Given the recent news about eleven Vegas Technology powered online casinos closing their doors, there are only a handful of software providers left in the US facing online casino industry: Real Time Gaming and Rival Gaming, namely. Real Time Gaming will have the stronghold in the US, but the most well-known provider of online slots games overseas is Microgaming; and this month they have launched a couple of new things in regard to their online slots games. And I am not just talking about new games.
The first up of these new things is a new feature that Microgaming is calling Power Spins. So far only one Microgaming online slots game carries the feature: Sonic 7s. Sonic 7s is set to be launched on June 9th at Microgaming’s partner online casinos.
Power Spins is a wagering feature and can be best explained by using the new Sonic 7s as an example. Sonic 7s offers nine paylines to play on. So let’s say you are wagering $1 on each payline; your total cost of a spin is $9. Choosing to active the Power Spins feature will add a third of the cost of a spin to the total cost. Going back to our example, a third of $9 is $3. Add $9 and $3 and your new total cost of a spin is $12. At this point in time we do not know the purpose of the Power Spin feature other than as a quick and easy way to increase the cost a spin. If there is a special bonus or special payout that only Power Spins are eligible for is not known at this time. Given my hesitation to give an online casino the opportunity to take more of my money, I would be wary of the Power Spins unless there is some special benefit to using the feature. But then that is just me and my cautious nature.
The other new thing to come out of Microgaming this June is the Jack or Better Video Poker slots game. Yes, despite the ‘video poker’ part of the name this is indeed an online slots game. It is just a hybrid of two casino games. Not sure if it is fuel efficient though…okay, that was a bad joke.
After placing a wager and clicking Spin, the reels will spin up five cards. Players can choose to keep the cards or discard them. After deciding the reels are reactivated to finish the round. There are five reels with three cards showing per reel; so fifteen cards on the final screen. On the final screen if any poker combinations are formed, either left to right or right to left, the slots player receives the appropriate payout. So it is like using a slots game format with cards for symbols; and instead of paying out for matching symbols, payouts are made for poker hands. Kind of a neat idea for a mash-up.
So that is what is new from Microgaming. Shame that US players cannot play in a Microgaming powered online casino, but with all the hoopla that the Department of Justice is raising I can kind of understand them not wanting to mess with the US market at this time. Real Time Gaming has been quiet this month and last; we are assuming they are trying to lie low and keep their ducks in a row to keep operating in the US.