Playtech's Sciplay and Microgaming's Betware Ventures

In January Playtech entered a joint venture with Scientific Games. This not only expanded their reach into games machines but opened the door to perhaps one of the biggest markets out there; state lotteries. Their lottery venture named Sciplay will target governments for business. Scientific Games has existing contacts with government backed gaming operators in the regulated markets as well as the yet to be regulated markets. Their current client list includes Camelot, a UK National Lottery operator and the Chinese government. According to Scientific Games' website, worldwide lottery sales surpassed $224 billion in 2007. The industry just keeps growing.

What has that got to do with online casino players? Currently some lottery jurisdictions serve lotto games that look like slot machines and video poker machines in bars and other entertainment venues. Some even operate actual casinos such as in Ontario and Quebec. In 2007 worldwide online lottery sales were over $165 billion. (Powerball, etc. included) In the US the ratio of online to instant ticket sales was about 2:3. Online lottery games are coming!

Many US States are facing budget shortfalls and doing everything they can to cut expenses and raise revenues. One time tested avenue of cash for the States, is the lottery. All of the apparatus is in place as far as regulation, taxation, etc. It just makes sense that a comfortable path for these cash strapped states would be an expansion of their lotteries. It is not a far stretch at all to imagine instant scratch tickets on your computer, then bingo, keno… slots.

Microgaming has just recently licensed Betware to offer over eighty of its casino games to state lotteries. You can bet they will be knocking on your statehouse door. Microgaming is the world's largest provider of online gaming software and Betware will integrate the games on top of its existing platform. They offer a turnkey solution so integration of Microgaming slots into a state's existing revenue stream will be seamless as soon as the pesky matter of authorizing the agreements is out of the way.

Microgaming CEO, Roger Raatgever, states in the announcement of the licensing agreement, "We are delighted to be able to license our casino games to Betware, which is truly a market leader in its field. Betware's long history in gaming combined with its extensive lottery network will be beneficial in pushing the Microgaming brand into exciting new territories and markets. We look forward to a long and successful working relationship."

This is the critical moment for players and providers. If the States go into business with Playtech's Sciplay or Betware with Microgaming offerings we can pretty much kiss the idea of state sanctioned online casinos that offer any value to the player goodbye. States love monopolies when it comes to lotteries. An online casino such as the ones we know today would be a direct threat to the revenue of a state and laws will be enacted where they don't exist already. One can imagine that the enforcement of those laws protecting the "stability and dignity" of a state's revenue would be swift and sure.

State lotteries offer abysmal odds to the player. Forget the days of 97% RTP from Microgaming games. We may still get to see all the pretty pictures, but the game engines will be so heavily tweaked that you won't recognize the feel of the game. The slots will all be very low variance so that people feel like they are getting good playtime and lots of little wins for their money… with a jackpot always dangling.

As it stands now it takes about a minute to get to the cashier, purchase a scratch ticket and reveal your losing numbers with overall odds of 1 in 3 or a RTP of about 30%. The odds will have to be far better online but the incidences of win/lose will occur much faster so expect a very low variance and a lot more features that pay a lot less. It's the only way they can do it.

These are the good old days folks. Sure the times of 100% bonuses with one time play-through are gone… those were the glory days; these are just the good old days.

Expect the first Betware/Microgaming offering to come in either Illinois (already a law in place authorizing online lottery/casino games) or New York (Largest American Lottery). And expect Sciplay to follow closely on their heels as more states see the value.

Editorial Comment: TheGamlingGuru for the most part agrees with the analogies put forth above regarding how the 'State Run Lotteries' may be a little biased in their protectionist stance in regard to monopolizing their own backyard. I do agree this may be correct but I don't think the new casino games online will be quite as tight in their RTP as is predicted above. The reason being is simply because the future online gaming market will most likely include the likes of Harrah's Entertainment and others. The 'State Run Lotteries' will still have to compete with those behemoths for the online gaming customer whether they like it or not. Alright, enough of those insights...lets take a look at Betware's Blackjack game....

Betware's Blackjack

"Betware offers a blackjack game based on "Las Vegas Strip" rules and with support for known rule variations. The game can be adjusted to use 1 to 8 decks of cards."

*For now may we suggest one of the many great RTG Casinos for players in the USA who cannot sign-up at a Playtech Casino or a Microgaming Casino. Just visit one of the casino software pages that are listed across the top of the page here to find one of the many reputable online casinos that TheGamblingGurus.com offer our loyal visitors.


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