The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Online Casino Software Providers

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Online Casino Software Providers

The right software provider for an online gambling establishment can boost business, attract new punters, and drive expansion into new markets. The wrong one can ruin it all. The importance of choosing the right provider cannot be overstated, as it literally provides the foundation for running a gambling business. If this product is bad, using it will be inconvenient, and no one will do it. Here you can check out casinos with Betsoft software.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Software Provider

Any online gambling parlor technically operates thanks to software that supports everything:

  • Its website
  • Back office
  • Front office
  • Payment processing system
  • Security and monitoring systems
  • AML
  • KYC
  • User registration
  • Bet execution
  • Change management
  • Integration with other internal and external systems.

All of this collectively is called “software,” and companies developing it for online betting clubs are called online casino software providers or simply software providers.

Kinds of such software providers can vary, depending on their business models and strategies, but usually, they can all be boiled down to 3:

  • Regular IT companies that at some point have started developing solutions for houses of gambling (examples of the most well-known companies of this kind on the market are IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce). These companies produce both regular software for a wide range of non-gambling businesses and solutions for gambling parlors.
  • Specialized IT companies, whose main or primary product is software for gambling establishments (examples include SoftSwiss, EveryMatrix, Nektan, Tain, BetConstruct, Digitain, BtoBet, Betgenius, Betstudios, and BGS). These companies exclusively develop solutions for gambling venues but do not create games.
  • Game design studios that have expanded over time to produce software for gaming clubs (notable examples include Quickspin, Betsoft, Playtech, NetEnt (now part of Evolution Gaming), and Microgaming). These companies develop both games and software for gambling parlors.

Now let’s look at the factors to consider when choosing a company and its solutions.

Reputation and reliability

Reputation, as everywhere, is crucial in this matter. Tell me, which company would you rather prefer — IBM, founded and having a global staff of 300,000 people, or some unknown company on the market, like Finnplay, Singular, Aspire Global, or SBTech? Start by researching information on Wikipedia. If the company doesn’t have a Wikipedia page (which is much worse, but not fatal), then open its official website to see what it has to offer. Also, visit independent review websites, and read about what this company is and what its reputation is there.

Variety and quality of games

As we have already discussed above, it’s not necessary for a software company to produce its own games. However, since integration with games is essential for any gambling parlor, its software should provide such an opportunity. It’s hard to imagine that modern solutions would not have the ability to integrate with games from game developers or aggregators.

Keep in mind that often a company that is a full-cycle developer may NOT allow games from other companies in its solution, allowing only its own games to operate (usually 100-300 titles, which is not a lot for a modern gaming parlor). However, such companies do not dominate the market.

Customization options

Customizing software to fit your needs, business model, and market fluctuations is a crucial feature. Whatever solution a company offers, it will definitely have customization capabilities. However, it’s important for you to find out from vendors to what extent all these settings are allowed. What things can be customized? For example:

  • Branding elements (which are most important on a website that is customized in its appearance according to the company’s brand book)
  • Game selection, integration with other game providers
  • Configuring game parameters
  • Language, regions of availability, national fiat currencies, and cryptocurrencies
  • Payment methods and tools
  • Bonuses and promotions
  • Fields in user registration and profiles
  • Types and formats of reporting
  • Automated analytics, risk management processes, and user incident notifications
  • User groups (both on the punter side and on the side of the gambling establishment — in the latter case, there will be many more, with different roles and access rights)
  • Regular requirements of different geos, which may already be built in and pre-programmed to switch between them easily rather than manually adjusting hundreds of settings
  • Customer support channels, etc.

During the business evaluation stage of systems, you need to make sure that the existing settings meet all your business needs. Despite the fact that the gambling business has quite a lot of aspects and sides that need to be taken into account in operational activities, it is quite universal in core business processes. And modern gambling solutions are expected to cover these core business processes. 

However, it may also be the case that after studying all the systems on the market, none of them will suit you because they do not cover all your needs 100%. Those who deal with system analytics from the standpoint of user needs and business processes understand that this is not a rare situation. In this case, you need to choose several systems that are most suitable for you and discuss with their providers the possibilities, timing, and cost of modifications that would bring the system to cover all your needs. And, after receiving estimates from companies, choose the one that suits you best.

Licensing and compliance

Compliance with international, national, or licensing requirements is an important component of software. Applicable to gambling software, being compliant means to cover such issues:

  1. Age and identity verification of users (from a pop-up message when entering the website asking to confirm age with a mouse click to providing date of birth and other personal information during registration and attaching scanned copies of documents confirming identity).
  2. Geo-restrictions. A gambling parlor must be inaccessible in a specific territory if it is not licensed there or if gambling activities are prohibited there.
  3. Responsible gambling tools, including not only passing identification within KYC and AML frameworks but also the ability to self-exclude from gambling for a certain period or permanently, request psychological assistance for gambling-addicted (or visit online resources), set limits on finances and time spent in the gambling parlor, deposit limits, as well as functionality for periodic reality checks.
  4. Requirements according to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) — if the gambling parlor is in the EU.

And of course, a trustworthy gambling parlor will not operate without a license, at least any, so license requirements will also impact the system’s functionality. Overall, they fit into the points outlined above, but there may be other restrictions — you need to find out from the software provider which gambling licenses they are compatible with (usually indicated as one of the main system characteristics). Not all software is designed for all existing gambling licenses in the world, so this needs to be clarified.

Conclusion

Choosing casino software providers is a serious task that defines the operation of the gambling parlor for years to come. You can try to make the choice yourself by following all the steps outlined in this article. But you can also turn to us as a reliable partner and technical manager for implementing and customizing systems in gambling parlors — we have the expertise and experience needed, and have already helped dozens of our clients get what best suits their business.

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