A Guide to Microgaming – History and Games

When the company was founded in 1994, they decided that rather than try to create an online casino they would specialise in the creating and developing of online games. The idea of an online casino was in the works but Microgaming knew that there would be a gulf in quality in the market if the online casino companies were to make their own games, and there was an opportunity in the market to make games and provide them to the first casinos. Microgaming went on to produce games and then it could licence its games to the operators. This decision was fundamental in the evolution of online casinos and laid the path for all the subsequent developer companies who would go on to make their own games.

In 2003, Microgaming became a founding member of eCOGRA, an organisation that independently made certifications of online gambling software and systems. The organisation was established so that operators, software providers and relevant service providers could achieve the objectives for player protection, fair gaming and responsible conduct. Despite being an independent institution, the policies and procedures of the company are recognised in the jurisdictions of over 31 countries. These countries include the UK, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden amongst others in Europe; Cagayan in Asia; Kahnawake, New Jersey in the US; Ontario in Canada; and Buenos Aires City and Province and Columbia in South America.

This movement cleaned up a large part of the industry that was unregulated and Microgaming still adhere to the regulations and procedures of eCOGRA today, having served as a role model for other gaming developers for the past 18 years.

The company is first and foremost a game developer, and wanting to experiment in the market they try to stay ahead with their innovations. In 2004 Microgaming launched the first mobile platform online games and then in 2006, they released their first progressive slot, called the Mega Moolah.

They have also been known to collaborate with other big companies as well as independent start-up companies. On their current website there is a list of independent collaborators with whom they have developed some games, these include newly formed developers such as Stormcraft Studios, Fortune Factory Studios, Switch Studios, On Air Entertainment amongst others, with more collaborations set to be launched in the coming months.

Microgaming currently holds more than 20 licenses including from the UK Gambling Commission, Danish Gambling Authority, the Swedish Gambling Authority, the Spanish Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling, the Italian Gambling Authority of Customs and Monopolies, the Belgian Gaming Commission, the Bulgarian State Commission on Gambling, the Estonian Ministry of Finance, the Latvian Lotteries and Gambling Supervision Inspection, the Portuguese Gambling Inspection and Regulation Service and the Romanian National Gambling Office amongst more.

Microgaming for Casino Operators

Microgaming has a software for casino operators called the Microgaming Casino. How it works is that the software can be used to help build or develop a casinos webpage to make sure that the casino is in standards with eCOGRA (this step can happen in the event that the casinos service has not been tested against the eCOGRA's rigorous testing). Then Microgaming can supply all of their games to the casino, who can customise the content to make bespoke games. The casinos can create bespoke promotions for the games they received from Microgaming. Training and full support and assistance is provided from Microgaming on demand, and casinos can then use Microgaming's huge portfolio of games in the way that serves them the best.

Microgaming Slots

Microgaming has one of the best portfolios amongst gaming developers, with a substantial body of work that is full of choice and variety. With a number of games that have creative features and exciting bonuses, Microgaming has certainly catered for every online slot players' taste. They also release new content quite frequently, for the hardcore fan base these releases are events to look forward to.

In terms of themes, there is practically no theme that has not been explored by Microgaming, with their current catalogue including Aliens, Ancient Civilisations, Animals, Branded, Classic 3 Reel, Fantasy, Fruits, Holiday, Retro, Sci-Fi, Sports and Steampunk slots amongst many more.

As well as their classic slots and video slots, there are a number of progressive slots, including the aforementioned Mega Moolah. With the resources Microgaming has, they can afford to make the largest progressive jackpots in the world.

The sums of money that can be won in these games are potentially life changing, since the creation of the first jackpot slot, Microgaming has paid out more than €1.45 billion to date!

The Mega Moolah jackpot network is the most famous in the world. It is a Safari themed slot that is set in African wildlife. With 5 reels and 25 paylines, there is nothing visibly outstanding or suggesting that could tell you that it's possible to win outrageous sums of money, but that makes it all the more fun.

The game features free spins with multipliers, but the real thriller is the Jackpot Bonus Game feature. The bonus game is a spin the wheel game, where there are mini, minor, major and Mega jackpot prizes. The mega jackpots are seeded at €1 million, which increases after every spin that was made in the entire network. The way this works is that a small percentage of every bet is put aside to go into the jackpot. With vast numbers of people playing the game around the world, this number constantly goes up. The largest win in the Mega Moolah slot games to date was €19.4 million and there have been three other jackpots that have exceeded the €14 million mark.

If the Safari theme is not your thing, then there are many more linked Mega Moolah games that share the same jackpot network, including Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah, Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah and Fortunium Gold: Mega Moolah, Immortal Romance: Mega Moolah, Juicy Joker: Mega Moolah, Mega Moolah Goddess and The Witch's Moon: Mega Moolah. All of these games have their own themes and symbols, but all have the Jackpot Bonus Game feature in common. Recently Microgaming announced that there will be more games added to the Mega Moolah jackpot network.

Microgaming Games

Microgaming also has a big portfolio of table games all with high quality visuals, realistic sound effects and are easy to use. All of the most popular games like blackjack, poker, roulette and baccarat can be found as well as all of the different variants for each depending on the rules. For blackjack for example there is Atlantic City Blackjack, Vegas Strip Blackjack, Vegas Downtown Blackjack, Vegas Single Deck Blackjack to name a few. Fans of poker will be able to find Hold 'Em Poker, Joker Poker, All Aces Poker, 3 Card Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Pai Gow Poker and High Speed Poker just to name a few.

Microgaming has of course made versions of all the standard roulette games such as as European Roulette, American Roulette and French Roulette. The company has also made a few variants of its own such as Multi Wheel Roulette, Roulette Royale, Premier Roulette and Multifire Roulette.

Conclusion

All online casino operators from the start-ups to the biggest operations know that it is almost impossible to compete in the market without having Microgaming games in their collection of provided games. Microgaming has many games to offer for all kinds of players, but especially for slot players the choice is so big that it is easy to get intimidated and not know where to start. This is why there are free demos of each game provided by Microgaming, and because of the huge presence of the company, there will be ample material to read up on when looking for the next game to play.