Downloading Games in Online Casino Software

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Online casino software can be quite voluminous. Microgaming, for example, offers over 300 games with more being added each month. If players have to wait till all the games are downloaded before they can start playing then it can be quite a long wait. In order to overcome this problem online casino software providers have devised mechanisms that allow players to start wagering at certain games before the entire casino is downloaded. Broadly speaking there are two systems. One is followed by Microgaming, Vegas Technology, Wizard Gaming and Playtech, whereas the other is followed by Cryptologic and real Time Gaming.

The system followed by Microgaming, Wizard Gaming and Playtech works as follows. When an online casino powered by any of these online casino software providers is launched for the first time then the games automatically start being downloaded in a sequence specified by the software provider. This sequence generally covers the more popular games first and allows provides a spread of game types for the player. If the player prefers certain games to be downloaded first then he can break the specified sequence and download the preferred games on priority by clicking on them in the games lobby. If the player has no preference then all the games will be downloaded in due course without the player having to give any instruction. Another advantage offered by these online casino software providers is that the player can wager on the downloaded games, while the remaining games are being downloaded seamlessly in the background. If the player has to exit from the online casino before all the games are downloaded, the software will continue from where it left off the next time the casino is accessed.

By clicking on the hide button while downloading and playing at a Microgaming casino you'll simply be taken back to the games lobby where you can choose and play another game while the game you clicked on before downloads in the background.

Similar to how the Microgaming system works Wizard Gaming does it in the same way by allowing you to hide the game download dialog box and go play another game. We kind of like the way Wizard Gaming do it better in that they don't actually take you out of the lobby as Microgaming does.

Playtech does it pretty much the same way as Microgaming and Wizard Gaming do as you can see from the above screenshot.

The online casinos powered by Real Time Gaming, Vegas Technology and Cryptologic offer a slightly different system. In this system the games do not download automatically. The players have to download the games they want to wager at by individually clicking on the games in the lobby. Whereas though this requires some more effort on the player’s part, it also offers an advantage. The player’s hard disc is not cluttered with games that he will never be playing. This system leads to lower memory utilization on the hard disc. The Cryptologic, Vegas Technology and Real Time Gaming systems are not identical. The Vegas Technology and Cryptologic system shares a characteristic with the other online casino software providers mentioned earlier. It allows players to wager on the downloaded games while others are being downloaded. In the Real Time Gaming system the downloading and wagering cannot proceed simultaneously. If a game is being downloaded the player has to wait for it to be completed before he can start wagering on any game already downloaded.

In Cryptologic there are no dialogs that you need hide as you can see from the above screenshot. The nice thing that we like about the way that Cryptologic manages their game downloads is that after the game is done downloading you receive a prompt letting you know. It's a nice way to indicate to players that a game is ready to be played.


As seen from the above screenshot Vegas Technology has a dialog that comes up that which you can hide and play another game while the game completes downloading. Games in Vegas Technology software do require that you download each game individually though.

Realtime Gaming is probably the worst of the bunch when it comes to download mechanisms. When you click to download a game you must wait for the game to download prior to being able to play another game. It's definitely an inconvenience and they should really change the way this works. We've heard though on the upside that they are currently working on changes to make their download system much better. In order to go to another game while downloading a game you must click on the cancel button which will cancel the download and won't download the game in the background.

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