IGT are one of the world’s oldest online casino providers with their roots starting way back in the 1950’s. While IGT (International Game Technology) was clearly not creating casino software half a century ago, they were already busy pioneering casino technology and the American-founded company is credited with creating the first video poker machine.
Since these early days, IGT have gone on to become one of the top software providers in the world, and today, offer casino games and software to operators around the world with millions of players using the platform each month. IGT were quick to leave an impact on the gambling industry with their introduction of the progressive jackpot machine – a feature that’s still hugely popular today, some 30 odd years later.
IGT Games
IGT offer a wide selection of games for players to enjoy with, at the time of writing, 2,897 titles currently available to players around the world! Now it’s worth noting not all games are available to players, as some are licensed to certain countries only, while others are available for the majority of players, but not others. See the ‘Licensing’ section below for more information.
Casino Table Games
IGT’s Casino Table Games selection is one of the most comprehensive around today and not only will you find all the popular classics like Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, 3 Card Poker, Casino Hold’em, Sic Bo and Caribbean Stud Poker, but you’ll also find a plethora of variations of each.
Roulette
For instance, take Roulette. While it sounds like a fairly basic game on its own, IGT strive to give players a huge amount of variation, and they currently offer over 25 Roulette titles, including French Roulette, Multiplayer Roulette Evolution, Master Roulette, Dynasty Roulette, French Roulette Pro Single Player, Roulette Supreme, 3-Wheel Roulette and Aloha Roulette. Most interesting on this list is Aloha Roulette, which incorporates the theme of one of IGT’s more popular Video Slots, Aloha! The Roulette game intertwines with the Video Slot, allowing players who enjoy both games to have a centralised game to enjoy – the best of both worlds!
Blackjack
IGT’s Blackjack section is equally as comprehensive, although surprisingly not as varied. Nevertheless, Blackjack once again gives a variety of different variations to enjoy, including regular Blackjack, Multi-Hand Blackjack, Blackjack Perfect Pairs and more!
Video Slots
IGT’s largest range of games is their Video Slot selection, which is exemplary, and while their numbers may not be as impressive as other companies, they offer hundreds of slot games, ranging from classic one-liners to the ever-popular Video Slot (which is what this section focuses on). One of their popular titles is Wolf Run, which has gone on to be featured heavily in UK bookmakers. The 100,000 Pyramid is another popular Video Slot, again featured in bookmakers within the UK, as well as most casinos that offer IGT games.
One of the reasons that IGT Video Slot games are so popular, is that mobile players are able to play the games in their entirety. This means that if a player chooses to run the game from their phone or tablet, they can enjoy the game as though they were on a computer or laptop. All game functions and settings are available, and of course, while the game is designed slightly different, to ensure it runs smoothly, this fact alone is one of the core reasons IGT has become so popular amongst players.
Jackpot Games
The IGT jackpot game range is also very impressive with their website having a dedicated page listing the jackpot games currently available! The most popular titles in their Jackpot game range is by far ‘The Dark Knight’, which is a Batman franchise. The games known to have a jackpot total topping well over £1 Million, so while it’s not as large as the likes of Microgaming or Net Entertainment games, it’s still a sizeable amount – enough to change lives!
Other jackpot Video Slot games include Family Guy: The Sequel, Ghostbusters Triple Slime, The Hangover Pretty Awesome, Avatar, Jurassic park, Video Megabucks Wheel, and Megabucks Mega Volt Re-Spin. IGT also offer jackpots on a variety of non-Video Slot games, and their Video Poker titles feature very large jackpots, generally paid to players upon making a Royal Flush at the maximum coin bet.
Live Dealer Casino
Like most software providers, IGT have been quick to jump on board the Live Dealer Game ‘boom’, and they now offer one of the most extensive ranges of live casinos games in the world. A press release, noted that IGT are continually setting new standards when it comes to Live Dealer Games and they cite their personal space, freedom from intimidation of real-life gambling and faster dealing as the main reasons why their Live Dealer Games software has become so popular.
They’ve ensured all the popular casino games are available with multiple variations of Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, 3 Card Poker, Casino Hold’em, Sic Bo, Caribbean Stud Poker and Red Dog on offer at casinos that run the IGT Live Dealer Game platform. Their range of live games is one of the fastest-expanding as well with new games added every month. On top of that, the development team are keeping up-to-date with technology by ensuring the dealer games are accessible to mobile players, maximising the gaming experience and minimising any lag, delay, or freezing while playing – something that most gaming companies are working hard to eradicate.
Unusual Games
IGT like to make money of their popular Video Slot games into spin-offs and their Scratch Card range is one of the most commonly-seen ways in which they do this. For example, The 100,000 Pyramid – a popular follow-up to their previous hit, 50,000 Pyramid – draws fans of the popular TV show by the thousands. IGT decided to create a Scratch Game that allows players to enjoy the same theme, while experiencing a totally different gaming experience. There are over 200 Scratch Card and ‘Instant Win’ games on offer from IGT, and like all their other game product lines, new variations are added all the time.
Operating Jurisdictions
IGT are one of the most globally-licensed software providers with a huge number of countries, territories and jurisdictions covered. They currently operate in over 100 countries around the world, and while the companies had varying success (both legally and financially) in the USA, most countries around the world are able to enjoy IGT games – although the game selection available will differ significantly, depending on where you reside.
For instance, players in the United Kingdom, have access to exactly 218 games (at the time of writing), while players in Finland have a total of 1,345 games on offer. This is due to, in this specific case, the UK Gambling Commission requiring all games to be licensed for UK players, so in a rare occurrence, UK players actually have a far-more limited game selection than most countries! That said, in general, you’ll be able to play all the top games, no matter where you’re located, as it tends to be their smaller, less-popular titles that aren’t available globally. That’s likely due to the fact it’s not financially viable to spend time and money licensing all games, when they won’t be played regularly.
About IGT
IGT have continually revolutionized both the Video Slot and Casino Table Game industries, and alongside their casino games, they also offer some of the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art software platforms to operators, ensuring they’ve cemented their name as a leading casino game developer today. Established in 1976, it wasn’t until the early 1980’s that the company became well known, and this coincided with their ‘going public’ – becoming traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As soon as the company went public, they almost instantaneously begun focusing their efforts on slot development, noticing the growing trend of players choosing to play video slots over classic casino games, like Roulette and Blackjack.
IGT saw incredibly fast growth and it wasn’t long before the company started opening international offices with headquarters in South Africa, London and Argentina. This expansion meant IGT could reach a far greater market chunk, as well as increasing their game-development efforts and making sure new games were brought out to new territories and jurisdictions in a timely manner. While early slots are largely forgotten – some of the IGT’s most popular games have remained player favourites for almost a decade with Cleopatra, White Orchid and Wolf Run being three of their most popular titles – boasting millions of spins a year and paying out tens of millions in winnings.
One of the most important parts of IGT’s history is their takeover of WagerWorks in 2011. WagerWorks were a company operating out of the United States of America, recognised for developing the online version of the Hard Rock Casino that is based in Las Vegas. When the US Government outlawed online gambling in the early 2000’s, WagerWorks noticed profits plummeting and that’s where IGT came in. They went on to completely drop the WagerWorks brand and run everything under the IGT name, bringing together two of the world’s most reputable online casino software providers, and creating a global giant!
IGT is one of the largest gaming operations in the world today, with over 12,000 employees currently working for the company around the world (as of 2015). As expansion continues, it’s likely this figure will increase, particularly with loosening gambling laws around the world. The company is worth a staggering $3.36 billion with assets of $15 Billion and a yearly revenue of around $4 Billion. Looking at those figures, it’s clear IGT aren’t just a small-time business, but rather positioning themselves as the ‘Microsoft’ of online gambling. This raises an interesting point, as the name IGT itself is far-less recognisable to players than that of – say, Microgaming or Net Entertainment. And, while IGT don’t have the same ‘cult-fan’ club type of image that other gaming software company’s do, their games are highly-enjoyed and are delivered subtly with many new titles added each month.