RealTime Gaming Casinos

Commonly referred to as RTG, Realtime Gaming holds an international reputation as a developer and provider of software and games for both online and land-based (kiosk) casinos. RTG is associated with several of the most iconic online video slots in history.

The company was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 and moved to the Caribbean ten years later. RTG Asia, the subsidiary responsible for late 2007 and all 2008 RTG game releases, was founded in 2005 by former partner and VP, Daniel Schultz. He went on to form Leander Games with Ramiro Atucha in 2008.

The company’s game development was centered in Australia from at least 2003 until possibly 2017, or beyond. However, just as RTG’s departure from the U.S. coincided with the enactment of the UIGEA of 2006, game development in Australia seems to have moved elsewhere with the IGA Amendment of 2017 there.

Realtime Gaming officially introduced a new brand, RTG Asia, to the international public in early 2018 with Charlotte Tang as CEO

iGaming industry veteran and former CMO of Gala Interactive, Alex Czajkowski, joined the firm in the same marketing capacity a few months later. The company has offices in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Real Time Gaming Casinos

Great Gaming Diversity

Today there are over 300 online video slots, tables, and specialty games in the provider’s portfolio. Some online casinos still offer a full download client for desktop PCs, all offer web browser-based instant play for any device including PC, MAC, iPad, iPhone, or Android, and a select few still offer iOS and Android apps.

Until 2018 all RTG games were found only at single software casinos – that is to say, if you saw RTG titles, you wouldn’t see games by any other makers. We did run across one site that seemed to be using a heretofore unknown API to mix the Aussie slots in with games from other providers. It has not become a common practice.

The only other exception to that rule of thumb would be sites like Bovada, Slots.lv, Ignition, Cafe, etc. which have games from several developers including Genesis Gaming Inc. of Las Vegas.

During the final days of Bodog.com – prior to the launch of Bovada – Calvin Ayre bought a copy of the source code to a handful of legacy Realtime games such as Achilles, Aladdin’s Wishes, Caesar’s Empire, etc. Those games can still be found in their original configurations at Bodog-associated casinos. The same games at RTG-proper sites have all been updated with greater choices in incremental bets per line, stop/spin options, and a player controlled autoplay module.

Aside from a great mix of unique game features, volatility, and time-honored themes, one thing that continues to draw players to their video slots are the Real Series random jackpots. Tens of thousands of dollars can be won on a $0.20 or even a $0.01 spin. Of course, the more you bet per spin, the more ‘lottery tickets’ or pings on the random trigger you get for that spin. It’s only fair afterall, and we’ve seen phenomenal wins on bets as low as $0.07.

Mixed Bag of Casinos

The RTG business model has always been one of simply providing increasingly appealing games to end users. The company rarely, if ever, involved itself in the business ethics of its franchisees. That, mixed with the lack of robust regulation in the areas most RTG casinos were licensed in, led to a situation where players had to take a chance or rely on established referral sites like Gambling Gurus to avoid a bad experience.

The RTG business model hasn’t changed as we near the end of the first decade of the new millennium – so players still have to separate the fairness and quality of RTG online casino games from the reputations of the operators who offer them.

It’s a truly mixed bag. On one end of the spectrum there are casinos like Brango and Extreme that pay players in Bitcoin within a few minutes every time; others that pay within 24 hours like Roaring 21, Casino Max, and Cherry Jackpot; still others yet that stick to traditional processing times.

The majority of RTG operators take from 3-7 business days to process payouts.

And then you have the perennial brigands and rogues that use every term and conditions trick in the book to avoid paying at all. When that doesn’t work, they simply don’t pay. Those operations quickly make it onto industry blacklists and should be avoided at all cost. After all, isn’t it enough to gamble against the house edge and not whether you’ll be paid when you win?

Software and Game Integrity

The security of the RTG platform has never been questioned. The fairness of the legacy games is another given after several decades of research and simulations show the pay table maths aligned perfectly with the mapped reel strips, the video poker games deliver true odds, and the results of blackjack and roulette, etc are within expected ranges.

Variable Theoretical Return to Player Percentages (RTP)

International players may be familiar with the common practice of game providers setting RTP to the highest level for players in the UK – where licensees are required to declare the games’ theoretical returns – and the same providers allowing casinos to choose a lower RTP setting for their Maltese licenses.

RTG and RTG Asia also have variable settings, chosen by the operator. 91%, 95% or 97.5% were the common historic settings. Deep research has shown that the games were originally delivered at a 95% setting, and an operator needed to request a change, lower or higher. This purportedly required a one-month cycle and was probably done when a Real Series slot reached an unusual volume of play due to a large random jackpot.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to wonder if casinos with huge bonuses and ridiculously low wagering requirements have opted for the lowest setting. Either way, the practice of giving operators an option on RTP is neither uncommon nor unfair.

Another way RTG minimizes operators’ exposure is to cap non-random jackpot wins at 50,000x line bet on nearly every real series slot game. Vulcan is one notable exception. Enterprising players have looked to beat this limit by reducing the number of lines played while increasing their bet per line – especially on slots with stacked or expanding wilds. The RTP remains the same but the volatility is increased dramatically. The results can vary, depending on how the symbols land.

The results can be frustrating like this recent spin that produced next to nothing…

Or quite pleasing!

And then there’s this 2014 whopper at 6,764X times total stake for the triggering spin…

Exclusive features to RTG:

Feature Guarantee – Chances to trigger the main game feature, like free spins, increase with every paid bet until they reach 100%. Players can also gamble on the odds anytime after registering a paid spin.

Jackpot Pyramid – Local progressives in place of random jackpots on NuWorks branded games.

Boiling Point Jackpot – Many network progressives feature up to four jackpots and each must trigger by certain dollar value. Some of these seed at �1M and must award the progressive before reaching the ‘boiling point’.

Table game jackpots like the one found on Caribbean Stud Poker can reach astronomical values as well and are won when you place a $1 side bet and are dealt a Royal Flush. Lesser ranked hands will receive a perentage of the total jackpot.

Realtime Gaming Summary

With over 300 games on offer and more than 20 years in the business, casinos that offer RTG games present a solid, time-tested product.

New games are released at least once each month. The stream of Asian-centric video slots all feature unique bonus games, some with multi-tiered mechanics. (Collect certain symbols during free spins which add value to final free spins round, etc.)

All RTG casinos have a dedicated mobile lobby with nearly 100 games for all devices. iOS users can access the full Instant Play lobby by installing an alternate browser, while Android users only need to allow Flash permission. Some RTG casinos offer iOS and Android apps.

The Instant Play lobby is also available for play on any modern desktop, laptop, or tablet web browser.

In order to play all of the games including legacy slots that haven’t been converted to mobile yet – and to play free and low entry-fee tournaments – PC users can download a small desktop client. The client loads and installs quickly as a ‘casino shell’. Bandwidth isn’t consumed by all 300+ games loading in the background. In order to install a particular game, simply click on it and play another while waiting for it to load.

Most RTG casinos offer practice or demo mode. The games perform in demo mode exactly as they do during real money play.