Over the last twenty years we have seen a great deal of praise lavished on the computer hardware designers, who have made personal computers, laptops and tablets so affordable that the vast majority of the population of a country such as Ireland can access the internet through at least one of those devices. That praise is of course well deserved but we should not forget that without the appropriate software none of those devices would operate in the way we now expect. Not only do all computers require operating systems, but every internet website we visit also requires efficient software to make the site viable. This could be a simple advertising page with the very basic information about a particular company or organisation, or it could be a full blown retail site selling direct to the public and requiring sophisticated software to handle the financial aspects of operating such a site. Whatever the purpose of a website it will require a software designers input at some stage. When it comes to online casinos however the casino software is even more important because many of the casino games we enjoy online are in fact designed and supplied by the casino software companies. Regular visitors to onlinecasino.ie will know that we have been monitoring the online casino sector for many years, and this has in turn led to a great many updates to our recommended list as more and more excellent online casinos have become available to casino games players in Ireland. The first online casinos were all established as part of large online sports gambling sites operated by the leading bookmakers, but they have now been joined by several smaller specialist online casino operators focussed solely on the provision of enjoyable casino games. There is however a tendency for us to focus on the online casino operators during our regular audits of these online casinos, whereas if we are really honest what we are checking is the work of the casino software companies rather than that of the site operators. Even the traditional casino games such as roulette, blackjack and baccarat which are available on all the online casino sites and which have clearly not had any design input from the casino software companies are still affected by the casino software employed, because their online appeal is undoubtedly influenced by the quality of the graphics, which is a casino software issue. The biggest influence of the casino software suppliers is however to be found in the huge range of slots games available on every online casino site. This is where the choice of casino software supplier by the site operators is most influential, because most of these games have actually been designed by the casino software company employees. Many of these slots games are also based on popular films or cartoon characters, which is another area where the casino software suppliers have a big input because it is those software companies which have negotiated the copyright and licensing issues associated with using those themes. There is no doubt that as more and more online casino operators have joined the market and therefore our choices have become greater, the influence of the online casino software companies on the relative success of a particular online casino has also grown.
The biggest and probably the most dominant of the casino software companies is Playtech. Founded in Estonia in 1999, Playtech has grown substantially over the years and their casino software is currently used by William Hill, Bet365, Betfred and recently Ladbrokes. They were also responsible for the first live online casino option with casino games being streamed live from a studio to our computer screens, and the introduction of the first bingo and poker platforms in the early 2000’s. Their success and dominant position in the online casino sector is also due in part to the licensing agreements they were able to negotiate with both Paramount Digital Entertainment and then Marvel Entertainment in 2008 and 2009 enabling them to theme some of their slots games on popular films and cartoon characters. Fortunately from the point of view of the variety of casino games we all want, not every major bookmaker chose to use Playtech casino software to manage their sites and supply their casino slots games. Ireland’s favourite bookmaker Paddy Power for example chose a company called Wagerworks as their casino software supplier. Wagerworks was originally a slot machine manufacturer, but no concentrates all its efforts on providing online casino software and online slots games, and has proved very successful for Paddy Power and their online casino site. The most recent developments we have seen in the online casino sector are however focussed on the introduction of the new specialist online casinos such as the very popular All Irish casino. These smaller specialist sites have also introduced us to other casino software companies such as NetEntertainment, which is in fact the software supplier chosen by the All Irish casino operator. Often known by the shortened name of NetEnt, it is a Swedish company specialising solely in designing online casino games with no links at all to any other casino operations. One of the most significant developments in the casino software market over recent years has also resulted from the introduction of the smaller specialist online casinos, and that is the use of many different casino software companies to supply casino slots games on a site. Casinoland, Yako and Instacasino are all realtively new online casino sites which all offer casino games supplied by a range of different casino software companies. This approach clearly offers a range of different types of slots games on the same site, and has been welcomed by many casino games fans in Ireland. There is one other important feature to be found among the new specialist online casino sites, and that is the first ever online availability of many of the iconic Amatic Industries collection of slots games which can now be found at the CasinoCasino site. Serious slot machine enthusiasts can now play many of their favourite slots games online for the first time.