Rival (Casino Controller)

Rival Company Profile

Rival is a world-leading B2B developer and supplier of casino software for US-facing offshore gambling sites. The company offers a complete turnkey solution that consists of a full casino back office based on the proprietary Casino Controller platform, a marketing system that’s capable of tracking based on customer activity and allows for accurate record-keeping, and a live chat/customer service system. The Rival casino platform (casino controller) is flexible and allows for easy third-party software integrations. Aside from backend systems, Rival also produces in-house games, which are built with modern JavaScript and optimized for mobile and desktop devices. Rival games can be integrated with a third-party casino platform, so not every site that offers them has to run on Rival’s casino software.

Company History

Rival was launched in 2005 in Canada. The company was officially unveiled in 2006 at the Global iGaming Summit and Expo, which is an important US-centric industry event. Over the years, they have built up its reputation as the leading software supplier for US-facing casinos. Due to worsening regulatory conditions for internet gambling in the United States, the company moved its headquarters to Cyprus in 2009. Since then, Rival has been working with a wide range of offshore sites that accept American players and expanding its portfolio of exclusive in-house games. In the 2010s, they was best known for its i-Slots, which was a long-running series of games that enhanced the standard video slot format by introducing progressing storylines. In 2014, the company switched from the Flash standard to HTML5, which means that all its games released since then are 100% mobile-friendly. That year, Rival also expanded its portfolio of products by launching a proprietary Live Chat system. Rival’s current CEO is Patrick Stacey.

Rival Licenses

Rival operates under a license issued in Curacao. Rival’s partners can use this license to enter the global online casino market without going through the licensing process themselves. This is an excellent choice for offshore sites that want to operate in jurisdictions that prohibit local businesses from running a real-money iGaming business but don’t prohibit the residents from actually engaging in online gambling for cash. Unfortunately, such a solution is suboptimal for operators who want to enter regulated jurisdictions, and they are not really known for assisting its partners with obtaining an individual license. Thus, Rival’s software is most prolific among offshore US-facing operators.

Rival Casino Sites

Rival’s casino engine is often used by small and medium-sized casinos, such as Lucky Hippo, Treasure Mike, This is Vegas, Grand Rush, or Paradise 8. However, content produced by this company frequently makes its way to high-traffic sites targeting an international audience, such as Videoslots, 22Bet Casino, King Billy, DuxCasino, KatsuBet, VIP Slots, Megapari, CampoBet, or 888Starz. 

Casino Games

Rival boasts an extensive portfolio of 100+ exclusive in-house games, including slots (Astral Luck, Dark Hearts, Smoking Gun), progressive jackpot slots (Diamond Rhino, Money Magic, Strike Gold), table games (American Roulette, Blackjack, Card Clash, Ride’em Poker), and video poker (Aces and Faces, Deuces Wild, Tens or Better). In 2020, Rival launched a new line of Rival/Alive slots that transport the player through changing environments that come with distinct sets of bonus features. This line of products can be considered a spiritual successor to the somewhat outdated story-driven i-Slots. The only Alive game released so far is Wrath of Medusa.

All the new games were created using cutting-edge technologies, such as the Pixi rendering engine, which allows for smoother gameplay through hardware acceleration, or Spine, which produces more vibrant animations.

Aside from in-house games, Rival-powered casinos enjoy access to games designed by Tom Horn Gaming (Panda’s Run, Feng Fu, Spinball), Spinomenal (Book of Rebirth, Buffalo Rampage, Buffalo Rampage), and Saucify (Siren’s Serenade, Sweet Success, Worlds at War). 

Unfortunately, Rival doesn’t have access to a live dealer studio and can’t offer any games of this kind.