Rival Gaming is among the handful of companies capable of exclusively powering online casinos. Alongside RealTime Gaming, Rival has been the driving force behind many popular international online casinos catering to Australia and the US. For this reason, Pokies Bet decided to take a closer look into this casino developer to raise awareness about its payouts, game features, scandals and other noteworthy areas.
Rival Powered, which is the company’s official name, was established in 2005 and began operations on the following year. The company has released over 130 games to date, so we have a lot of ground to cover on this page. Despite its questionable reputation, the company’s progressive jackpots, poker games, i-Slots, and inviting online pokies have helped it keep the lights on till this day.
Continue below to see why!
About Rival Gaming
Established in | 2005 |
Licenses/Certifications | Curacao eGaming, TST and eCogra |
Number of Slots | 110+ |
Number of Casino Games | 20+ |
Games’ Characteristics | Great Graphics, Low Volatility and RTP |
Rival Powered Casinos | Joe Fortune, Spartan Slots, and more |
Services | Backend, Games Development, Mobile Games, Customer Service, Licensing, Exclusive Games, Affiliate Program |
Our Thoughts | Questionable reputation |
Aussie Rival Powered Online Casinos
Rival exclusively powers more than 50 casino sites today, with 200+ operators featuring Rival Games alongside titles from other casino developers. Aussie gamers looking for Rival-first casinos should check out the following:
- Slots Capital – one of the most visited Aussie Rival casinos.
- Desert Nights – 250% weekly bonus for Rival slot games!
- 1xSlots – among the best Rival casinos that also provides access to live dealer games!
- Supernova – one of the best Rival casinos featuring i-Slots from the provider too.
- Spartan Slots – join for a combination of free spins and a 250% welcome bonus.
- Black Diamond – one of the classic Aussie online casinos operating for over 10 years with the complete Rival gaming catalogue.
- Box24 – 25 free spins no deposit available to play selected Rival games!
- Eclipse – top rated mobile casino for easy access to the complete Rival lobby from any device and location.
- Joe Fortune – besides Rival slots, Joe Fortune provides a huge variety of slot machines to play for free or real money.
- Intertops – grab a bonus up to A$5,555 and take your pick between Rival slots, sportsbook and poker games.
- Ignition – renowned Rival casino, favourite among AU and US players.
- Cocoa – the first Rival powered casino that still caters to Aussie punters.
As you might have noticed, our referral links lead to alternative Aussie online casinos. That’s because we consider them superior to operators affiliated with Rival Gaming since most of those have been involved in scandals. Our approved operators feature Rival slots along with 5,000+ gaming options from industry leaders like Pragmatic Play and Betsoft. Tap on our links to play with exclusive bonuses or to read our reviews, and you’ll understand why we prefer them to Rival gaming sites like Box24 and Eclipse.
Best 10 Rival Slots
Rival is a proud and masterful slot games provider, so selecting a few from its extensive catalogue has been indeed challenging. Below, you can view the best 10 Rival slots based on Pokies Bet experts, as they depict all the best aspects of the provider:
Viking Victory
One of the Nordic-themed slots from Rival, Viking Victory is a ways to win slot with up to 3,125 lines per pop. Viking Victory combines cascading reels and up to 9x multipliers per win, closely resembling Gonzo’s Quest. On the flip side, it carries low volatility with excellent hit rate but only 94.11% RTP.
Diamond Rhino Jackpot
With a 93.99% RTP and low volatility, Diamond Rhino Jackpot is your typical Rival slot game. The game packs multipliers, free spins, stacked wilds and a progressive jackpot – setting itself apart as one of the most bonus-filled pokies from the provider.
Money Magic
Although this was the first progressive jackpot slot from Rival, released in 2009, it remains one of their most popular pokies to date. Players must bet the maximum on 1 – 9 paylines to be eligible for the ever-increasing pot, keeping in mind that the volatility of Money Magic is very high and the RTP sits at 95%.
Daikoku Blessings
One of the few Asian themed slots from Rival, Daikoku Blessings doubles up as the only 6 reels game from the provider. It carries low RTP, at 93.59%, as volatility – impressing through its bonus features; namely, expanding wilds, free spins, multipliers, and jackpots.
Five Times Wins
This game is the original of the series under the same name by Rival. Five Times Wins has been designed with low volatility and 95.70% RTP, making it one the company’s highest paying slots. The game is a standard 3-reeler, despite its release in 2016. Five Times Wins represents the best qualities of classic slot machines, adding some spice through its 5x Wild multiplier.
Catsino
Often featured as the qualifying bonus slot of Australian casinos, Catsino is one of the most popular Rival slots. It plays with a medium volatility and 94.35% RTP, as players spin after free spins, 7x multipliers and the 9 Lives Super Round.
One Million Reels BC
Another progressive jackpot slot by Rival, One Million Reels BC is themed around dinosaurs and the pre-historic era. The action revolves on three reels and five paylines, whereby wilds and a symbol-triggered progressive jackpot are at play. Despite its original release dating to over 10 years ago, the game has astonishing 3D graphics.
Jumping Jaguar
One of the few medium volatility slot games from Rival, Jumping Jaguar has an RTP of 94.58%. The game was released in 2017, with a storyline unfolding in the jungle. All kinds of animals populate the reels, whereby free spins, wilds and drop symbols coincide for memorable wins.
Arabian Tales
One of the most famous Arab slots ever released, Arabian Tales by Rival features low variance and a 95% RTP. The game has all the expected symbols, such as Ali Baba, thieves, a genie and such. The game is positioned within a cave filled with gold, which could become yours through the stunning bonus features apparent in this game.
Wrath of Medusa
One of the most recent releases by Rival, Wrath of Medusa is a 5 reel slot, with 93.86% RTP and low volatility. The game has stunning animations and add-ons, with the expanding wilds, sticky wilds and Pick Em bonus being some of the best features in the whole iGaming realm.
Rival Powered Services
Rival does not operate in the same way as most iGaming software providers. Instead of simply making casino games, the company provides a holistic range of services to casino operators. The most notable include:
- Full Casino Backoffice – this service is ideal for online casinos who just want to offer Rival games and do not have significant manpower. A casino Backoffice is the software system that allows casino operators to add content, create URLs and edit the overall site powered by Rival.
- 3rd party Integrations – considering the versatility of the sector, the Rival Backoffice is not a stand-alone platform. Rather, operators can add extra features on the website, like SEO-plugins, translation software and so on.
- Affiliate Program – each casino operator decides on the marketing activities that they will employ to attract new customers. Nonetheless, affiliate marketing, the practice of 3rd party sites sending players to the casino, is one of the main ways new operators get players. Rival software offers an affiliate program that can be optimized from scratch.
- Tools for Tracking – this might be a bit too complicated, but in essence, this Rival tool helps operators monitor how new players landed on the site, what they clicked, how much time they spent on a single page and so on. Overall, this service helps improve the player experience and the overall user journey.
- Global chat – Rival is the only provider offering a global chat service to incentivize player interaction. Users can chat with each other, discussing their gaming experiences, preferences and so on. Still, such features are not legal in most countries that closely regulate online gambling.
- Customer Support – paying for agents and customer service teams is not essential if you decide to employ Rival services for your online casino. Experts working for Rival Gaming address all players’ concerns and issues, drawing from their 15+ years of expertise.
- Exclusive Games – not many providers trust themselves as much as Rival, which is evident from their willingness to produce exclusive games for their partners. For instance, an online casino can request from Rival to produce a title with a certain theme, graphics, special features etc. and the developer will create it for exclusive distribution.
Licenses & Markets: eCuracao, TST and eCogra
In terms of licensing and safety, Rival is not the most trustworthy provider. Some developers carry licenses from three or more official gambling bodies, allowing them to power casinos in multiple countries.
Rival, on the other hand, carries a license from the Curacao Internet Gaming Association (CIGA) only, which is not as recognized as other licensing bodies. Nonetheless, this license allows Rival to power casinos and offer its services to nearly all countries, except for Curacao itself. In essence, this license is ideal for operators who just want to offer their services in grey and unregulated markets, despite the connotations associated with such practices.
On a positive note, Rival also holds certifications from 3rd parties, like eCogra and TST, which are trusted, independent bodies that regularly test the casino games and slot machines of software providers in terms of RNG, RTP and overall fair gaming.
Rival Casino Scandals and Controversies
As you might have speculated from the above bit, Rival has been associated with some sketchy casinos and websites over the years. Still, it fairs much better compared to other providers that engage in similar practices, see RealTime Gaming for example, with just a few rocky instances worth highlighting:
Rogue Casinos
First and foremost, the sole fact that Rival powers unlicensed casinos and casinos that operate in grey markets is alarming. As a result, the company had an overall rocky start since its launch in 2006.
Most software providers rent their games to casinos; but Rival exclusively powers rogue sites and is therefore tied to any scandals that involve them. For instance, a common practice of many Rival casinos was to incorporate tricky Terms & Conditions, limiting players in terms of withdrawal limits, pending times, verification, fees and so on.
The most evident example of sketchy T&Cs relates to the player’s status affecting the amount of money they can withdraw. All players are included in the lower category, allowing them to withdraw a few hundred dollars per week. When considering that the welcome bonus of Rival casinos often exceeds A$10,000, players would have to wait for years to withdraw their total winnings.
So, even though Rival hasn’t directly been involved in any scandals, many affiliated casinos have; raising red flags about the legitimacy of the provider.
Change & Challenges
In 2010, Rival got transferred to different management, highlighting its move towards more ethical and cautious gambling activities. Although the company has been involved in considerably less scandals since, by powering better new online casinos – the challenges did not end there.
It was in 2010 that the US market banned online gambling, followed by stricter regulations in 2017 Down Under. Therefore, despite the company’s willingness to change course towards more regulated gambling markets, most of its exclusively-powered online casinos operate ilegally till this day.
Sheriff Gaming & Blue Gem Gaming
These were two smaller casino dev studios that were linked with Rival until they shut down operations. Rival used to feature many slot games from Sheriff, whose CEO got arrested for money laundering activities and fraud. The company then rebranded to Blue Gem Gaming, which was also shut down, as it was clear that it operated under the same management.
Unfortunately for Rival, Sheriff Gaming games featured at their casino sites were the most popular titles in its catalogue. In my view, it would be wise for the provider to power similar games for their audiences in the future.
Rival Blackjack
Lastly, there is an online thread concerning Rival blackjack that has accumulated a lot of traction. The players behind it have added a lot of detail and evidence to highlight how Rival blackjack would not payout, even when selected winning combinations formed.
The allegations claimed that such practices aim to steal money from players, who are either inexperienced or would not notice the faulty blackjack payouts due to their anticipation for the next round.
Complete Rival Casino Games List
Rival releases roughly one new slot machine every one to two months, with a few being sequels to their most popular games. Below, we highlight the majority of slots and casino games developed by Rival Gaming.
Rival Online Slots
Slot Games | 3 Reels | 5 Reels | Progressive | 6 Reels |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Almighty Dollar | 5 Reel Circus | Diamond Rhino Jackpot | Daikoku Blessings |
2 | Big Bang Buckaroo | Day at the Derby | 5x Wins Jackpot | |
3 | Big Cash Win | Alien Spinvasion | Major Moolah | |
4 | Bust a Vault | Arabian Tales | Money Magic | |
5 | Chicken Little | Astral Luck | OneMillion Reels BC | |
6 | Crazy Camel Cash Diamond Cherries | Blazin Buffalo | Strike Gold | |
7 | Diamond Dazzle | Catsino | ||
8 | Dollars to Donuts | Champs Elysees | ||
9 | Dr.Acula | Chariots of Fire | ||
10 | Dublin your Dough | Cleopatra’s Coins | ||
11 | Eggstravaganza | Coins of Olympus | ||
12 | Fire Storm 7 | Dark Hearts | ||
13 | 5x | Diamond Dragon | ||
14 | Flea Market | Diamond Rhino | ||
15 | Global Cup Soccer | Diggin’ Deep | ||
16 | Gold Bricks | Dog Pound Dollar$ | ||
17 | Gold Rush | Frogged | ||
18 | Heroes Realm | Fruit Splash | ||
19 | Hot Hand | Future Fortunes | ||
20 | Loco 7s | Gnome Sweet Home | ||
21 | Mega Wins | Golden Boot Football | ||
22 | Merlin’s Mystical Multipliers | Golden Gorilla | ||
23 | Midas Touch | Gushers Gold | ||
24 | Cash Cow | Hobo’s Hoard | ||
25 | Mobile | Ace Picks | ||
26 | Pistols and Roses | Jack Frost | ||
27 | Plunk Oh | Johnny Jungle | ||
28 | Red White & Blue | Jolly Rogers Jack Pot! | ||
29 | Sensational 6s | Juicy Jewels | ||
30 | 7 Bar | Jumping Jaguar | ||
31 | Snow Wonder | King Winalot | ||
32 | Sun Paradise | Leonardo’s Loot | ||
33 | Tahiti Time | Lion’s Roar | ||
34 | 10x | Lost Secret of Atlantis | ||
35 | WinMill | For Love & Money | ||
36 | Win Sanity | Lucky Labyrinth | ||
37 | Win Sanity 2 | Lucky Ox Jackpots | ||
38 | Mighty Aphrodite | |||
39 | Misfit Toyland | |||
40 | Mystic Wolf | |||
41 | Nuclear Fishin’ | |||
42 | Ocean Treasure | |||
43 | Panda Party | |||
44 | Party Parrot | |||
45 | Popping Pinatas | |||
46 | Reel Party | |||
47 | Rise of Poseidon | |||
48 | Scary Rich | |||
49 | Scary Rich 2 | |||
50 | Scary Rich 3 | |||
51 | Shamrock Isle | |||
52 | Silver Unicorn | |||
53 | Smoking Gun | |||
54 | So 80s | |||
55 | Spartan Warrior | |||
56 | Star Jewels | |||
57 | Swinging Sweethearts | |||
58 | Ten Suns | |||
59 | Thunderbird | |||
60 | Cleopatra’s Coins Treasure of the Nile | |||
61 | Tycoon Towers | |||
62 | Viking Victory | |||
63 | Vintage Vegas | |||
64 | Whale O’Winnings | |||
65 | Wild Carnival | |||
66 | Windy Farm | |||
67 | Winter Wonders | |||
68 | Wishing Cup | |||
69 | World of Oz | |||
70 | Wrath of Medusa | |||
71 | Zombiezee Money |
iSlots (Interactive Slots)
This is the most interesting gaming category from Rival. Interactive slots are similar to video games, whereby players engage with the action, unlocking new levels, new symbols, more bonuses and higher payouts as they progress. Such games even allow players to pause and continue from where they stopped at another time. In terms of RTP and payouts, i-Slots are similar to other Rival slot machines. The available games are:
A Switch in Time
As the Reels Turn – Blinded by Love
As the Reels Turn – The Gamble
As the Reels Turn – With Friends like You
Baby Boomers – Cash Cruise
Bowled Over
Cosmic Quest – Mission Control
Cosmic Quest – Mystery Planets
Fixer-Upper
Heavyweight Gold
Hole in Won
Hole in Won – The Back Nince
Japan-O-Rama
Midway Madness
Panda Party
Psychedelic Sixties
Reel Crime – Art Heist
Reel Crime – Bank Heist
Rock On!
Sherwood Forest Fortune
Spy Game
Wild Safari
Rival Table Games
Card Clash and Poker were the first card games by Rival, released in 2006 – with the rest options being launched in 2020. This was indeed a clever move by Rival, as their exclusive partners could not miss the below gaming options:
- American Roulette, 94.74% House Edge
- Blackjack, 99.40% House Edge
- Blackjack Multihand, 99.38% House Edge
- Card Clash, 97.12% House Edge
- European Roulette, 97.30% House Edge
- Ride’Em Poker, 97.04% House Edge
Rival Poker Games
With a strong focus on single-player poker, Rival released all of its current titles back in 2006. In 2020, the provider followed up with multi-hand versions of its poker games, greatly improving their versatility:
- Aces & Faces, 99.26% Edge
- Aces & Faces Multi-hand, 99.26% Edge
- Deuces Poker, 99.07% Edge
- Deuces Poker Multi-hand, 99.37% Edge
- Double Poker, 98.10% Edge
- Double Poker Multi-hand, 98.10% Edge
- Jacks or Better, 99.54% Edge
- Jacks or Better Multi-hand, 99.54% Edge
- Joker Poker, 98.60% Edge
- Joker Poker Multi-hand, 98.60% Edge
- Tens or Better, 99.14% Edge
- Tens or Better Multi-hand, 99.14% Edge
Software & Games Features: Bonuses, Themes, Graphics, RTP and Volatility
We could not locate a comperhensive summation of Rival games’ features since most websites depict the company’s titles as mediocre in all regards. Therefore, we have dived into each and every game from the provider, to illuminate all readers about Rival slots features.
- Volatility – High rollers will not be pleased with Rival titles, as 80% of their games carry low volatility, a few medium and less than five play with high volatility. This means that the vast majority of Rival slots will provide frequent payouts of smaller size.
- Hit Rate – As with most low volatility slot games, the hit rate in Rival slot games is very high, at 35% and further.
- RTP – By far the most disappointing fact about Rival slots is that they carry very low payout rates. This figure is calculated in long-term spinning of each title, with the average for slots being 96%. In contrast, Rival slots’ RTP ranges from 92 – 94%. A few progressive games carry even lower RTPs, at 88%, with a few exceptions offering above average RTP.
- Payouts – The payouts from Rival games are very low compared to other providers. Forget about 20,000x your bet payouts with Rival slots since winning caps range between 1,000 – 2,000x the bet level at most. Nevertheless, the progressive pokies from Rival have jackpots that seed at A$1,000, A$5,000 and even A$50,000 – so higher payouts can be achieved here too.
- Bet Levels – Another noteworthy aspect of Rival slots lies within their bet levels. Players will rarely find slots that accept over A$10 per spin, with most capped at A$2 per pop.
- Usability – Rival powers games with spectacular detail and always the user in mind. Small descriptions offer a clear understanding of how the game is played, the RTP, the maximum wins and payouts. Further, the provider features the same control buttons that can adjust pretty much everything at will, such as: Coins value, Cashier, Autoplay, Max Bet, Sound, Paytable, Game Speed, Volume and Ambient Sounds.
- HTML5 – All Rival slots releases since 2010 and onwards are powered in such a way to be accessible from all devices and software systems. Whenever you join a Rival casino, you will spot the mobile icon at all the respective games, so you don’t have to guess whether a game works on mobile or not.
- Graphics & Animations – If you have played any Rival slot game before, you will know what we are talking about. 3D graphics, themed low and high paying symbols, animated backgrounds, winning combinations that light up, new mini game screens and so many more spectacular visuals complement Rival games.
- Bonus Features – Last but not least, all video pokies from Rival offer free spins, multiple types of wild symbols, bonus rounds and scatters. 3-reelers and progressive pokies from the developer, as you would expect, lack in terms of add-ons and bonus rounds.
Conclusion
Although Rival is a provider with several worthwhile games, we highlighted several areas you should consider before playing. Firstly, many Rival powered sites operate in grey markets and therefore carry some risk when it comes to withdrawals and T&Cs. This is why we have included links to operators we have personally vetted and approved.
Then, the company’s games carry very low return to player rates, which is something that seasoned players should consider beforehand.
Nevertheless, the fun bonus features and interactive gameplay of selected Rival casino games is truly unrivalled, as the bonuses offered by good Rival platforms. Thus, we suggest that you do indeed play Rival games, after carefully researching the platform you will be joining.
- About the Author
- Affiliate Disclosure
Michael has reviewed and verified all information on this page. Having worked in the iGaming industry for over 8 years, he is the most capable person to help you navigate online casinos, pokies, and the Australian gambling landscape.
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