IGT, which stands for International Game Technology, is a huge company based in New York City, with offices in various locations around the world. IGT has annual revenues of over $2 billion, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is a component of the S&P 500.
So we’re talking about a major player here indeed and among other things, IGT is the world’s largest manufacturer or land based slot machines, and also cater to the huge lottery industry. They also make online casino software through its IGT Interactive division.
IGT got its start in 1979 when it was the first company to introduce video poker machines to the market. The company at the time was known A1 Distributing and their new Draw Poker machine, under the brand Si Redd’s Coin Machines, was a big hit and this propelled them into the big time.
Their success with video poker led to video slot machines, and they also expanded their business to include software for the gaming industry, and then expanded the company further into international gaming markets. With the coming of the internet, this presented new opportunities for their software expertise and they now play a significant role in the design of online casino games.
In 2005, IGT acquired online software maker WagerWorks, which then became part of the company and the division that makes their online casino games. IGT, by virtue of their land based slots business, had a lot of licensing agreements in place already, and WagerWorks brought even more to the table, with their deals with brands such as Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right.
WagerWorks also brought a lot of talent to the game, and have always been ahead of the curve in terms of innovation. For instance they foresaw the future of online gaming as moving to the flash format and focused on developing flash games of a high quality that didn’t require downloads, and we’re now seeing more software companies go that way now, as this offers real advantages, especially with mobile gaming taking off so much.
IGT Slot Games
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Land Based Casino Slots Hit The Internet
One of the real advantages that IGT has over its competitors is that, since they play such a huge role in the land based slot machine market, they can easily offer online versions of their biggest hits on land.
This is especially effective with online players who may have played a certain slot machine at a land based casino and grown fond of it, and wish to play it online. So instead of just licensing these games to internet gaming companies, it made more sense for IGT to just offer these games themselves, so that’s what they started doing once they entered the online market as well.
So this allows online players to play many of the most popular slots featured in Las Vegas and other leading gambling hubs right on their computer. A lot of the slot industry is based upon branding, and they certainly have the brands, which include many of the most successful slots of all time.
IGT’s online slots’ main appeal is that they offer a lot of titles that are in high demand by online slot players, and online casinos not only tend to listen to their players, they don’t want to be left out by losing players who want to play certain IGT made slots and have to play elsewhere to get access to them.
Moving More Toward Multi Provider Software Solutions
The online casino industry has really changed over the last few years, moving from a one software company solution to one that involves a selection of several leading software companies.
There are still quite a few casinos that still go with a single provider, and while that provider may be a very good one, Playtech or Microgaming for instance, and may provide a lot of very good slots in particular, slot players have a huge appetite for variety, and giving them more choice is turning out to be perhaps a better option.
So we’re seeing more and more online casinos come on to the scene that may have three, four, or more different software makers that they offer games from. IGT, being what we could call more of a niche provider, has really benefited from this, and we often see their games selected to go along with other leading software makers at these casinos.
While using a single provider may benefit the casino, getting them preferred pricing, having a selection of providers certainly benefits players, and that benefits the casino in turn due to greater success. It’s always best to focus primarily on player satisfaction, and the casinos who are doing this are reaping these benefits right along with their players.
IGT Interactive’s games are both well branded and well built, this isn’t just about the marketing hype here, for instance playing Wheel of Fortune slots because you liked the TV show and found that to be exciting. IGT uses the latest technology with them as well and players do not have to compromise anything to play the appealing titles that IGT offers.
IGT continues to make a significant contribution to the online casino business, and now that more and more online casinos are open to going with several providers, their role is only increasing, as more and more players become exposed to their quality games.
Related pages:
- Playtech Online Casinos
- RTG Online Casinos
- Microgaming Online Casinos
