Playtech Casinos & Slots

Playtech is one of the world’s largest gambling suppliers, producing turnkey casino solutions to operators as well as a huge games portfolio including video slots, table games and a well-respected live dealer studio.

The company was founded by Israeli visionary, Teddy Sagi, in 1999. His mission was to create a robust casino software unlike anything on the market at the time. His team spent two years designing and perfecting the product before its eventual release in 2001.

Playtech enjoyed great success throughout the early 2000s, following the launch of a bingo solution and the world’s largest poker network, iPoker. Playtech went public in 2006, launching on the London Stock Exchange with a  valuation at more than £500 million.

The introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act later that year made it impossible for the company to continue operating in the US market, causing a 40% decline in the company’s share value in just one day.

Fortunately, Playtech was already working to replace its lost US revenue through the acquisition of smaller gaming companies that would allow it to expand into new and alternative markets.

The latter half of the 2000s saw Playtech go on a shopping spree, purchasing companies like PokerStrategy, Ash Gaming and online bingo provider, Virtue Fusion.

This acquisition strategy continued into the current decade, result in the business now operating nine subsidiary slot content studios across seven owned brands. These include Playtech Origins, Ash Gaming, Playtech Vikings, Eyecon, Quickspin, Sunfox Games, Geco Gaming, Rarestone Gaming and Psiclone Games.

Quick Facts

Highest RTP: Top Trumps World Cup stars (98.72%)
Lowest RTP: Football Carnival (91.32%)
Min. bet per line: 1p
Max bet per line: £5
Our favourite: Wonder Woman

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Playtech's branded slot games

Microgaming’s launch of the first trademarked slot game in 2005, prompted many of its competitors to follow suit, including Playtech.

Playtech’s aggressive content strategy has led to exclusive brand deals with Hollywood juggernauts to produce slots based on famous films and TV shows like Gladiator, Batman, Pink Panther, Little Britain and Rocky.

In 2009, Playtech agreed to a monumental deal with Marvel Studios to create a range of hit games based on comic book characters, including Captain America, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

However, the licence wasn’t extended and the Marvel range was removed on 31st May 2017. This is likely due to Disney’s acquisition of the franchise and its reluctance to be associated with the gambling industry, given its family-friendly image.

This was quickly replaced by the multi-year deal Playtech had already signed with Warner Bros to produce slot games themed on DC film and television franchises such as Batman, Green Lantern, Superman and Suicide Squad.

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Age of Gods series

Playtech is well-known for its Age of the Gods slot franchise which has over 15 variations including bingo and roulette games.

The first three Age of the Gods titles were launched in July 2016 on Playtech’s top tier operators and is now only available on Playtech-powered casinos, with the exception of some proprietary sites like Videoslots Casino and SuperCasino.

The Age of the Gods series takes inspiration from Greek mythology and feature classic figures such as Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Athena, Medusa, Pegasus and Hera.

Each game has a bonus round triggered by landing three or more scatter symbols. You are then either randomly assigned or can pick a game themed around one of the Greek Gods. Bonus features include sticky wilds, respins and increasing multipliers.

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Top 5 Playtech slots 2020

Man of Steel

Man of Steel is part of Playtech’s exclusive DC partnership. It’s a five-reel slot game with 25 paylines and is packed full of bonus features. Land one of two wild symbols and they’ll shift left or right on your next spins until they’re no longer on the board.

If a Superman wild symbol appears on the same row as the General Zod symbol, you’ll trigger the Battle for Earth free spins bonus. If a bonus symbol lands on reel five, a ‘terraforming blast’ will create up to seven wilds on the reels to increase your chances of a winning payline.

Gladiator

Based on the 2000 film, Gladiator, this online slot game features 25 paylines, wild and scatter symbols, as well as two unique bonus rounds. Get three wild symbols to trigger the Gladiator Jackpot Bonus where the game will randomly pick nine symbols to award you with a cash bonus. Reveal nine gold symbols to win the progressive jackpot!

Unlock the Coliseum bonus with three scatter symbols and pick stones to reveal prizes.

Age of the Gods: Fate Sisters

Another game in the popular franchise, Age of the Gods: Fate Sisters is based on the three Greek goddesses, Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos. Get three sisters on the reel to trigger the Sisters’ Gift Feature which will award a respin with all Goddess symbols locked in place.

The Fates’ Portal bonus game is activated when three scatter symbols appear on the reels, and gives you the choice between three different features: locked reels, dynamic wilds and random wilds.

Batman Begins

Batman Begins takes inspiration from Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy. Save Gotham City from the league of shadows and travel across five locations by landing a character symbol in the hot spot.

There is a wild symbol for each location, including the Batmobile wild which triggers a respin, and the flower symbol which expands in an X shape to increase payouts. Batman Begins plays on a standard five reel playboard with 20 paylines.

Age of the Gods: Furious 4

Join Prometheus, Apollo, Pandora and Atlas on a Greek adventure with scatter wins, 25 paylines and an epic bonus game.

Find three or more bonus symbols to unlock 12 free spins with four furious features available. Each God symbol offers different features including expanding wilds, increasing multipliers locking symbols and sticky wilds.

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Game design & features

Playtech has a huge range of slot games and design quality varies between them. Some of its older games like Goblin’s Cave and A Night Out could benefit from a design refresh to complement the quality of newer games like Superman II, Green Lantern and American Dad.

The games look good, but lack the polished 3D elements available in titles from NetEnt, Play’n Go and Thunderkick.

All of Playtech’s games have the same traditional five reel, three-row layout. The controls are located at the bottom of the screen, with options for autoplay, turbo mode and starting each spin.

There are unique bonus features in every game with symbols and styles tightly linked to the slot’s central theme.   

Mobile experience

Playtech’s games are playable on mobile and tablet devices. The quality isn’t compromised on a smaller screen and load times are fast.

If you prefer playing in landscape mode, the spin button is located on the right-hand side of the board and the other options are available in a collapsible menu on the left.

In portrait mode, the playboard is pushed to the top half of the screen with common play buttons located below.

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Our verdict

Over the past 20 years, Playtech has successfully created a multi-tiered company,  supplied its high-quality gambling software to large brands including Bet365, and William Hill. It’s also produced successful solutions for casino, lottery, bingo, sportsbook, poker and live dealer studios.

It’s clear that the company has taken time to design its games portfolio to keep players engaged and coming back for more.

While it’d be great to see its games at more casinos, we respect that Playtech has opted to employ an exclusive feel around its products, similar to Gamesys.

Overall, Playtech’s slot titles are unique and well-designed with fun, innovative bonus features.

Contact information

Address: Playtech
10 Jamestown Rd
Camden Town
London
NW1 7BY

Email: [email protected]
Phone number: (+44) 020 7267 6060
Official website: https://www.playtech.com/