Cryptologic
Cryptologic was one of the largest, and longest established, providers of software to online casino operators all over the world. The company was founded by two brothers in Toronto, Canada in 1995, making it long established brand by the standard of online casino companies. Since its foundation, the company has moved its head office, and the focus of its operations, to Dublin, Ireland, which means that it is now closer to the European based online casino sites that are among the main users of its software.
Casinos with Cryptologic
- Cryptologic
Casino | Rating | Visit | Review | |
---|---|---|---|---|
LeoVegas | 80% | LeoVegas Review | ✖ | |
MyStake | 75% | MyStake Review | ✖ |
What sets Cryptologic casino apart from many of its competitors in the online casino software space is the fact that it has been able to licence a number of major Hollywood and TV brands for its online games, and in particular its slot machines. This gives the company a major competitive advantage over other operators since it has exclusive rights to games that no other company is able to directly copy. While other casino operators have spent time building up intellectual property based around popular original characters, Cryptologic casino is one of the few that has gone down the licensing route and is therefore able to lock its competitors out of contention in some circumstances.
In 2012, 17 years after its foundation, Cryptologic was acquired by its major competitor, the Anaya Gaming Group. Shortly after, Cryptologic’s own casino operations, which included the very popular InterCasino and InterPoker brands, were sold off. Amaya Group has since rebranded as The Stars Group and sold Cryptologic’s remaining software operations to fellow Canadian gaming firm NYX casinos, now part of SG Digital. The acquisition means that once again, Cryptologic is owned by a company based in Toronto, Canada
Why play at Cryptologic Casinos?
The ace in the Cryptologic deck is the licensing agreements that it has secured with major film studios and television production companies. This means that instead of rehashing the same dozen or so tired old formulas that its competitors also do, it is able to create unique gaming experiences based on shows, brands and characters that many online casino players will already be familiar with and may be fans of.
Among the most popular games are Monopoly Slots, based on the popular family board game and incorporating some of its most familiar play mechanics; Thunderbirds, based on the popular British children’s television series of the 1960s and 2000s and Battleship, based on the popular Hasbro children’s board game.
The selection of games offered by Cryptologic casinos and its sister companies is quite simply huge and it is very unlikely that even the most hardcore of online casino players would be able to try them all. Even if they could, it’s likely that a new game or property would be released within a week or two to further expand the Cryptologic casino games library.
Games Overview
Like most of its competitors, Cryptologic’s main expertise and focus lies in slot machine games. There’s take a variety of forms from pub slots, offering simple one armed bandit style play with variable wagers to games like Monopoly Slots where you can go five minutes between spins thanks to the huge number of power ups and other options that become available once you manage to line up those all important fruit symbols.
The range of table top games is also fairly impressive and, unlike some of their rivals, Cryptologic appears to have put a fair amount of effort into the design and theming of these games, meaning that there is more than one type of roulette and card game on offer at the many casinos that exclusively use their software.
Cryptologic Slots
When a player first takes a glance at the huge catalogue of slot machine games that are available at Cryptologic casinos, it would hardly be surprising if they ended up feeling rather overwhelmed by the huge choice that’s available to them. There are dozens of games available encompassing an almost mind boggling range of themes, difficulty curves, playing styles and settings. You’ll find all of the usual jungle, ancient Egypt and Wild West themes that you would in almost any other online casino but you’ll also be treated to a range of slot machine games that are based on popular board games, movies and TV shows.
You’ll also notice that you are never stuck for choice. Cryptologic regularly introduces new games into its line up, meaning that a new option is released to the public every couple of weeks. However, it does occasionally withdraw games that have either been on release for a significant period of time or have not been the hit with online players that they expected. This means that you may occasionally experience the disappointment of a game that you have come to enjoy (and put in some time to learn) being withdrawn. However, as Cryptologic games generally operate around a few common themes, you will generally find that there is a fairly similar game, albeit with different characters and an alternate setting, available to play.
Table Games
There are over a dozen Cryptologic casinos tabletop games available although ultimately, all of them are a spin on either roulette, blackjack or Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Unlike some other operators, there are a number of themed games available and this sometimes comes in the form of special or alternate rules. Most of the table games still rely on the Above Flash plugin or a bespoke mobile app so picking them up and playing them for the first time on a mobile phone that you haven’t used to play at a certain casino before can be tricky.
The History of Cryptologic
Cryptologic has been through a mind-boggling amount of moves, mergers, acquisitions, de-mergers and sales during its almost 25 years of existence. The company was originally founded in Toronto, Canada and, like many casino software developers of the time, ran its own gaming websites, as well as licensing them to other operators. This led to legal issues in a North American market that to this day is relatively unfriendly to the world of legalised online gaming. Consequently, the company decided to move its assets to Dublin, Europe being a far easier place to run an online casino than Canada.
The company was eventually brought back into Canadian ownership following an acquisition in 20123 and, consequently, the arm of the firm that operated casinos had to be sold off in order to comply with Canadian online gaming law. This left Cryptologic as a pure play software firm for the very first time in its history. It now sits along several other venerable online gaming production studios in a much larger software development holding company. This means that its games can now be seen at a far larger range of online casinos than before and that’s it has access to an even bigger library of licences and assets than it did under independent ownership.
The Cryptologic name looks like it will eventually be phased out. Even if it dies however, Cryptologic casinos will go down as one of the pioneers of online gaming, which led the way for many of the pure-play online casino software firms that exist in the market today.
FAQ
Are all Cryptologic games compatible with my device?
A small and ever decreasing number of games produced by Cryptologic still rely on the Adobe Flash platforms. This means that they will not run on most mobile phone and tablet devices and will run slowly on older computers. Cryptologic is gradually converting the last of these games to run on more modern HTML5 technology, so if your favourite game isn’t available to play on your cell phone right now, there is every chance that it will be in the coming weeks and months.
Which Cryptologic games offer the best returns?
It is a general rule with online casino games that the options that offer you the greatest level; of control over the outcome are the ones that will offer you the greatest returns (at least if you invest the time required to learn to play them). Free to play versions of all of Cryptologic’s games are available on the company’s website and you can use the huge amount of free credit that these provide to learn the quirks of the game and become an experienced player without having to risk any of their own money in the process
What is the best Cryptologic casino?
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