You won’t find casino software providers more connected to gaming history than International Game Technology (IGT). The company dates to 1975 America when businessman William Redd (“king of slot machines”) founded ‘A1 Supply’ which went on to pioneer the first video poker gaming machine.
Following a couple of name changes the company was renamed International Game Technology and they famously went on to drive many advances in the industry over the early years of electronic gaming. This included being an early adopter of microprocessor driven slots and the first to launch a progressive jackpot game (Nevada Megabucks) in the late 1980’s which carried a $1M initial top jackpot.
Once the world of online gaming opened up in the late 1990’s IGT were able to drawn on their huge resources and experience from real-world gaming to create some of the most famous and recognisable games in the industry, such as Wheel of Fortune, Cleopatra and MegaJackpots. Over the last 20 years the company has acquired many smaller providers, including WagerWorks (2005), and in 2015 they merged with Gtech maintaining their status as one of the world’s biggest online casino games developers. Read our review below for more about IGT casinos and their games.
Best IGT Casino Sites
IGT Games, Products and Features
Through IGT and its various subsidiary companies you have access every type of gaming and betting feature imaginable.
The company provides all types of online games and slots and are a major supplier of real word casino games as well as lottery and betting services. IGT also run their own in house gaming brands, payment systems and services.
If you are looking for a mega sized gaming company with every major skill and resource under the bonnet then you can’t go far wrong with IGT.
Games and titles are replaced and improved constantly with new themes and features all the time. The software package is also versatile with games hosted at a huge number and variety of casino sites.
Then again if you are looking for a more niche, personalised or bespoke gaming experience perhaps this isn’t the best brand for you.
Either way there is no almost no avoiding IGT games in the world of online casino. You will tend to find most casinos with IGT games incorporate them alongside other software catalogues. Therefore you will find titles from this brand with quite a variety of different themed casino sites, more so than with say Microgaming.
Online Casino Games
In terms of online specific slots and casino games the company produce around 250 different titles and variations. This isn’t the largest catalogue in the world, and in fact most of IGT’s games are produced for different purposes, but given the high production costs associated you can be reassured these are attractive and fun with good graphics but solid and reliable too.
Top IGT slots include Cleopatra, Family Guy, Battleships, Crown of Egypt, Monopoly, Cluedo, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Treasures of Troy and Ghost Busters to name just a few. Game branding was a very early concept brought forward by IGT, long before many other software companies were even formed. This is therefore a very good software provider when it comes to quality themed titles.
IGT offer almost every other type of table and card game and variation you could imagine. Given their heritage too as the founder video poker they have massive depth in that category with 5 draw, 10 draw, triple play, bonus and double bonus poker to name but a few.
Jackpot Games
IGT’s biggest and most famous progressive jackpot is the MegaJackpot title which tends to pay out up to $1M at the top end. It comes in various guises from Cleopatra, the Irish themed Isle of Plenty, Wolf Run, etc.
This is a good idea in some ways as it makes the game more versatile attracting more players to the same pool so the jackpot pays put more often.
IGT’s record online jackpot win:
- MegaJackpots – £2,150,000 (average £800,000)
Other IGT Products and Services
As you might expect form a big corporate entity that have been around for so long, IGT have their fingers in every gambling and gaming pie.
This allows them to benefit from the growth of the online gambling industry as a whole instead of relying on one particular aspect of it, and it also helps them spread risk because if they started to lose traction in the real world gaming cabinets market for example, the rest of their business would still be strong enough for them to do well.
In addition to their online games they also provide:
- Casino Operating Systems – technologies to integrate casino, payment, support and everything else.
- Casino Services – Managed support and technical services to online and real-world betting companies.
- Real-World Gaming Cabinets – Biggest maker of psychical gaming platforms.
- Lottery and Instant Win Games
- Integrated Platforms – can provide a all inclusive service.
- Sports Betting – Process over $12bn in sports bets worldwide, from fully managed to custom built.
Methods and Design
IGT games are about as seamless as they come. When you employ over ten thousand staff, many of whom are developers and engineers, if you find problems you rectify them pretty quickly. IGT branded games are therefore, in my experience, reliable, device and connection speed flexible and bug free. Very few companies make games as versatile and functional as these guys.
Just because IGT are dependable though doesn’t mean they are not cutting edge. The company may be vastly bigger now than in its humble beginnings but they still maintain some of the innovative magic that has made them into a multi-billion-dollar brand. Games update constantly with new features and as soon as a new device or format comes out you can bet that IGT will be one of the first to launch games on it. Most games are already HTML5 or compatible and all future releases certainly will be.
There are some that would argue the IGT design is a little bland in places and routine in others, and I do agree somewhat. What you do get with IGT however is a product that works on any device pretty much anywhere and on the whole I would sacrifice a little extra style for that convenience.
About IGT
IGT claim to be the “global leader across all channels”, the thing is they are probably right. Acquired in 2015 by the Italian gaming giant Gtech for $6.4 Billion the company is still headquartered in London and now has offices all over the globe (Las Vegas, Rome, Rhode Island). With in excess of 12,000 employees and $5 Billion in yearly revenue software companies don’t come much bigger than International Game Technology.
The company’s history actually goes back all the way to the 1950s when it’s eventual founder, William Redd (nicknamed ‘Si’), invested in pinball machines and jukeboxes to exploit the affluent and mobile post-war teenage diner-loving generation.
In the late 1960’s Redd moved to Reno in Nevada distributing jukeboxes across the state but it was the exposure to burgeoning Las Vegas scene that sparked William’s next interest in gaming. Al Supply was founded by William in 1975, changing names to Sircoma (a shortened version of Si Redds Coin Machines) in 1978. Under this new company Redd acquired the rights to develop the world’s first video poker game, launching Draw Poker in 1979. The new video game proved immensely popular leading to the company going public under the new name of International Game Technology in 1981.
Following the acquisition of Electronic Data Technologies in 1984 the company became one of first to track player activity leading to the first computerised loyalty rewards. Through the 1980s IGT invested heavily in the new microprocessor, creating S-Slot, the brands first electronic spinning reel slot.
In 1986 the first progressive jackpot, Nevada Megabucks, was launched by IGT with a prize of $1,000,000. For this the company were awarded a productivity accolade by the US Senate in 1989 and the following year they also released the first themed slots, Double Diamond and Red White and Blue.
After so many great gaming firsts it is no wonder that company were listed on the US stock exchange in 1991. IGT quickly moved into European, South American, African and Japanese markets and in 1996 the progressive slot Wheel of Fortune made it’s debut, still running today it is perhaps the brands most defining game.
In the late 1990’s IGT began to acquire other gaming companies, starting with Barcrest (a UK based company) continuing to develop new slots and technologies and especially themed games such as Elvis. By 2000 the brand had already developed its one millionth slot game.
The 2000’s were a very busy period for International Game Technology as they continued to develop in online and real word gaming through both innovation and acquisitions. In 2001 Anchor Gaming was acquired, causing gaming revenues to double and in 2003 Acres Gaming was bought up. After branching into yet more markets IGT made perhaps their biggest and most famous buy out when they picked up WagerWorks in 2005 coinciding with the companies 25th anniversary.
In 2007 IGT entered into an agreement with Austrian-based Novomatic to develop its multi-player products, the company grew even bigger, moved into even more markets and by 2010 had released their two millionth slot game.
Seven further years of growth and invention resulted in a merger in 2014 by Gtech, the mega Italian gaming company, for no less than $6,400,000,000. Combined under a new holding company based in the UK it was decided the company would continue to trade under IGT, dropping Gtech, the full name of the current combined company is International Game Technology PLC.
The above history is a short description (honestly) of IGT’s successes, you could write a whole book about IGT’s journey. Yes the company today is a multi-billion, multi-national and multi-brand operation but you still have to give credit where credit is due. IGT through its various names and subsidiary’s have helped shape much the electronic gaming industry we know today, without them we wouldn’t have some of the great games and innovations we take for granted.
IGT have assets of over $15bn, yearly revenues of over $5bn and profits in the region of $60M.
WagerWorks
WagerWorks is now a subsidiary of IGT but they still have their own independence and catalogue of games.
You will occasionally see WagerWorks games listed separately or in isolation from other IGT games and products.
The brand is famous for quality games and they are picky with who they work with.
The company offers all types of games but is most famous for its table games and poker such as their three card second chance poker and power blackjack.
You can also find famous titles such as Monopoly and Cluedo.
IGT Awards
IGT must have a very large trophy cabinet somewhere to keep all the their accolades over the years.
The brand has developed and pioneered so many aspects of modern casino gaming over the last half century that if we listed them all we would need a whole page to itself:
Below are some of the major awards won by IGT over the last few years, this is only a very small selection too:
- eGaming Review B2B Awards – Lottery Software Supplier of the Year (2015).
- Global Gaming Awards – Casino Product of the Year (2015), Land-Based Gaming Innovation of the Year (2015).
- Casino Enterprise Management (CEM) Magazine – BEJEWELED 3D Top prize (2015).
- International Gaming Awards – Best User Experience in Mobile (2016), Casino Equipment Supplier (2017), Lottery Product of the Year (2018).
IGT Contact Details
Full Name: International Game Technology PLC.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0800-783-8004 (Other Countries)
Head Office Address: 2nd Floor, Marble Arch House, 66 Seymour Street, London, W1H 5BT, United Kingdom
IGT UK Gambling Licence Number – 41794