A Better Way to Play
When exactly Playbetter launched isn’t entirely clear; while there are some signs that the business was incorporated in 2014, their presence on sites such as YouTube begins in 2016. Also slightly unusual is where this studio is headquartered. While they are clearly an Italian company that is aimed at sites operating in Italy (their entire website is written in Italian, for instance), their offices are listed as being in Ely, which is located in the United Kingdom.
Regardless of these fine details, the actual mission of Playbetter is fairly clear. Their team, which has over 20 years of experience in the iGaming industry, offers a full-service online casino package that includes not only the games a site might want to form the core of a gambling experience for their players, but also the backend systems that can help operators handle areas like player management, customer service, and payment processing. All of this is done through an intuitive system that is relatively inexpensive and fast to implement, making this a value product for prospective site owners.
In addition, this company has also put together systems that are designed to run other types of gaming operations. For instance, they have an online poker software package that allows for both cash game and tournament play with support for multiple currencies and languages. In addition, they can also provide a sportsbook service for interested clients. Playbetter says they also offer services to help operators obtain the proper licensing for iGaming in the jurisdictions they are interested in targeting.
A Small Slots Collection
The Playbetter library begins with a small selection of slot machines, with at least eight titles available that we know of so far. These games cover several different themes, though even in this small collection you might say there’s a tiny bit of overlap: at least two of the games (All Hallows’ Eve and Bloody Mary) cover horror themes, for instance.
Overall, the quality of these games is fairly high, though there are some pros and cons to be sure. The quality of the graphics in these machines is excellent, with highly detailed icons and interesting backdrops on all of the machines. Many of the games also feature animated characters alongside the reels, reacting to each spin. This is a nice, lively touch, though the animations are a bit choppier and less impressive than those from some of the better machines on the market today.
Many of these slots feature similar formats, though the themes and some of the gameplay details do vary enough to make each game feel unique. For instance, Balthazar Cortes is a five reel machine with 10 paylines that uses a cascading reels feature with increasing multipliers after every win. Syra also uses the 10 line format, but features a more traditional gameplay style in the trappings of an Egyptian theme. Meanwhile, Golden Chicken offers up a barnyard setting in which players will hope to match chickens and other farm icons across their paylines.
Limited Table Options
Playbetter does show off a couple of table games on their website, but it is unclear whether the collection goes beyond the games we’ve seen there. First, there are the standard European and American roulette tables, which feature a single zero and two zeroes respectively. That is joined by another casino classic, blackjack, which appears to use fairly standard rules with the dealer standing on all 17s.
Offbeat Video Poker
Similarly, there are a small number of video poker machines that have been created by this provider, and though we haven’t had a chance to play them ourselves, they certainly look like they’re a bit out of the ordinary. For instance, there’s Golden Flush, which offers a pay table that starts with Jacks or Better but also includes jokers in the deck, with the top paying hand being five jokers.
Most of the other video poker options are divided into two different series of games: one called Magic Number, and another known as Super Fever. There’s also the unique Guitar10, which replaces cards with guitars, suits with colors, and ranks with numbers up to 13. Essentially, this is a game that plays exactly like a standard video poker machine, but the unusual theming makes this a unique experience.
Limited, But Promising
So far, we haven’t seen all that much out of Playbetter. They’ve yet to make much of an impact on the wider iGaming world – though they have had some success when it comes to distributing video lottery terminals in hotels, bars, restaurants and other venues in Europe – and even in Italy their influence is somewhat limited, meaning this isn’t one of the big names that players are likely to have heard of.
That could change in the future, as this collection isn’t all that bad. While none of the games we’ve tried have been spectacular, the range of their portfolio is quite impressive, and the fact that they offer up a versatile backend system will also make them attractive to partners in the future. There’s no need to go out of your way to seek out this collection, but if you play at a site that includes these games, it’s worth taking a look to see what they have to offer.
