The online casino industry is a bit of an exception to most in that it doesn’t have an obvious market leader when it comes to software providers. But if we’re talking about the Top 3 most important providers in terms of numbers of games, influence and brand recognition, NetEnt would most definitely be among them.
For starters, this company has history on its side, having been around since 1996. Other providers have come and gone but NetEnt, formerly known as Net Entertainment, has been dining at the top table ever since online casinos reached our computers. And it has fought off competition in an ever-increasingly competitive marketplace with the biggest secret to their success being (arguably): quality.
They may not be the most prolific of providers when it comes to offering slots, scratch cards, table games and Live Casino games but you can bet your last Euro that they’ll always be beautifully made, easy on the eye and giving players a fair crack of the whip when it comes to payouts.
What you need to know about…NetEnt
Back in 1996 Boyzone were approaching the height of their fame and on the football pitch Ireland were missing out on Euro 96 qualification after losing 2-0 in a one-off playoff against the Netherlands.
Over in Stockholm, NetEnt was opening its door for business and since then it has never looked back. These days they employ over 1000 people worldwide from offices in Sweden, Malta, Gibraltar, Poland, the Ukraine, the UK and the USA. Their main business is of course making all manner of casino games but with NetEnt, it’s not just a case of selling their games and washing their hands of what comes next.
Their policy towards powering an online casino includes offering bespoke marketing strategies, design ser-vices, and even training to the casino’s staff. In addition they provide business intelligence to help casinos understand how their players interact with their games and to highlight other trends, so the casino under-stand its business that little bit better.
One of their golden rules is to only work in regulated markets. Through their experience of doing so, they have developed good working relationships with local regulators, so they always know what’s going on. That means they can make recommendations to online casinos, like Mr Green, as to any necessary requirements to operate in a fully compliant fashion.
In 2011 they were the first casino provider to enter the Italian regulated market and in 2015 in Spain they went live the very day regulators granted licenses.
NetEnt AB has been listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange since 2009. In September 2019 they acquired Red Tiger Gaming, also a software provider.
NetEnt Products
Video Poker
NetEnt don’t currently offer table Poker games and tournaments but they do offer video poker. Video poker normally consists of playing Stud Poker against ‘the house’. The player is dealt five cards and is then given the option to exchange between 0-5 cards. The resulting hand needs to meet a minimum requirement of having a pair of Jacks or in some cases three-of-a kind, in order to win a prize.
The game ‘Jacks or Better’ is probably the one most often found in casinos but the likes of Deuces Wild (all ‘twos’ act as a Joker) and All American are also extremely popular.
Sportsbook
NetEnt do supply sportsbooks and one of its features, launched in 2018, is the Sports Betting Widget, which allows customers to place pre-match and in-play bets while playing their favourite casino games.
It is not one of their core products, however, and for example Mr Green’s sportsbook isn’t powered by NetEnt.
Live Casino
NetEnt as pioneers and standard-setters
You don’t enjoy success in the online casino industry without constantly evolving and keeping up with the times. So, it’s no surprise that NetEnt were among the first to realise that players were pining for a more real, human and interactive experience than what the computerised version of the table games offered. So they created Live Casino games.
But NetEnt went a step further than their competitors. Rather than relying on the research, gut instinct and personal preferences of their own staff, they worked alongside actual players in order to find out what these players wanted.
As NetEnt explain “It (Live Casino) is based on their insight and focused on their needs and demands. We’ve weaved the players’ experiences and passion into our product to create a user experience that is truly unique; a product that transcends the physical confines of casinos to offer a rich digital experience – an immersive experience like no other.“
NetEnt understand that players like to take part in their favourite casino games on their mobile in addition to (and sometimes instead of) their computer, so their Live Casino products were created with mobile in mind.
NetEnt Live Roulette
At Mr Green you can play NetEnt’s Live Roulette - one of the most popular roulette games they have on offer. As you load up the game, you’ll first of all be treated to the sight of a digital version of Mr Green himself appearing in view before the Dealer welcomes you to the table by referring to you by your Mr Green username.
The game itself is no different to regular European Roulette meaning there’s just the one zero in play but among the game’s features are the fact you can see the last 15 numbers to have come up, to give you a better idea of any patterns in how the game has unfolded over the last hour or so. It also highlights which numbers are ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ in terms of how often they came up over the course of the last few hours.
The interface is easy-to-use and the quality of the streaming is top-notch and perfectly synchronised in terms of video and audio, meaning it’s not ‘almost real time’; it is in real time. Players can choose to play in portrait or landscape mode on their mobiles and as if all that wasn’t enough, some of the Live Dealers are Irish. So if you miss our good old soft-spoken accent as you play, you might just hear it if you log in while one of the Irish dealers is in action at the table.
The only thing you can’t do while playing Roulette is order a pint of Guinness from the Croupier!
NetEnt Live Blackjack
Of course, if it’s cards you prefer, then you can chance your arm at some NetEnt Live Blackjack. There are plenty of different tables available so you’re almost always guaranteed a seat at one of them and can sit at the table with the dealer you’re most comfortable with.
Some players like to play ‘solo’. Some like the extra drama of other players affecting the sequence of the cards and the camaraderie involved in trying to make the dealer go bust; so if you prefer a packed table, you can go for that as well.
Similar to Live Roulette, you can have access to statistics which tell you what the dealer’s last 10 hands were. This can help you make your betting decisions, such as whether the table is ‘hot’ or what sort of stakes you should be wagering ahead of your next hand.
Slots
Despite everything we’ve said about video poker and their excellent Live Casino service, it’s for their slots that NetEnt are really famous for. If you were to ask all manner of slots-players from the beginner to the more experienced player to name 10 off the top of their heads, the smart money is on at least four of them being slots made by NetEnt.
NetEnt Slots
Devices and Security
NetEnt slots can be played on desktop or laptop and as we’ve said already, all their games are designed with the mobile-loving player in mind. In fact, you could go as far as saying that their slots are designed primarily with the mobile-player in mind.
You can access their slots on Apple products (obviously including the iPhone) as well as Android ones, Java-powered devices and - for those looking to go as retro as a Pogues Christmas song - the ever-classic Blackberry.
You may recall that we mentioned that NetEnt is of the squeaky-clean variety when it comes to doing everything by the book in terms of only operating in regulated markets. Therefore, you won’t be surprised to hear they also take game performance and security very seriously.
That means everything from conducting hundreds of hours of testing (to ensure there aren’t any glitches or faults in the game’s software) to making sure that games don’t break down mid-spin. They also check that all casinos offering their games set them to the advertised Return to Player (RTP).
You may notice the “NetEnt: Better Gaming” message that appears as one of their games is loading up at Mr Green. That’s just to remind you that what you’re about to play is of the upmost quality and sky-high standards of reliability and trustworthiness.
Free-to-play games
They say patience is a virtue. So you might as well be patient and play games that are new to you in free-play mode first, before risking real money.
All NetEnt slots available at Mr Green can be played for free so why not spend a few minutes playing some games you don’t know that way, before diving in like Roy Keane in a Manchester United v Liverpool match. Just so you can find out if it’s your cup of tea, or not.
Playing in free play mode isn’t just about knowing whether you like the game or not. It also allows you to find out how often you secure a winning combination, which bonus features tend to be more profitable or to get a good feel for how volatile the game is.
Slot types and themes
When you’ve been in the business as long as NetEnt have, you’ve probably covered most of the themes that have featured in slots over the years. Since the one-armed bandits from the olden times, fruits have always been a popular theme in slots and if you’re after a vitamin c injection in the form of a casino slot, then Fruit Spin and Fruit Shop are among the recommended ones.
The Fairytale Legends Series of slots released over the past five years or so which includes Red Riding Hood (see below) and Hansel and Gretel are a good example of high-profile, heavily marketed and expensive-to-make slots that are well worth all the effort.
Other themes they offer are: aliens, vampires, Halloween-themed slots and ‘branded’ games such as Plan-et of the Apes, Scarface and Jimi Hendrix.
RTP
A reminder that RTP refers to how ‘generous’ a particular slot is. The RTP number is always expressed as a percentage and will be between 90% (a pretty stingy slot!) and about 99% (an unusually charitable one!). The percentage refers to how much of the money pumped into it is ‘given back’ or to put it another way, how much of the amount wagered on it is returned to the player.
If you wagered 1000 Euros on a slot that had an RTP of 95%, you could reasonably expect it to pay out 950 Euros. Having said that though, slots-players should always be aware that RTPs are worked out over a longer period/amount bet than ‘just’ 1000 Euros so if that isn’t particularly close to what you actually got out of it if you wagered 1000 Euros yourself, you shouldn’t be too surprised.
Special features
It’s been a long time since Starburst became a household name in the world of online casinos but it was one of the first slots to introduce the concept of the re-spin. Re-spins are different to free spins because apart from anything else, you only get one of them. Another important difference is that some of the symbols remain locked in place during the re-spin. So if they were favourable ones before the re-spin, that will play into your hands.
But an even more notable feature that NetEnt use are the cascading reels. What happens here is that when you secure a winning combination, you bank it, but all the symbols that were part of the combination either explode or otherwise disappear and are replaced by new ones.
If at least one of the ‘new’ symbols helps to form a further win, the winning symbols will cascade again and the process will carry on until you stop having a new winning combination; theoretically this could happen six or seven times so you should just keep on banking money till the luck of the Irish runs out.
Gonzo’s Quest and Asgardian Stones are examples of slots boasting this feature.
NetEnt’s best slots
The beautiful slot: Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood
A prominent member of the aforementioned ‘Fairytale Legends’ series of slots, Red Riding Hood recreates the classic fairytale featuring a lost girl in the woods, a grandmother with unsurprisingly poor eyesight, a macho hunter and a wolf looking for his next meal.
There’s more stuff to like about it than we have time to mention, but the real game-changers are the beauty of the graphics, the vibrant colours and the thought and effort that’s gone into creating a slot so aesthetically pleasing. In many ways, it set the standard for all others to follow.
That however, is only half the story (no pun intended). The slot recreates the events of the fairytale while also having enough bonus features - such as the show-stopping Beware the Wolf Bonus - to ensure there’s never a dull moment when you’re playing it.
Big-Paying Slot: Mega Fortune
It’s a rather strange quirk of slots that while ‘regular’ ones come and go in terms of popularity, when it comes to progressive jackpot slots, it really is a case of the oldies being the goodies. Released back in 2009 just a few months after our own Colin Farrell was putting in the performance of a lifetime as Ray in the brilliant ‘In Bruges’, Mega Fortune is a slot all about the bling.
So get prepared for symbols including a white limo, a wad of dollar notes, a gold watch, a cigar and glass of whiskey, a speedboat cruising the waves (acting as the Wild) and a chilled bottle of champagne that’s the Scatter.
For the most part it’s a regular slot with a free spins round with multipliers up to 5x. For the most part. Be-cause three appearances of the bonus symbol can lead you all the way to winning one of the three Progressive Jackpots (Rapid, Major or Mega), which can be activated once you get to the second and third wheels.
Want to know how much you can win? The clue is in the name of the game.
Mr Green’s favourite slot: Dead or Alive
At first glance this might be a slightly odd selection but hear us out. Yes, Dead or Alive is a bit of a rare beast for a NetEnt slot in that it’s not a work of art from a beauty point of view, with somewhat basic symbols and graphics that an undergraduate graphic designer could probably muster up. But that…is missing the point.
Ask around as to which slot can make or break you in a two-hour session or which can delight and despair you in equal measure and this is the one that would get the most mentions.
And therein lies its secret and its appeal. The Western-themed slot is arguably the most volatile ever made with long periods of shooting blanks followed up by hitting the bullseye should you activate those (minimum of 12) free spins and secure yourself some Sticky Wilds on the reels. With five free spins re-triggered should you get five Wilds and all wins automatically doubled, the winnings potential is virtually limitless.
NetEnt followed it up this year with its sequel - Dead or Alive 2 - a more polished game with more dimensions to it and an extra bonus round. Decide for yourselves which one you prefer.
NetEnt: Did you know?
- NetEnt have picked up more awards than U2! Their trophy cabinet is packed with the casino industry’s most prized trophies. These are some of the ones they won in 2019 alone: at the EGR B2B Awards they won Slot Supplier of the Year, at the International Gaming Awards they snapped up Mobile Product of the Year, while at the Global Gaming Awards their new slot Jumanji walked away with GGA Casino Product of the Year.
- Back in 2015 Mega Fortune put its name in the Guinness Book of Records for paying out the big-gest online Jackpot in history of 17,879,645 Euros, to a Finnish player. The record was broken by a British soldier two years later who won it on Microgaming’s Mega Moolah, winning ‘just’ 16,000 Euros more.
- 44.7 billion. That would be the number of gaming transactions that NetEnt’s systems processed in 2018.
- If the musicians who inspired NetEnt slots were to perform together, it would have been a concert to have rivalled Bob Geldof’s Live Aid and Woodstock. NetEnt games have been based on the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Guns N’Roses, Motorhead and more recently, Ozzy Osbourne.
Our conclusion on NetEnt
We used the word at the beginning of this review and we’ll come back to it at the end: quality. NetEnt do have their fingers in quite a few pies, though perhaps not as many as the likes of Microgaming, but they’re more about that word than they are quantity.
It says it all that their more high-profile new slots are more talked-about in Casino blogs, forums and social media than those of any other software provider. The anticipation and buzz is huge and it’s very rare that players are disappointed with the final product.
And it’s not just the slots. Their Live Casino products are of the highest standards as well with the streaming, quality of audio and game features up there with the very best.
Having said that, these are challenging times for everyone in the business with new companies emerging all the time and trying to dethrone the likes of NetEnt, meaning there’s no room for complacency.
The next few years could be hard work but the smart money is on NetEnt’s experience, nous and creativity meaning they’ll be just fine.
