Have you ever wondered why some online casinos look very similar to others, both in layout and graphics, and in some cases you will even find identical casino games on two or three different sites. The reason for this lies in the online casino software which individual online casinos choose to run their sites. Almost all the online casino operators use specialist casino software companies, and it is these companies that design the site layout, the casino games graphics and indeed the slots which form the majority of the casino games offered on most online casinos. They even negotiate the copyright deals with the big media and entertainment organisations when they want to use popular cartoon characters or television programmes as a basis for their slots games. The casino software companies therefore have a very important role to play in our selection of which online casino we choose to play our casino games. Currently there are four big players in the casino software sector, namely Microgaming, Wagerworks, Chartwell and Playtech, which is actually owned by William Hill. Betfred and Bet365 also use Playtech software for their online casino sites, and a quick look at these sites will confirm that they are almost identical. Some online casino operators actually use two different casino software companies to design their sites, with one usually responsible for the slots and the other providing the traditional casino games such as roulette and blackjack. If we have aroused your curiosity regarding these very important contributors to the online casino experience, we have provided more detail in our casino software pages, but for most of us it doesn’t matter who provides the software provided we enjoy the casino games and the graphics suit our taste. Nevertheless, it is good to understand just how important the casino software companies are in the online casino business.