Publications by Inessa R

The casino industry post-2020 has changed dramatically. Hundreds of brick-and-mortar gambling venues have closed their doors, temporarily or for good, leaving thousands of fans of table games like roulette, blackjack, and baccarat longing to play and limited only to the virtual space. As more and more players took to live casino lobbies online, the operators came to realize that it is time to become creative and to keep software developing studios to higher standards — the type of diversification that the live dealer industry went through in 2020 has been second to none. From unique titles to exclusive and custom-built studios, pre-recorded clips, and portable gambling — we are taking a look at the 5 trends of the modern live casino developing niche....

The online gambling industry was worth almost US$45 billion in 2019, and according to the pre-pandemic predictions, was headed towards reaching a value of almost US$67 billion by 2025. Out of this global pie of earnings, one of the biggest chunks belongs to online casinos in Australia. For years, players from this country have been very consistent in expressing their interest in the virtual betting industry. In fact, Australia remains in the top-10 countries gambling the most frequently. It finishes 8th on this list but has leadership when it comes to spending and prospects. Reportsfrom H2GCestimate that an Australian adult spends on average US$968 per year on interactive gambling. This not only makes Australia first on the list of the biggest spenders but also places th...

The team of KTC looks into the prospects of post-COVID online gaming and weighs in on how quickly the industry can recover after the major hit of international lockdowns. While the world is still battling the pandemic and countries of Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South Americas brace themselves for the COVID-19 winter wave of 2020-2021, it is time to take a look at how the lockdowns already impacted the online gambling industry. Prior to the virus spreading and paralyzing all aspects of life, many businesses, including online gambling, were riding a fast wave towards major growth. Experts predicted a dramatic jump from USD 53 million documented by the end of 2019 to USD 95 million anticipated by the end of 2025. The major chunk of this pie belonged to Sportsbooks, ...

From a simple fruit slot developed in Brooklyn in 1891 to a modern game loaded with bonuses, stories, and impressive wins - say what you may, butnothing in the gambling industry has transformed and evolved as dramatically as the slot machine. And that’s just the land-based gambling. Things get even more interesting when we move to the virtual sector. WhenMicrogamingstarted testing the waters of the online segment back in 1994, rolling out its first virtual reeled releases, neither of us could predict that by 2020 the industry of online slots would become as competitive. And as popular. Looking at the stats offered by H2GC, it becomes obvious just how quickly players leaped from testing online slots to playing regularly and waiting for the&nb...

Summer is the hot season for all the content creators. With the slot industry expanding, and with more and more new studios fighting for their spot under the sun, the list of best slot machines to choose from is extremely big. And while it is easy to get lost in all of the newest titles, or what is worse… ...to miss out on something truly noteworthy, our review of top-7 best slot machines of July 2020 is here to keep you in the loop. Topped withcasino recommendations and hints about some of the best welcome bonuses, this publication is your roadmap to the true summer reeled gems.

The value of the online gambling industry across the world is growing at an impressively fast pace. Gross win across the international market is around USD 56 billion, of which only slightly more than half is revenue generated by the white, legal sector. What is more, it is to surpass USD 120 bn by 2016, experts predict. Based on these numbers, the team of KTC could not help but wonder - which are the top 5 nations to contribute the most to the boost of the online gaming industry?

The year 2019 made history as the one to introduce major changes to the regulation of online and offline gambling in the UK. These include fairer and more straightforward bonus policies and closer monitoring of advertising. While our portal reported on all of these changes in a series of news articles, as the calendar year rushes to its end, it is high time to weigh in on what the future holds for UK-based players and the industry as all the new regulations come into effect. This article is written based on facts and numbers from H2GC and the UKGC.

In January of 2019 the Dutch Senate finally passed the Remote Gaming Act. A piece of legislation that has been in limbo for at least two years prior to this decision carries with itself some significant changes to the Dutch online gambling market. KeyToCasino got a hold of data and prognosis as to the future of online operators and players in the area, and is ready to weigh in on a matter. Increased exposure to a rapidly growing online gambling market brings in itself numerous opportunities for local and international businesses, as well as thousands of work places. According to reports fromH2GC, in the year 2018 alone the industry generated around EUR 26bn worth of revenue in Europe. Note: The power of online betting swept away and bent even some of the most conservative...

Now that some of the major winter gaming conferences are over, and both leaders and newbies of the industry made their presentations for the year 2019, it is time for us to roll out a list of top trends for the online gambling industry. On a dailybasisour portal adds more than ten new games, and a slightly smaller amount of software developers and recommended online operators to the KTC database. We also keep a hand on a pulse of market evolution thanks to in-depth research provided to us byH2GC. So, based on all this data, here’s what we believe will be the hot topics for the following several months.

In May of 2018, the Supreme Court of America put an end to a long chain of appeals and legal disputes, by a 6-3 ruling enabling sports betting in 47 states. This decision lifted a 26-year-old ban implemented by The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (this document, also known as PASPA, allowed sports betting only in four states - an exemption as the "grandfather clause", and out of these four, only in Nevada was an individual able to wager on the results of a single game). With it, the ruling also opened the US economy to the biggest shake up in its sports betting history, introducing it to both challenges and opportunities. The battle against PASPA was initiated by the state of New Jersey back in 2012, and as the events unfolded, over ten other states and,...

The United States of America ranks first in the list of Top-30 Nations that contributed to gambling. The country ended the year 2018 with the gross win for the casino industry amounting to USD 107.99 billion, according to the global summary provided by theH2 Gambling Capitalconsultancy. Following America, but not even close to its overall yearly gross win, are China with USD 70.01 billion, and Japan with USD 48.41 billion. The majority of this sum was contributed by money spent in the land-based venues, with the gross win amounting to USD 104.82 billion, while when it comes to interactive gaming, the United States loses their leading position. The country slides down to the fourth place with a total of USD 3.17 billion, allowing the UK with its USD 7.54 billion to lead the c...

The team of ATMOSFERA shares its take on getting started in the live casino industry.

If you are as much a fan of live casino games as we are, you must have already spotted a rising start of the industry — ATMOSFERA. The studio debuted with its portfolio of truly unique games, including releases like Battleship and European Bingo Roulette — something that you won’t see in portfolios of its competitors. 

Pragmatic Play’s team talks about new live casino games and slots.

So much is going on in Pragmatic Play’s game development kitchen! The company’s been having a blast with its live casino products, whilst also increasing its slot and bingo production. 

In an exclusive interview with KeyToCasinos, Yossi Barzely, Chief Business Development Officer of the company, talks to us about Mega Roulette, ONE Blackjack and other exciting live dealer releases that the brand is launching. 

#Whats_New_toPlay_atCasinos 

Boy, do we have a treat for you today!

8 awesome content developing studios. 8 engaging slot machines. 8 unique stories with unusual narratives, lots of charismatic characters, and exciting plot twists!

And now, let’s dive into today’s adventures!

#Whats_New_toPlay_atCasinos 

If you love a good story-based slot machine filled with adventures as much as we do, then definitely stick with us for the following 7 hot casino games to explore. They have all the best qualities: stunning visuals, engaging storylines, and charismatic characters. Plus, what is important, each of the games has at least one unique winning feature definitely worth testing out.

If you’ve already checked out Aeterna, Three Blind Mice, and several other great games from Black Pudding Games, you’d see where our itch to meet the team of creators is coming from. Their content is fresh, fun, and unique. So, we reached out to the studio hoping they would entertain our curiosity and share some inside scoop on their creation process, thoughts about the modern gaming industry, and growing business in these turbulent times. Without further ado, here is the ultimate must-read if you are into a new approach to manufacturing slots as much as we are. 

#Whats_New_toPlay_atCasinos 

Culture-themed casino slot games are the best! It is when an engaging story meets legendary characters, and these two factors turn into exciting reel-spinning action flavored with the unique winning features. How would you like a reeled rush that pumps the stake multipliers, free spins that lead to jackpot wins, or sticky and expanding Wild cards? These and other features are available in our latest edition of What’s New to Play at Casinos.

So, without any further ado, here are our 7 awesome folklore slots.

This fall, content creators from the regulated European markets have been extremely productive with fruit slots. Say what you may about the non-changeable set of watermelons, plums, and Lucky 7’s but this classic is golden. Moreover, all the leading studios prove time and time again that with just a bit of ambition and imagination, even an unchangeable set of characters can turn into a totally new adventure on the reels.

Yann Bautista Wiberg, Business Development Director of Peter & Sons on the evolution of online casino games and the demand of the modern market.

Without any further ado, here’s Yann.

An Aussie gambler shares thoughts on online casino gaming. Well, sort of…

So, here is the deal with this interview dedicated to online casino gambling in Australia.

The team of Gamzix – on quality gaming, and their upcoming slot hits

The only way to succeed in the modern competitive industry of slot development is to be ambitious and driven. This is exactly what the team of Gamzix is about. They knew it would not be a walk in the park to make a statement as a new brand when there are so many awesome content developing studios around. And yet, they did, with their 8 slots out, including the Banana Bar, and quite a few promising releases still in the pipeline. They also understood that it is hard to make a breakthrough in the world of mobile gaming, and yet – they did with their lightweight engine and a vertical mode for slots. 

Today KeyToCasino sits down for a chat with the CEO of Gamzix, Aleksandr Kosogov, who speaks openly about the demands of the modern market, the studio’s first games, upcoming slots, and plans for further expansion.

Marcus Cordes of Hacksaw Gaming – on the company’s approach to creating innovative slots, competition in the industry, and upcoming releases. 

It is hard to find a recently launched content developing company as successful as Hacksaw Gaming. Its first slot, Stick’ems, was out in September of 2019, following a series of successful scratchcards releases. By November the studio had already been nominated for its first award in a highly competitive category “Instant Win of the Year”. By 2020, Hacksaw Gaming accumulated licensing from UKGC, and ISO certification, as well as partnered with some of the biggest online operators in the industry.

We are very excited to welcome Marcus Cordes, the COO of Hacksaw Gaming, as our guest today, and to talk about the company’s success, take on the current situation in the gaming industry, and upcoming releases.

The company shares its exciting plans for the year 2020 in an exclusive sit down with KeyToCasinos

What can we say...we wanted to meet the Fugaso team ever since we saw the first episode of the now famous Trump It slot machine in 2017, this is just how eye-catching the game was. In the beginning of 2020, with so many exciting transformations and milestones that the company has accomplished, including an expansion of the portfolio from ten initial slots to 70 games in 2020, prestigious licensing and expansion to the news markets, we felt like we cannot hold our curiosity any longer. So, we went ahead and contacted the studio, only to realize that….

...we should’ve done it sooner. What a chat! Our talk provided insights on the modern gaming industry, flashbacks to Fugaso’s major 2019 news, and exclusive sneak peeks into its 2020 future. So, without any further ado, here is the full interview.