A stalwart among online casino providers, Evolution Gaming focuses all of its efforts on supplying unrivalled live casino software to the industry and is considered to be a specialist in this particular niche.
The company has been gradually building their brand over the last two decades, responding strategically and tactically to changes in the marketplace so that they could continue to evolve and adapt to industry demand and the latest trends.
Their product list has naturally grown into something quite impressive, and they are true innovators in their sector, devising and developing new games and even live casino game genres that have changed the fabric of what it means to bet at a live casino.
Best Evolution Gaming Casino Sites
Games from Evolution
Over the years, Evolution’s list of games has grown organically to offer a large number of game types, and even variations of the same game but from different angels.
For example, you can play a lot of different roulette variations via the traditional live stream, as well as first person versions.
By being first to market with innovative new products, having a water tight strategy and constantly evolving, Evolution Gaming have ensured that they can consistently offer quality and variety to a wide spectrum of players.
Let’s take a look at some of the games that they offer.
This is not an exhaustive list but covers the most popular products that they offer.
There are also progressive jackpots, sic bo, plenty of poker, and more.
Roulette
The mantra that Evolution Gaming live by when it comes to Live Roulette, is that they offer “more for everyone”; from multiple game varieties, the most comprehensive number of mainstream, VIP, and native dealer speaking options, tables which are dedicated for optimum control over an operator’s online brand, as well as Dual Play Roulette specifically designed and orchestrated to foster gameplay collaboration between land based and online players at the same on-premise tables.
Where Evolution Gaming have really stood out with their Roulette package is by including and offering a medley of unique features which have helped them to differentiate from their competition, such as live chat, game history, statistics such as the most and least successful numbers, and a personal favourite bets menu.
In addition to this, the company also launched a number of new innovations which further assisted in setting themselves apart.
Immersive Roulette
This highly exciting variation was an industry first, and specifically designed to entice new players into the game. For clients, it was pitched as a way to attract sportsbook bettors to try something new.
The clue is in the name. The game is built to be immersive by using close-up Hollywood style camera angles enabling players to get up close to the game, and utilising 200 frames per second cameras.
When the live dealer spins the wheel, players are able to keep an eye on the ball just as if they were sat at the table, tracing every movement. They even have slow motion replays of the final few seconds as the ball lands.
Immersive Roulette was received so warmly that it won the 2014 EGR Game of the Year Award.
Immersive Lite
Providing licensees with the option to add the multi camera immersive experience to their Evolution dedicated Live Roulette tables, this ‘lite’ studio framework allows for a certain level of customisation.
The slow motion replay is gone but the licensees can select the number of cameras and the angles they want to include, as well as brief cut aways to other tables if they brand has more than one dedicated table in operation, to enhance the immersive casino atmosphere.
Live European Roulette
This is Evolution Gaming’s core Live Roulette product, offering the biggest number of ‘industry standard’ and VIP roulette tables from one individual stream, and optimised for all devices.
The true beauty of Evolution Gaming’s Live European Roulette, is that every table is available on all devices so the gameplay experience is seamless. If there is one version of the game you can count on to be available, it’s this one.
Expect plenty of interaction with the dealer, and make use of the features built into the interface such as saving up to 15 ‘favourite’ bets so that you can place your chips quickly.
Speed Roulette
For those who want to up the pace and get more games in per hour, this roulette version leaves just 25 seconds between spins.
This is designed for players who want to create more excitement in their sessions and as such, the dealers are often much more experienced in order for them to handle the faster pace without any mistakes.
Due to the nature of the game, betting takes place during the spin as there is no opportunity to bet in between, with bets only closing just before the ball slows down so there is very little down time.
The Others
- French Roulette – A very nicely revamped spin on a classic; Evolution Gaming’s French Roulette product is superbly executed, featuring all of the original gameplay nuances, with the iconic La Partage rule.
- Native Speaking Roulette – A dealer that speaks the customer’s language is sure to improve customer retention. Clients can easily add a native table to their live casino, and the blue screen technology utilised helps to create an atmosphere specific to the native country, as well as the illusion of space inside a fancy sprawling casino.
- Double Ball Roulette – Exclusively available from Evolution, this has been a particularly big hit. It features two balls being spun to provide two winning numbers on each spin. This has been a real asset to the company, offering new and exciting betting opportunities and pay-out potential of up to 1300:1
- American Live Roulette – In a similar vein to their French Roulette product, Evolution Gaming’s American Roulette offers players an authentically American experience with the double zero (00) on the wheel in addition to zero just like you would see in Las Vegas. You may want to read this article before you bet on it though.
Blackjack
Players can also enjoy a comprehensive selection of live dealer Blackjack products courtesy of Evolution Gaming, which are some of the slickest and fastest around. These include a variety of Blackjack games, which are described below:
Blackjack Party
This is a low stakes, party themed take on the popular favourite, which incorporates a world class Live Blackjack product featuring music and lively dialogue from an expertly trained team of live dealer and co-presenter, making for a fun and highly interactive game.
The game itself is very similar to the original with the ability to bet behind for those not actually at the table, but it’s the atmosphere and the style of play that is the selling point here.
Much less serious, much more fun.
Live Blackjack
Evolution Gaming’s Live Blackjack game is the staple offering in this category, with the most comprehensive selection of standard and VIP tables from one single origin available for players across a spectrum of devices.
With the game being generally highly interactive anyway, the live dealers are appropriately cordial, ensuring that players are happy throughout the game; and even if you can’t nab one of the seven seats around each table you can ‘bet behind’ so that you don’t miss out.
There are a number of viewing options available too, including full screen video which puts you right in the middle of the action.
Speed Blackjack
This version adds significantly to an already frenetic and action packed Live Blackjack product and gives players the choice to stand, hit, double down or split at exactly the same time as the first player, without having to wait in turn.
Whichever player makes their decision first is dealt the next card too, so it has the potential to really mix things up by having a real effect on how the cards are dealt, and thus who ends up with a strong or weak hand.
This also means that there is considerably more active game time for the players as well as more games per hour for the operators.
Game Shows
Bringing the world of gameshows and gambling together was an absolute brainwave from Evolution, and it has led to a healthy handful of extremely popular titles that are always busy whenever you log in to play.
For operators, they have the added benefit of attracting players who otherwise might avoid the live casino as they are much simpler to play and much more accessible, with their bright lights and charming hosts.
Dream Catcher
The original game show live casino product.
This was specifically designed to enable operators to encourage their customers to diversify their product use, and it worked.
Those who might have previously stuck to slots loved Dream Catcher, and thus were introduced to the live casino.
It’s a wheel of fortune type game with the wheel cut into sections that are given a value.
This value corresponds to the rate of return you will get on your stake if the wheel stops on it.
The higher the number, the fewer sections of the wheel it takes up. Fast paced and super simple to play.
Monopoly Live
Another Evolution exclusive, this game is based on the famous board game and even includes Mr Monopoly himself. It takes the same format as Dream Catcher, but has some extra instant cash prize winning features and a bonus round, where qualifying players end up on an augmented reality Monopoly board for the chance to win extra prizes.
This is where the big prizes are it’s great fun watching Mr Monopoly bounce around the board. The live presenter is there to guide you through as well, and even if you don’t qualify for the round you can watch along.
Deal or No Deal Live
Yet another exclusive, this game features all the staples from the popular TV show, and is played in 3 stages; a qualifying stage, a top up stage, and then the live game with the banker. To some degree, players control how much they can potentially win, but it can be a pricey one to play.
You get not one but two presenters with this game – although one is more of a glamorous assistant – and the bankers offer is unique to each player and based on how much money they have taken into the final round from the previous two.
Arguably the most complex of the game show options, but similar enough to the TV show that fans are willing to give it a try.
The Others
- Lightning Roulette/Dice – The games run as normal but with certain outcomes ‘electrified’ and delivering enhanced odds. This would mean that if you bet on black 7 and it happened to be electrified and come in, you would be a very happy player indeed. This is effectively as multiplier that can range for 50x to 1000x.
- Football Studio – A very simple card game that has been given a sporting twist. Essentially it is the highest card wins, and the player bets on either a home win, away win, or a draw. This is interspersed with football chat and real football results and updates as you play.
- Side Bet City – Another incredibly simple game, but this time with an 80s flavour and based around poker. The player bets against a paytable rather than the dealer, choosing a 3-card, 5-card, or 7-card win (or no win) with a 1000x payout potential.
- Mega Ball– This one is a kind of fusion between the lottery and a game of bingo, with players setting their own card price and then deciding how many cards to buy before the balls are drawn.
Mobile Live Casino
Tailored to create a highly compatible as well as a seamlessly integrated casino experience for the player, Evolution Gaming have committed a substantial amount of time and resources to ensuring that their Live Casino products and assets are as reliable on mobile as they are on a desktop.
Their streams are crisp and sharp, the performance optimised for all different devices, and in truth, they are probably the best in the industry for those who want to play live games on their device rather than sat at a computer.
What’s more, being a company that openly embraces new tech and understands the needs of customers, this is an area that benefits from considerable ongoing development.
Seamlessly functional with iOS and Android as well as consistently keeping their fingers on the pulse for the latest updates in technology, Evolution Games’ mobile casino products continue to exceed expectations.
This is obviously great news for operators because their customers effectively have an extended gaming floor with extended opening hours, i.e they can play the games whenever and wherever they want and with no compromises.
This makes for happy customers, and happy customers come back, and in an industry as overcrowded as online gambling customer retention is absolutely key.
Defining Features of Evolution Gaming
Evolution Gaming do one thing and they do it well. As far as Live Casino is concerned, they are masters of their craft. They set with a singular vision from the beginning; to be the number one Live Casino provider for all operators in regulated markets around the world. That was their aim, and their method was through constant ‘evolution’ and collaboration, constantly creating and improving.
Their products clearly reflect this, always executed with professionalism and class, and their impressive track record and client portfolio is a testament to their efforts.
With Live Casino essentially being their sole product, Evolution Gaming has ensured to master every facet of this offering, from wallet integration to back office tools for their clients to manage customers. Here are a few key areas that make Evolution the obvious choice for their clients:
Scale and Customisation
As a business, the way in which Evolution Gaming has been built ensures that everything they create has unlimited potential for growth, so all of their offerings are particularly agile.
This has been the characteristic of the company since its foundation – the founders gave us a big clue when they named the company! They were forward thinking enough to know that evolution would be the key to continued success, and understood that technology would move quickly as time went on and that they had to harness it.
With this in mind, every product that they designed needed to be versatile enough to have manoeuvrability in the marketplace as it changed with the times. This mentality allowed them to scale up quickly when the time came, and tweak their offering to appeal to as many clients as possible.
State of the Art Studios
Evolution’s studios look good, sound good, and their dealers are the bee’s knees. By holding themselves to the same high standards as a real casino open to the public they created a premium product, and the fact that they don’t cut corners appeals to customers and clients alike.
They were also able to use this in tandem with their online only approach as a way to get their branding out there, and demonstrate their understanding of the market and its’ behaviour moving forward.
Indeed, creating their own purpose built remote studios in this way was something of a coup, and started a wave of other companies doing the same thing.
Studios in Land Based Casinos
Their next masterstroke was establishing relationships with major land based casinos for those players who wanted to get even closer to the real thing – you can read why people might want to do just that here.
These partnerships enabled Evolution to stream from actual brick and mortar casinos to provide an even more authentic experience for the online player. In doing this, they not only further raised their profile and credibility but also their reach, increasing their user base exponentially.
This level of immersion was unheard of at the time, and proved another perfect of example of how the company was always seeking to develop.
Academy & Integration
Being unparalleled in the level of sophisticated technology and software, Evolution Gaming are known for offering a robust infrastructure that supports integration associated with their products. This makes them a reliable choice for big brands and also means that they can integrate smoothly and seamlessly.
They also have a reputation for fostering world class talent via their Evolution Gaming Academy, making them one of the most respected employers in the world of online gambling.
Their dealers, presenters, and behind the scenes staff all go through rigorous training before they are allowed to go live, and regularly revisit the academy to refresh their knowledge and learn about new games. This is not simply a half day ‘training’ session.
Historical Overview
Evolution Gaming was originally founded in 2006 by Jens von Bahr and Frederik Osterburg, both of whom had substantial business pedigree in other industries and were quickly able to acclimatise to the online gambling software industry. Identify a niche in the market for live products was enterprising in itself.
Within their first few months of business, the pair had already revolutionised the European live dealer sector of the industry and had established themselves as a company to keep a serious eye on.
The following year, initial agreements were penned with major operators and gambling brands, Gala Coral, Party Gaming, William Hill, Blue Square, Gaming VC, Expekt and VC Bet, all of which represented major coups for such a fledgling company.
Each of these contracts was huge news for Evolution Gaming, and set them firmly on the road to success by creating a niche that nobody knew they needed. The popularity of their product and the fact that it was being put in front of millions of customers via big brands was perfect (and free) marketing.
In 2008, the company built on this progress when it signed a deal with a German online casino brand called bet-at-home.com, further announcing their arrival across Europe. This led to a considerable increase in headcount in the company, creating opportunities for German speaking candidates.
Live Casino Explodes
By 2009 and as evidence of the company’s rapid rise to fame, their state-of-the-art television production studio in Riga increased in size more than four times in response to explosive industry demand.
Furthermore, they added a number of red and gold VIP studios for high roller customers to really put their stamp on the sector, and by this time they had also added 888, Sporting Bet, Ladbrokes, Unibet, Paddy Power, and Sky Bet to their increasingly impressive portfolio of clients.
2010 marked a significant achievement for Evolution Gaming, and as a testament to how far the company had come in the space of just four years, they were awarded the Live Casino Software Supplier of the Year and the Software Rising Star of the Year at the inaugural EGR Awards.
In alignment with their continued success and momentum, the company’s Riga studio expanded dramatically once again. No well in excess of 2000 square metres, the company was able to offer Dedicated Tables and Environments to be launched by licensees. Just 12 months later, Evolution Gaming moved their state of the art television studios to larger premises to be able to sufficiently cater for increasing demand.
Also in 2011, the company became the first online Live Casino provider to be approved by ADM (Italy’s official online gambling and betting regulator) and were the first Live Casino to launch in this market. In addition to this SKAT-compliant Live Casino solutions were developed for top tier operators around the world having launched in Denmark’s re-regulated market.
New Products & Territories
In 2013, a new initiative was launched for Italian brand, Lottomatica, in the form of their Vegas Club Live Casino TV show which began broadcasts featuring live Hold’em game feeds from their Riga studios.
They were simultaneously awarded a Class 4 licence by the MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) – effectively the highest gaming regulation that an online gambling company can achieve in Malta, enabling the company to offer more services and products.
As well as Live Hold’em launching, the company were one of the first to recognise the full potential of mobile gaming, launching their product in 2012/13 and sewing the seeds for the future.
Another ‘first’ came in 2013 when Evolution became the first Live Casino provider to achieve New Jersey Preliminary waiver approval, and they also entered the ‘Century club’ when they opened their 100th live table at their Riga studios, which was by now the largest single site casino operation across the European gaming market.
Global Studios & Multiple Awards
The awards were coming thick and fast by now and the company’s dominance in the live casino sector was undeniable. Their Immersive Roulette product won the 2014 EGR Game of the Year, while they also claimed the EGR Live Casino Software Supplier of the Year for the fifth time running.
The years that followed until 2019, saw the company scoop a medley of major industry recognised awards for their various products though were also continuously recognised as the best providers across the industry.
In response to growing demand and following much traction, Evolution Gaming also opened a new studio in Malta to complement their main studio in Riga – and quite possibly because they needed the extra space to keep all of their awards too.
Other highlights during this time include launching a studio in Tbilisi (Georgia), another in New Westminster, Canada (their first outside of Europe), and launching on the Stockholm NASDAQ (Sweden – June 2017). They also completed their first acquisition; Ezugi, a company launched in 2012 to provide Live Dealer gaming across mainly mobile applications, now belonged to Evolution.
One of their later acquisitions was a much bigger deal though, when they snapped up NetEnt in 2021, simultaneously acquiring a foothold in the video slot market and taking control of NetEnt’s live casino business unit. This not only removed competition, but brought that competition’s business over to Evolution.
What the Future Holds for Evolution Gaming
Evolution are a brand built on technology, and technology is ever improving and at an increasing pace. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the company will be making the most of whatever new tech comes along in order to further heighten the levels of immersion and improve the user experience.
AI and VR are two technologies that currently making huge strides, so this could well be a direction that the company explores, and as they seem to enjoying mashing up different genre’s so much we could also see more of this.
As a business, well Evolution has already started claiming territory in the States, gaining a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board licence in 2019, positioning themselves perfectly for the anticipated change in gambling law over there. If more states do begin to allow remote gambling, Evolution will surely waste no time in making their presence known.
Plus, with their acquisition of NetEnt it is safe to assume that they plan to diversify and add products outside of the live casino space, which could be incredibly exciting for players. A company like this with technology as their beating heart could do a lot to invigorate the video slot world.
FAQs
While we have done our best to provide an accurate and detailed overview of what Evolution Gaming do and who they are, we understand that there still might be a few burning questions in your mind, so we have endeavoured to think ahead and provide a few answers here.
Are Evolution Gaming the Same as Other Software Providers?
Yes and no. What they have done is carve out a niche for themselves by developing some of the best Live Casino products on the market, which invariably include table games. Off the back of this, they have also developed products of their own which are unique to the marketplace and which only they can provide to operators.
This hasn’t stopped other companies taking ‘inspiration’ from what they have done mind you, but no one does it better.
Most software providers develop games without the live aspect – although some do both – and while Evolution weren’t technically the first to create live casino products, they made it their sole focus for a long time. So while they are a software provider, they are a little bit different from most.
Can I Talk to Evolution’s Live Dealers?
You absolutely can, in fact it is encouraged. They will talk to you even if you don’t talk to them.
You can’t speak to them but you can make comments in the chat box which they can read and respond to, and it can make the whole experience much more fun, especially if you get to know a dealer and they begin to recognise you when you are there.
The dealers/presenters will always talk through what is going on in the game and intersperse that with general chit chat and congratulatory comments to winner. However, if someone communicates with them directly the conversation is always much more interesting.
Where can I Play Evolution Gaming’s Products?
If you already play at online casinos then it will be almost impossible to avoid Evolution’s games. They are the live casino supplier to most of the big name operators out there, and even those that work with others as their main provider tend to work with Evolution as well.
It would be impossible to list all of the company’s customers but a few big names you will recognise would be:
Once you are at the relevant casino’s live casino section you can choose a game and then you will be able to access the lobby. This will showcase every live casino game that operator offers from Evolution.