Microgaming Set To Launch Its Own Live Casino
Microgaming is launching its own live casino offering in early 2022, marking a first for the company. An article on the Microgaming corporate website revealed details of Microgaming’s new venture.
On Air Entertainment is a Microgaming-powered company founded in January 2021. Senior industry professionals head up On Air Entertainment from the company’s Malta headquarters. It operates a state-of-the-art studio in Riga, Latvia, and has developers in both Latvia and Estonia.
Early 2022 sees On Air Entertainment launch a range of classic and bespoke live casino games.
John Coleman is the CEO of Microgaming. Coleman confirmed the launch of a new Microgaming-powered live casino.
“On Air Entertainment represents a new evolution of live casino gaming, possessing all the experience, talent, and passion required to innovate in the live casino space. I am delighted that Microgaming is playing an integral part in their exciting journey.”
Managing Director of On Air Entertainment, Andres Rengifo, is equally as excited for the future.
“Our vision is to be the global innovator of choice for tailored live casino experiences, and to achieve this, we’re bringing together the very brightest and best live casino talent from across the industry. Powered by Microgaming, we will have access to unrivaled customer and market reach – this is a game-changer for us, and we can’t wait to begin broadcasting together!”
New Live Casino Made Up of Former NetEnt Employees
Both Coleman and Rengifo spoke about having the best live casino talent on their books. This is true because Microgaming came to the rescue like a white knight on horseback when Evolution Gaming shut down NetEnt’s live studios.
Evolution Gaming acquired NetEnt in late June 2020 for a $3.05 billion fee. The new company is one of the biggest gaming entities in the world. World leader status is the company’s ultimate goal. However, there was a significant hitch because both companies run their own extensive live casino operations.
Hundreds of online casinos run Evolution Gaming-powered live dealer games. The new company did not see room for both offerings, so it shut down the NetEnt operation. NetEnt staff turned up to the Malta live studio one day late in 2020 only to be sent home and told to wait for further instructions. This puzzled the team because NetEnt announced plans to expand the studio only three months earlier.
At least 300, and up to 500, NetEnt staff lost their jobs as Evolution Gaming made sweeping changes. Those staff were disgusted about how Evolution Gaming treated them because the company left them in the dark.
Microgaming saw an opportunity and acted swiftly. It offered employment contracts to many of the former NetEnt live casino staff. Those staff make up the bulk of the new On Air Entertainment company formed in January 2021.
What Are Live Dealer Games?
Live dealer games have grown in popularity over the years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They run at online casinos, usually blackjack and roulette. Players place their bets from their computers or mobile devices like in a typical online casino game, but an actual dealer deals the game in real-time.
Like the On Air Entertainment studio in Riga, Studios stream the action to the live casino online. Players interact with the dealers by typing into the chatbox as the action unfolds before them.
Most live casino products look and play exactly how you expect such a game to play if you were in a brick-and-mortar venue, except players take part from the comfort of their own homes.
Microgaming has stayed away from this sector for a long time, preferring its popular jackpot pokies. It does not produce many of its own games, instead acting as a publisher for smaller companies. Those smaller companies get their games played globally thanks to Microgaming’s standing in the industry.
