Pragmatic Play Expands Live Casino with New Studio

What Will the New Bulgarian Live Dealer Studio Look Like?

Pragmatic Play announced their expansion plans a few weeks ago having already established hubs in Bucharest, Serbia, Gibraltar and Malta. The software provider has shown their intention to grow in the live dealer game industry with their new state-of-the-art facilities in Sofia. The games that the provider will host are mainly table games, to give players a premium experience.

Bulgaria becomes the latest destination where Pragmatic Play has established a working staff. Their first studio was launched in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, whilst the corporate also has hubs in other European jurisdictions. The Chief Operating Officer at Pragmatic Play, Irina Cornides, released a statement on the breaking news:

“We’re delighted to announce the opening of our new Bulgarian location, right in the heart of the capital, Sofia.

“It is an important step for us as we look to both expand the capacity of our Live Casino operations and intend to work with the fantastic talent in Bulgaria. 

“We’re proud of the strides made as a business since our inception, and this marks another exciting chapter for Pragmatic Play.” 

The news comes just months after Pragmatic Play announced a long-term partnership earlier this year with the Bulgarian casino operator, Palms Bet. The deal allowed the Bulgarian casino site to utilize the top-performing slots from Pragmatic Play such as Gates of Olympus and Might of Ra. In addition, the deal also gives Palms Bet the right to use the popular Live Casino games that Pragmatic Play offers such as Roulette and Baccarat.

Palms Bet is a growing operator in Bulgaria that has been in the industry since 2014. They offer a casino and a sportsbook product. Pragmatic Play continue to expand in top European jurisdictions following deals with TOPsport and Enlabs that give the provider a foothold in many Baltic and Nordic European countries.

Yossi Barzely, the Chief Business Development Officer at Pragmatic Play stated the following on the Palms deal back in March:

“We are excited to broaden our footprint in a promising market like Bulgaria with Palms Bet and look forward to working together to offer local users truly engaging casino experiences.

“Our drive into this region is an important step for us in terms of our growth strategy for the year ahead, and we look forward to establishing a fruitful relationship with the team.

Who are Pragmatic Play?

Pragmatic Play is widely considered to be one of the leading online software providers in the iGaming industry. The multi-award-winning software provider operates in over 20 countries and releases all of their games fully mobile optimised, available in dozens of languages and supporting numerous currencies.

Pragmatic Play was established in 2007 and has become well-regarded as a leading multi-product developer in the industry. The company has a massive gaming portfolio that includes slots, live casino, sports betting, virtual sports and bingo. Their games are innovative thanks to several proprietary mechanics and they come with a fantastic design and overall presentation.

The provider operates using licenses from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and Malta Gaming Authority. In terms of accolades, Pragmatic Play won the EGR Game of the Year 2021 with Gates of Olympus and the IGA RNG Casino Supplier of the Year 2021 among others.

What Else Has Pragmatic Play Been Up To?

In addition to the Bulgarian expansion deal with Palms Bet, Pragmatic Play have also recently launched their sportsbook product. The sports betting service went live earlier this year in April and is powered by a team of industry executives with B2C experience at major operators.

The sportsbook product is set to cover a variety of markets from various sports. That includes the more popular sports such as football, basketball and tennis. Punters will find the most popular events for both pre-game and live betting such as the EPL, ATP Tour, NBA, NFL and more. Chief Business Development Officer, Yossi Barzely, stated the following on the sportsbook product:

“The launch of our Sportsbook marks an incredibly proud moment for Pragmatic Play.

“We are not shy of adding new verticals to our offering if we believe we can be a differentiator, and by entering the sports betting space we’re now able to offer a complete one-company solution for operators looking to establish themselves or progress to new heights.”

The sportsbook product is the fifth vertical that is provided by Pragmatic Play, as the developer also has products for slots, live casino, bingo and virtual sports.

What Makes Pragmatic Play’s Live Casino Special?

Although the Bulgarian Live Casino product has not yet gone live, we can expect the Live Casino to be similar to what Pragmatic Play already offers. The software provider covers a wide range of live dealer games that keep to the standards set by the company. That includes:

• The use of highly trained and professional dealers/croupiers
• State of the art studios for a rich and professional casino experience
• The latest advanced technology for streaming services to ensure a smooth broadcast with superior video and audio quality
• All streams to be broadcast using 4K cameras for the highest resolution and most user-friendly experience
• HTML5 technology for all slots and live dealer games so that every single game is available on any smartphone without needing to download any additional applications
• A wide variety of games available for players across the globe with a reported 28 supported languages
• A supportive marketing tool that keeps track of players first bets, blackjack combinations, leader boards, in-studio promotions and more
• A responsive customer support team that are ready to chat with any player live 24/7
• The prestigious UKGC and MGA licenses that allow players from various jurisdictions in Europe to play the premium live dealer games
• Expert responsive Risk Management

If the Bulgarian based studio is anything like the Bucharest studio, players can expect a high-level gaming experience. Pragmatic Play launched their live casino product in April 2019 in the heart of Romania. At the live casino, players can find a variety of blackjack, baccarat and roulette games, in addition to lesser-known table and casino games. Some variants of these popular games include Dragon Tiger, Speed Roulette and Boom City.

Is Dragon Tiger the Same as Baccarat?

A popular Live Casino game from Pragmatic Play is the Asian themed Dragon Tiger. In some ways, Dragon Tiger is a simplified version of Baccarat, which only uses 1 card rather than 2. There are two positions on the table, the Dragon and the Tiger position. The player can bet on either position to win or a tie. The position with the higher value card wins.

Behind the dealer, on the left hand and right hand side, glass statues of Dragons and Tigers can be seen. Each time one of the positions win, the statue lights up, to clearly show the winner.

The lowest value card is A whilst the highest value card is K. If a position wins, it pays even money.

Players can also bet on a Tie which pays 11:1. However, if both cards are identical, the payout is 50:1.

What is the Difference between Speed Roulette and Regular Roulette?

Another popular live dealer game from the Bucharest studio is Speed Roulette. The roulette variant uses the same format as European Roulette meaning there is only a single 0 on the wheel. The RTP of Speed Roulette from Pragmatic Play is 97.30% whilst the betting range goes from €1.00 all the way up to €5,000.00.

Speed Roulette is just like any standard European Roulette game where players can wager on all inside and outside bets. Furthermore, there is a racetrack betting area to place the announce bets. The only major difference in the roulette variant is that a round is approximately 60% faster than standard live roulette games. The speedy rounds create a more exciting and fast-paced feel to the live roulette game and is more suitable for players who want as much betting action as possible.

What is Pragmatic Play’s Live Boom City Game?

An example of Pragmatic Play’s creativity is Boom City, which is a Live Casino game show. The aim of the game is to correctly predict the numbers or bonus squares that two rolled dice will land on.

Boom City is played on a 6x6 grid that has a total of 36 positions on it. Depending on the outcome, players can either receive a payout, enhance their winnings with a PowerUp or advance to one of three bonus games. The bonus games include a Dice Battle, Lucky Drop and Boom or Bust.

Each of the 36 positions represent a different outcome. The blue dice represents the horizontal outcome whilst the gold dice determines the vertical outcome. Players can make the most of multipliers that allow them to claim up to 20,000x their bet, resulting in a maximum prize of up to €500,000.

Why is Gates of Olympus Such a Popular Slot?

In addition to an outstanding Live Casino, Pragmatic Play is well regarded for their exceptional video slots. Gates of Olympus is widely regarded as the best video slot from the software provider. The 6x5 slot uses an All Ways Pays mechanic, meaning players need to land 8 of the same symbols on any of the 30 positions on the screen.

As the name suggests, Gates of Olympus is based on ancient Greek mythology, and Mount Olympus is visible in the background. Zeus hovers next to the reels and he is also the game’s scatter symbol.

The Pragmatic Play slot comes complete with a Tumble feature, Multipliers and Free Spins. Thus, whenever a player matches 8 symbols anywhere on the reels, they are removed from the screen resulting in new symbols dropping down and filling up the empty positions. If this forms another winning combination, the process will then repeat itself, and this can continue indefinitely.

In addition, the slot has a variety of multiplier symbols that are attached to orbs. The multipliers can vary from x2 to x500. Furthermore, if the player manages to match a combination with more than one orb, the multipliers are added together.

The Zeus scatter symbol is the key to triggering the Free Spins bonus round. During this feature, players receive 15 free spins. In addition, the multipliers that were previously collected do not disappear after a spin is complete. Instead, they keep on accumulating during the entirety of the bonus game. It is also possible to re-trigger more spins.

Gates of Olympus is a classic slot from Pragmatic Play and claimed the 2021 EGR Game of the Year. The RTP for this slot is 96.5% whilst the maximum win is 5,000 times the stake.