Playtech Revolutionizes the Game: Products, Markets, Innovations
Company specializing in casino operations and multimedia technologies founded one of the largest online games and betting software providers in the world. Playtech has since become one of the top players in the market for gaming solutions, where a full Playtech gaming experience is offered to users worldwide.
One of the company's greatest strengths, as uncovered by its employees, is its stable relationships with more than 120 licensees in the industry that make up its customer base. Its product range works well across all of them, which makes it possible for end-users to play games via the internet on desktop, mobile, gaming terminals, and live broadcasts. Leading gaming applications are casino games, poker, bingo, sports betting, and games of chance.
Company History
Playtech was registered in the Estonian city of Tartu when it welcomed its first casino industry licensee on board. This was after conducting months of product and market research.
A breakthrough for Playtech occurred when its stock began to trade on the London Stock Exchange. It later established offices in Bulgaria and became a listed company by then. It also launched a sportsbook in regulated jurisdictions such as Italy, Spain, Estonia, and Serbia.
Several significant shifts in the operations of the firm made it one of the leading cross-platform solution providers for games. Playtech acquired companies such as GTS (bingo), Ash Gaming (mobile gaming), Mobenga (marketing), and Intelligence Gaming (management systems) to enable licensees to bridge retail and online networks.
Playtech grew larger with the acquisition of Geneity, an online gambling industry leader. It then acquired PokerStrategy and incorporated the service into its proprietary poker platform. The firm's headquarters are located on the Isle of Man.
Products and Services
Playtech now offers a comprehensive range of casino, poker, bingo, slots, sportsbook, binary options, social gaming mobile applications, lotteries, and server-based terminal software solutions. They are all part of a common platform, so they can be configured and launched separately or bundled. For example, clients can add side games to poker platforms or mini-games to bingo platforms.
The highlight product is IMS (Information Management Solution), offering an extensive toolkit to launch and run every facet of a gaming business, such as marketing, sales, and customer loyalty. The system is completely open for integration with third-party gaming products.
Playtech also has a selection of business services:
- Customer support (24/7, from registration to account closure);
- Financial services (reporting and analytics tools, dispute resolution);
- Fraud prevention (tools and resources to avert fraudulent activity);
- Hosting (choices of different degrees of flexibility to suit any budget);
- Payment consulting (assistance in choosing between 50 payment options);
- Bingo and poker network management;
- Live dealer services;
- Marketing (strategic consulting to media planning experience and tools).
Regulatory Compliance
Playtech continues to unlock new markets and venture into new regions by engaging with local communities. Tightly adhering to procedures of various international regulatory authorities is called for. The company remains closely attuned to the needs of all jurisdictions in which its licensees conduct business.
Playtech's philosophy learns from the best in the industry and has a firm commitment to responsible gaming practices. Although the company itself is just a B2B business and doesn't have direct interaction with players, it still takes its reputation seriously as essential to the success of the industry. Its products are honest gaming systems, player activity monitoring on every platform, and compulsive play protection. Playtech also provides financial support to a charity fund that funds problem gambling research.
Company Achievements
Playtech now employs over 5,000 people spread across offices from 14 nations. Based on interim financial reports, the company's revenue experienced immense growth, primarily from its casino products, land-based operations, and services.
Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange. While they have experienced a bit of up and down, their long-term growth trend is remarkable.
In the last few months, Playtech has been busy with numerous strategic projects: it signed a deal for branded games with Warner Bros., helped its licensee Gala Coral win a highly prized eGR Operator Award, launched a revised live roulette variant, and debuted the Top Gun slot. In the UK, it witnessed a fresh mobile jackpot triumph of €5.8 million by a Glasgow librarian playing the Jackpot Giant slot on an Android phone.
Slot Features
Playtech slots have the standard popular movie and comic book characters, including the Marvel superheroes. Functionality-wise, they are all very similar — the majority offer free spins, bonus rounds, autoplay, and special features such as Wild symbols that can act as jokers. When choosing a slot, players are more concerned with how things look than how they work because the chances of winning are very similar.
However, Playtech is ranked as one of the best progressive slot developers, where the jackpot may be accumulated to mammoth levels. These ones capture most of the player attention.
Playtech slots are widely available at most web casinos because they offer their software under an open license. This has a down side, however: a few sites take advantage of the license and keep large (or even small) jackpots from winners. Because removing the license isn't instant, these casinos can make money before they eventually shut down. Experienced gamers will avoid web casinos that have only Playtech games as a consequence.