Microgaming has been involved in a number of key events and innovations in the history of the iGaming niche. It is enough to know one fact: in 1994, Microgaming launched the first ever online casino – InterCasino. At least the company itself confidently records this achievement on its own account. Moreover, Microgaming representatives had a hand in the process of legalizing online gambling and contributed to the creation of an offshore jurisdiction in Antigua and Barbuda. Now it is not just a company that produces slots.
In addition to the online casino, Microgaming is engaged in other gambling activities and actively participates in social life. For example, the company finances children’s sports camps and makes donations to charitable foundations.
In general, Microgaming for online gambling is like FedEx for logistics, Boeing for airplanes, or MetLife for insurance. A big, respected brand that changed the history of the industry.
Company profile and history
The Isle of Man, which today is considered the Silicon Valley of the iGaming sphere, could never have reached this status if Microgaming had chosen a different location as its base. This choice is not accidental. Micro is native to South Africa, where in 1994 Martin Moshal and his partners created an innovative entity in the gambling industry. But the company later moved to the Isle of Man because of the 0% approach tax, setting an example for hundreds of others.
Microgaming did not have any serious competitors in the 90s and early noughties, so almost all the key achievements of that period belong to this developer. In 1996, the first online casino management system was released, which contributed to the conclusion of agreements with some operators. At the same time, the first license was obtained. A year later, on the initiative of the company, the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) was created, which fights against unfair software and protects players. A year later, Microgaming prepared a special surprise for the online casino – the industry’s first slot with a progressive jackpot.
Timeline of important moments over the years of the developer’s activity:
- 2001 – first Microgaming award:” Best Developer of the Year ” by Casino Player Magazine;
- 2003-launch of its own MPN (Microgaming Poker Network)poker network;
- 2003-initiates the creation of an independent agency for testing and certification of eCOGRA gambling software.
- 2004-software for gambling for money on a mobile phone (Java technology)was created for the first time;
- 2006-debut of Live Casino with live dealers, which opened a new page in the evolution of the niche;
- 2006 – presentation of the Mega Moolah slot machine, which will be famous for numerous records in the future.
- 2010 – launch of the Quickfire platform, which allows third-party operators to offer their online casino games and receive a White Label;
- 2011 – release of the industry’s first 3D Sterling Silver slot machine;
- 2012 – Blaze Poker, a new form of fast poker, debuted on the MPN network, where players can start new hands without waiting for the end of the previous one;
- 2014-Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch slot released for the first time;
- 2015 – a user of the British website Betsafe breaks the jackpot of 17,879,645 euros in Mega Moolah and gets into the Guinness Book of World Records. This is the biggest win in the history of online gambling.
- 2017-moving to a new smart office on the Isle of Man.
Misgodamingvyproduces products and is active in all areas of the gambling industry: slots, live casino, bingo, betting, table games. The company actively cooperates with other operators, offers its own management systems and other software solutions. The offline direction is also being developed. So far, the company is private, but in the future it is possible to enter the stock exchange.
Achievements and awards
Since 2001, Microgaming has regularly received prizes at prestigious gambling exhibitions and awards. eGaming Review (EGR) alone has received 12 awards in the B2B category. MPN network software was awarded the Best Software of the Year award four years in a row (2013-2016), and MPN was named the best network twice. EGR offers awards for innovation, recognition as the best operator in the industry (2010, 2012), and prizes for bingo.
Many awards were received at the Excellence Awards. There are wins in the categories “Best Company”, “Best manager”, “For social contribution”,” For workplace comfort ” and so on.
From 2014 to 2016, Microgaming won the Best Digital Product award at the Global Gaming Awards three times in a row. In 2016, he won the “Innovator of the Year” category at the International Gaming Awards, and in 2017, he won the “Best Mobile Product” award at the same awards.
Top games from the company for online casinos
To develop the online casino niche, Microgaming has done more than any other company in the industry. In 2016, at the BEGExpo Awards, the developer even received a prize as the operator with the largest range of games. In total, the line contains more than 600 games, of which more than half are slots. The developer actively converts automata from FLASH to HTML5, which makes them completely cross-platform. Downloadable programs are still being released.
The theme and design are diverse. There are classic slots with a 3×3 playing field, there are games with 3D animation. A line of slot machines is being developed in honor of famous films and multi-movies: “Terminator”, “Jurassic Park”, “Game of Thrones”. There are several dozen slot machines with progressive jackpots. RTP rises steadily. For example, the return of the Playboy slot is 97.8% – this is one of the most generous games in the portfolio. Older slot machines have shorter cycles, while the RNG behaves more unpredictably in new slots.
Microgaming’s most popular slot machines include Mega Moolah, a millionaires ‘ slot that regularly breaks jackpots. Real hits were games like Thunderstruck and Thunderstruck II, Avalon, Big Kahuna, Emoti Coin and others. Each player can choose a game based on gameplay, bonuses, and design.