NetEnt Casinos
Net Entertainment is a Swedish software developer at the forefront of video slot and table game design – perhaps why so many online casinos offer their cutting-edge titles. In fact, with continued excellent profit results, a successful expansion into the United Kingdom (the largest online gambling market in Europe and now the company’s primary market) and a presence in over 50% of online casinos, NetEnt are the Scandinavian skippers on the industry’s high seas.
NetEnt Background
The origins of NetEnt can be traced back to 1968 and a partnership between two Swedish traditional gaming companies: AB Restaurang Rouletter and Roulett Konsult & Spelautomater. After pooling their resources, the company quickly became a nationwide success in off-line gaming. In 1972, they changed their name to Cherry.
However, following the introduction of legislation banning slot machines in Sweden, the company was forced to reorganise. In 1984, it purchased a collection of gaming companies from funds generated by shares. Two years later, Cherry started to manufacture mechanical slot machines for use in Eastern European countries. These operations continued until 1992, by which time the company had been forced to limit its operations due to financial constraints
Despite this, the birth of the internet offered new opportunities. Pontus Lindwall, son of Restaurang Rouletter founder Bill Lindwall, was quick to recognise its potential, particularly with regards to the emerging iGaming sector. In 1996, he founded Net Entertainment and managed to secure funding from both Cherry and investment company Kinnevik AB. Together they invested more than 70 million SEK in the fledgling online gaming start-up
Despite the cash injection, business took a while to pick up for Netent – seven years in fact, before the company make a yearly profit. Nevertheless, progress was slow but steady and by 2006, the company had opened a second office in gambling haven, Malta. This was followed by outposts in Gothenburg, Gibraltar, Kiev, Krakow, and New Jersey
Within a few years, NetEnt had become pioneers in their field. As testament to their success, the company was listed on the primary Stockholm Stock Exchange.
Today the company has boasts a workforce of around 1000 employees and has to date, developed well over 200 online casino games. Netent has also forge partnerships with a wide array of online casinos which offer their cutting-edge titles to an ever-growing market of players.
NetEnt Casinos Games
In 2010, NetEnt casinos launched the video slot Gonzo’s Quest. The game, still one of the most popular and promoted slot on casino homepages, was father to a remarkable lineage of slickly designed, innovative and transcendent games. Even now, their portfolio of 200 games may not be the most impressive in number. But the attention to detail and plain quality can often demark a NetEnt game from most other slot games.
With NetEnt casino games, the sounds, graphics and user interfaces are notably crisper and sharper. There’s no obsolescence or tack – a NetEnt powered casino is not plagued by the weary interface of the early 2000s dial-up world-wide-web.
NetEnt’s games are also known for their robust and generous RTPs. All of its games pay out over 95% with some stretching to as much as 98%. According to the company, this is why they can boast an excellent player lifetime value.
Here’s a quick run-down of some of Netent’s most acclaimed online slots.
Gonzo’s Quest
As already mentioned, Gonzo’s Quest is a ground-breaking slot. Featuring a 5-reel format, the game is renowned for its addictive game play as well as the Avalanche mechanic in which the reels explode to be replaced by cascading symbols. Although it has a pretty ordinary RTP of 86%, it’s still possible to land some extremely big wins.
Guns N’Roses
This highly-anticipated slot was unveiled in 2016 and is part of the Rocks Trilogy that includes Jimi Hendrix and Motorhead. Guns N’Roses is by far the most popular of the three though and comprises a standard 5×3 format. Boasting mean and moody rock-and-roll visuals, play is accompanied by some of the band’s most famous hits including Welcome to the Jungle and November Rain. Features include a solo multiplier and a click and pick bonus game called the Crowd Pleaser.
Jack Hammer
Jack Hammer is another top slot from Netent with 15 reels and 25 pay-lines. Based on a 1930s comic book theme, the game is typically very easy on the eye. One of the highlights is a Sticky Win feature in which all symbols are fixed in place and free spins rewarded if they recur on reels after another spin. But the standout feature is the Free Spins game where all wins are subject to a treble multiplier.
Hall of Gods
Steeped in Norse mythology, Hall of Gods is a 20 pay-line game that can be played for as little as 20c. There are three bonus features: the expanding wild, the standard free spins game and the pick win feature. The expanding wild element is part of the base game and is activated when the Midgard Serpent lands on reels 2, 3 or 4. If it lands on all three, you’ve got the chance of winning big money.
Starburst
Starburst remains one of the most popular online slots of all time and is included with welcome promotions for hundreds upon hundreds of casinos. The actual game is a perfect slice of retro nostalgia, whose pulsing fluorescent jewels and swirling synth score epitomize the ingenuity of Netent casinos. Gameplay is however, relatively straightforward. With a 5 reel format and 10 pay-lines, it includes a both-ways engine that allows players to create wining combinations from both reels 1 and 5.
NetEnt Casinos Progressive Jackpots
It may have been Microgaming, with its venerated Mega Moolah that paid out the first record breaking sums. But it’s a NetEnt casinos crowd-pleasing slot, Mega Fortune, that holds the current record for both the biggest online slot payout (€17.86 million) and the largest mobile payout at €8.6 million. Other titles have been added to Netent’s portfolio of progressive slots such as Arabian Nights, Hall of Gods and the spin-off Mega Fortune Dreams.
How do Netent Progressive Jackpots Work?
As with progressive slots from any developer, jackpots are pooled from small-percentage contributions from each player’s bets. Because these are collected across the entire network of NetEnt powered slots, the prizes tend to be pretty substantial. Such a set-up should certainly give the player some peace of mind. There are hundreds of NetEnt casinos out there, (some doing better business than others). So it’s good to know that big lottery-style jackpots are administered purely by one of the industry’s most respected and successful behemoths. This should allay any doubts you may harbour about receive your winnings, or of the casino’s ability to actually pay out.
Branded Content
NetEnt casinos are well known for their unique branded content and included three exhilarating slot machines based on famed bands, Guns n’ Roses, Motorhead and Jimi Hendrix. Released over the course of 2016 to rapturous critical acclaim, they comprised polished graphics, elaborate bonus games and thumping soundtracks featuring some of the bands’ most famous songs.
Their branded portfolio, which is rather eclectic, also consists of licence agreements with 20th Century Fox, South Park Digital studios and Universal. Slots featuring some of the most famous characters in pop culture include Dracula, The Invisible Man, South Park, Scarface, Aliens and Frankenstein.
Live Dealer Games
NetEnt have also made a concerted effort to be competitive with Evolution when it comes to their live casino offering – no mean feat considering how formidable the latter company has become in developing live gaming suites. Nevertheless, Netent are doing pretty well.
Their chroma key technology and specific focus on the mobile gaming experience, means that they have created a slick, seamless and very accomplished live dealer product with a few neat innovations as well.
To begin with, their live games feature high quality elements such as crisp streaming and precisely synchronized audio visuals. In addition, the player has the option to view in portrait mode as well as landscape – a feature that NetEnt casinos predicts will become important in mobile gaming further down the line.
Also, for games of live roulette, players can place a bet during the spin of the wheel, a facility that nicely mirrors the bricks and mortar casino experience.
And if you are a statistics fiend, games like live blackjack should tick plenty of boxes. It offers up to date table statistics and an onscreen history of the dealer’s last ten hands. This helps the player make more informed strategical decisions that ultimately bolsters the enjoyment and involvement levels.
Here is a list of handy facts as to why you may want to choose a NetEnt powered live dealer casino:
- Intuitive user interface
- Crisp graphics and sound
- Seamless streaming
- Landscape and Portrait mode
- 75,000 hours of live streaming content a month
- Available in 25 languages
- Hundreds of hours of player interviews conducted for research
- Friendly, charismatic, and highly trained dealers
- Over 10 million roulette wheel spins a year
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