sticky Wins™ and the process of holding wins is repeated over and over again until the win is not improved. This can be several spins later and all the time the win is improving.

Microgaming casino software is used by several online casinos and are particularly strong in progressive jackpot slots such as Mega Moolah™ where jackpots regularly run into the millions of Euro. Online gambling is a way of life these days and the casino software companies are always trying to bring new features into play. What the next development will be remains to be seen.