Casino Novomatic
It was Austrian billionaire Johann Graf, who founded Novomatic in 1980. Back then he wasn’t a billionaire yet, mind you. And back then he built slot machines for land-based casinos and betting shops. It took him only a year to expand into neighbouring countries Germany, France, Switzerland and even the Netherlands (which is not a direct neighbour, of course).
And by 1983 the company had taken their business worldwide.
In the beginning Novomatic ran their own gambling arcades under the ‘Admiral’ brand and even now it’s a type of betting shop commonly found around central Europe. But Novomatic also supplies gambling machines to many other casinos and betting shops.
Internationally, Novomatic Holding, its Swiss sister company Admiral Casinos & Entertainment (ACE) and its majority shareholder Prof. Graf are engaged in over 1,200 casinos, electronic casinos, and sportsbetting outlets. Novomatic is a frequent attendee at the biggest gaming conferences in the world, and usually shows up with a major presence. In 2003, they stunned visitors to the International Casino Expo by setting up the largest booth ever seen at a gaming show, one that measured a massive 4,500 square meters.
In 1990 the company founded their Novoline brand and began slowly producing their games for computers.
In 1991 the Admiral Sportswetten GmbH was founded as a 100% subsidiary and the company continued to expand into the world of sportsbetting as well.
The focus was and still is on land-based ventures. Novomatic is operating a significant number of casinos and gambling arcades across Europe and keeps acquiring smaller companies at the same time, continuing its expansion.
Recognising a need to go mobile as well, Novomatic partnered with and later acquired GreenTube, who exclusively produce all mobile titles for the brand.
Another subsidiary, Extreme Live Gaming, now provides live tables for Novomatic as well.
Who are Novomatic?
Most of us who dabble in casino games will have heard of Novomatic. They've been around for donkey's years, cropping up way back in 1980. Although the company was founded in Austria you can find their games in more than 80 countries, and I certainly never fail to spot their machines whenever I'm in Las Vegas. In fact, Novomatic are probably better known for their real life slot games than their online ones, considering they have around 20,000 employees.
I personally prefer online gaming to physical gaming, mainly due to the fact that it's so easy to access whenever you fancy a few spins, but on the occasions I do enter a casino for a slot session I would definitely put Novomatic right up there on my list of software providers to look out for as you scan the casino floor like a coin-hunting hawk.
The slot machines themselves often wear a 'Gaminator' badge (Super Gaminator, Multi Gaminator etc) and are generally multi-game machines featuring cult games like Book Of Ra and Dolphins Pearl. The novel features in some of the 'Novoline' games have inspired slots from other developers, most notably Playtech and Viaden.
More recently, Novomatic have started to licence their games to a number of the online casinos (see casino comparison tool here) featured here and have even powered some dedicated Novomatic casinos which only carry Novomatic slot games. You'll see all of these on the list featured here. The number of online casinos featuring Novomatic games is still pretty small, especially when compared to those powered by dedicated online-games developers (see the Microgaming casinos for example). This is partly because Novomatic's games licences are not cheap and party because many casinos don't regard their games as a priority.
Novomatic and it's game development subsiduary Greentube ares not known for card games or live dealer games so you will be best off liooking at the live casino list for other options. That's not to say they don't try - but what they do best is slots!
Novomatic do restrict some countries from playing their games although the list is relatively small. Each casino can pretty much decide who they take and who they don't so even German, Italian and French players can usualy find at least one Novomatic casino that will accept them. UK players can choose any of those listed while US players - who probably don't know the games anyway to be fair - are restricted.
Right now, the number of online casinos that have Novomatic licences are few and far between, mainly because those that do have them have some limited exclusivity deals in place. I would expect the list to grow though although on the bright side, the choice of land-based Gaminator games that are now available to play online is pretty decent, as are other land-based slots from the likes of IGT and Aristocrat. Plus, the choice is growing every month.
Finally, it is worth noting that very few mobile casinos feature Novomatic games at present although Novomatic's development company Greentube have released some of the more popular Novo slots available in HTML5 for tablets.
| Online Casino | Casino Owner | Games Provider(s) | Down Load | Instant Play | Live Dealer | Licensing Jurisdiction | Est. | Reverse Time | Cashout Time | Weekend Cashouts | Manual Flush | Bonus $ / € / £ | Bonus Type | Pts | Info & Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genting | Genting Stanley | Novo/IGT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Alderney | 24 hrs | 24 hrs | No | No | Match | 9.3 | View | Go » | |||
| Grosvenor | Rank Interactive | Aristo/Novo/IGT/WMS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Alderney | 2002 | 0 hrs | 24 hrs | Yes | N/A | Match | 9.3 | View | Go » | ||
| BetVictor | Victor Chandler | IGT/Aristo/Novo/Microgaming | No | Yes | Yes | Gibraltar | 2001 | 24 hrs | 48 hrs | Yes | No | Playthru | 8.6 | View | Go » | ||
| OVO Casino | Quasar Ltd | Novomatic | No | Yes | No | Malta | 2011 | 12 hrs | 24 hrs | Yes | No | 200 | Match | 8.3 | View | Go » | |
| Energy Casino | Probe Investments Ltd | Novo/Microgaming/Net Ent | No | Yes | No | Malta | 2013 | 12 hrs | 24 hrs ± | No | No | Match | 8.2 | View | Go » |
Novomatic Casinos List #2 (Unverified)
The following Novomatic casinos are relatively new and unproven and I can't yet vouch for them as they don't have a long history. That said, I have played them all and I have cashed out and it all went fine (or else they wouldn't be here!) but I haven't been able to get much information on who's behind them. They all pretty much exclusively carry the Novoline slot games.| Online Casino | Casino Owner | Software | Licensing Jurisdiction | Est. | Reverse Time | Cashout Time | Weekend Cashouts | Manual Flush | Bonus $ / � / � | Max. Wkly Cashout | Rel | Info & Games | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mecca Games | Rank Interactive | Various | Alderney | 0 hrs | 12 hrs | Yes | N/A | ? | 7.3 | N/A | Go » | |||
| Casino Fantasia | Oceanlink N.V. | Novomatic | Curacao | 2014 | hrs | hrs | ? | 7.1 | N/A | Go » | ||||
| Casino Mybet | Personal Exchange Int | Various | Malta | 0 hrs | 24 hrs | Yes | N/A | ? | 7.1 | N/A | Go » | |||
| Bell Fruit Casino | Greentube | Various | United Kingdom | 2014 | 0 hrs | 72 hrs | No | n/a | ? | 6.7 | N/A | Go » | ||
| Star Vegas Italiano | Greentube | Novomatic | Malta | 2012 | 0 hrs | 24 hrs | No | No | ? | 6.7 | N/A | Go » | ||
| Quasar Gaming | Quasar | Various | Malta | 2011 | 12 hrs | 24 hrs | No | No | ? | 6.5 | N/A | Go » | ||
| BetVictor | Victor Chandler | Various | Gibraltar | 24 hrs | 48 hrs | No | N/A | ? | 6.1 | N/A | Go » | |||
| Star Games | Europe Entertainment | Various | Malta | 2008 | 0 hrs | 96 hrs | No | No | ? | 6 | N/A | Go » |
Best games
As mentioned they are best known for their physical slot games, but many of these have been ported to the online realm which is how they have continued to grow in popularity ever since the online casino boom changed the market forever.
Book of Ra is definitely one of their most popular games and one I highly recommend. Like certain games from Microgaming, IGT and many other games providers before it, Book of Ra plays upon that old favourite, the theme of Ancient Egypt. Yes it's become a bit cliche, but I always think the only reason they'd make similar slots is because they must be popular, so where's the harm in throwing in a new option for people who are a bit tired of Cleopatra's Gold?
Gunslinger is another personal favourite of mine. I've been a sucker for Western films ever since I was a kid so whenever a slot game pops up with a Western them I always make sure to check it out. This one had me hooked instantly with some classic poker hands, cowboys and bags of treasure making up the symbols with a Western backdrop, but it's not just the way it looks that makes Gunslinger such a great game. The game has a solid RTP and there are three bonus features triggered when you hit the Wanted or scatter symbols, as the music speeds up and really gets the adrenaline pumping.
Just because their slot machines are famous it doesn't mean there's nothing but slots from Novomatic. Since they made the move online I've noticed they've gradually increased the amount of table games available. Their baccarat and blackjack tables have just the right amount of animations to make you feel like you're in the casino whilst also keeping everything clean enough that you can see your hand and chip stack in an instant.
What makes them different?
One neat feature that seems to pop up in a lot of the Novomatic games I play is a gamble feature which increases the amount that can be won at any time. Basically, you can choose to gamble your winnings by predicting whether a face-down card will be red or black, giving you a chance to double your money. If you fancy yourself as a bit of psychic you can even plump for which suit it will be and if correct you'll win four times what you would've.
Extra ways to win are a bit of a recurring theme with Novomatic games as I've also noticed a lot of free spins in their bonus features - much more often than I'm used to with other software providers.
Jackpots
Novomatic games often come with their own jackpot. Now, we're not talking the same insane figures of games like Mega Moolah (I've read about people winning tens of millions in one spin, which is just crazy to me) but they're still big enough that if you hit them it'll likely be the biggest casino payday of your life.
I can't speak for everyone here, but when I see a multi-million jackpot a large part of me assumes I have no chance of winning it. That's not to say I don't still enjoy the games - I do - but it almost feels like a lost cause. By contrast, playing for a more realistic jackpot makes me feel like the chances of winning are increased. I guess you could compare it to betting on one football match as opposed to a massive accumulator; the latter offers a bigger reward, but you feel like you have a better chance with just the one.
With that in mind, I particularly enjoy Novomatic games like Golden Sevens and King's Treasure, where you can win thousands and thousands of dollars with one lucky spin.
Summary
Novomatic isn't the biggest online software provider, but it is one of the biggest in real casinos. Any company that can survive in a cutthroat casino industry must know what they're doing, and this is something Novomatic has shown when it started transferring its physical casino games into online versions. It was a smart move that meant the games have stayed relevant and also have a much wider reach to players around the world. The games are fun, varied, and many are among my favourite slots.
Important Note: A number of Novomatic casinos have restrictions on players from certain countries so in some cases you may have to try more than one option to find a casino that will take you. This doesn't affect UK players but several European countries including Germany, Italy and France will find it's a bit hit and miss. News Related To Novomatic Casinos
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