-SPECIAL REPORT by INFOPLAY-

LIVE SLOTS: genesis and the reason for the success of the revolutionary Playtech product

The year 2020 started with an interesting fight between the two main providers of the "Live Casino" segment of online gaming -Playtech and Evolution Gaming- in a product that swept 2019 and that this year has confirmed all expectations both in the regulated market Spanish and internationally. We are talking about live roulette with multipliers in their prizes.

This product already has more than 20 operators in Spain that have any of the trademarks registered by Playtech (Quantum) or by Evolution (Lightning). A good example of how the "live" format has worked and has also been able to evolve to new formats like this one, in which special prizes are added in the form of multipliers when the ball lands on a number from 0 to 36 that has been drawn prior to the start of each launch and that the croupier is in charge of announcing.

The latest in Live Casino: What are Live Slots?

Curiously, when in December 2019 Playtech announced the launch of its Blackjack tables in Live Casino format, it also announced that it was incorporating a new type of game into its offer for operators that promised to improve the gaming experience of online slots through "Live Casino" format, that is, adding the collective and integrating experience of "Live Casino" games with a dealer who acts as the host of the session.


Playtech called this new game "Live Slot" and for its "premiere" it chose an already successful slot title from its catalog: Buffalo Blitz, which was renamed Buffalo Blitz Live.

As we will explain later, it is basically a giant slot that is seen in a panel typical of live casino games, where directed by a host, an unlimited number of players can join and place bets on this mega-popular online slot. .

How have they got here?

The journey that has been needed until the launch of this product called "Live Slots" has had interesting stages that have been shaping the current format.

Starting from the online slots that are counted in hundreds in online casino operators, we have seen how, since 2017, the evolution in prizes, technology and design in online slots are not the only variables in which developers of this kind of games work.

We see how companies like the Spanish MGAGames have led the idea of integrating elements of social reality into their games, making this game much more familiar to the player, turning famous people as protagonists and their lives as the plot of their slot machines.


In the case of Live Slots, the local and family component is provided by the dealer or entertainer, who acts as presenter and moderator while playing.

But we also found attempts to accommodate the reality of Live Roulette to the online slots themselves, with cases like Live Roulette games in which players could win free spins for slot games, as was the case with the Roulette Rock'n from NetEnt. By offering free spins for online slots on roulette, the Swedish provider brought the possibility of enjoying both forms of entertainment to its customers.

Other providers have also offered products that we could define as a cross between an online slot game and live roulette. One of them was Extreme Live Gaming, a company acquired by Pragmatic Play, which offered the so-called Great Rhino Roulette: a roulette with seven additional side bets corresponding to slot icons that give players the opportunity to win up to 80 times their bet . Undoubtedly the game that is in the genesis of the aforementioned Evolution Lightning Roulette and Playtech's Quantum Roulette.

Finally in this historical review of the evolution that has led us to live slots, we have to mention Playtech and its Age of the Gods Live Roulette: what was the themed roulette table is linked to a progressive jackpot identical to the one itself. The company offers in its online slots, with a progressive jackpot of four levels that offers roulette players the opportunity to win one of them: an incomparable gaming experience that takes the game of roulette to a completely new level very close to that of the slots.

Live slots features

We know that progress in technology and changes in player tastes have forced developers to create new experiences. Live Slots are a really new concept in the industry, which, in addition to the features that we have already advanced, is a perfect framework for cross-selling and attracting new players with profiles other than the usual consumer of slots or live casino.

In this case, as is the case with bingo, the aim is to turn a game until now eminently individual and solitary into a social game at the same time that it is a cross-selling opportunity for operators, who can use this format to encourage their participation. customers on more "live casino" products.

Focusing on the format itself, we could say that it has the following characteristics:

• It turns the traditional slot game into a social game, including for example "community spins", with all participating players playing a single game together.
• It is broadcast from a live studio, with a host leading the game and providing commentary, replicating what is done with "quiz" games and live roulette; shaping the online slot game in a whole new way.
• The gameplay is almost identical to that of online slots in terms of spins, prizes and symbols that appear on the reels; also in its limits (number of spins and bet per spin) although special bonuses are usually added
• Players have a live chat where they interact.
• Same prizes: the Buffalo Blitz Live game uses 6 reels and 4 rows so it offers in its "Live" version the same 4,096 ways to win as in the traditional version. Its RTP remains the same, standing at 95.96%.
• More time playing: the rounds or spins take longer than in a normal slot, which allows the player to enjoy more time playing with the same money than in the original game.

Conclusion on Live Slots

Recall that according to data from the General Directorate for Gambling Regulation (DGOJ)  in its Second Quarterly Report for 2020, the casino segment has grown by 22.55% compared to the first quarter of 2020 and an annual variation rate of 36.48 %. Being the behavior of live roulette and slot machines -with quarterly variations of 28.92% and 19.88% respectively- which explains such increase.

In other words, at present it is these two products - live roulette and slots - that have made it possible for the casino's market share to be greater than that of sports betting. A reality that invites us to think that Live Slots, as a new game based on both products, have an assured future.

Adding a social element to a slot game seems like a good decision from a strategic point of view, and transforming an individual or solitary activity such as playing slots by allowing players to interact with each other while enjoying their favorite game of chance seems to guarantee the future of this idea.