888 Gaming/888 Holdings - general information

When it comes to online gambling, whether it is online casino, sports betting or poker, one of the first companies, which comes to mind is 888 company as it reached tremendous heights in online gambling industry and received the recognition of millions of players around the world. At the moment it has several online casinos, poker room, sports book and develops software for real money online casinos it owns.

888 Gaming (888 Holdings or simply 888) is engaged in online casino, poker and sports book software development industry for almost two decades, and therefore has tremendous experience, that is used in creating the entire range of products. The portfolio of the company includes video slots, blackjack, roulette, craps, table games, video poker, software for 888poker, 888bingo, 888casino and 888sport.

The company 888 Holdings PLC manages several gambling web sites at once: 888casino, 888poker, 888Bingo, 888sport, 888ladies, 777.com casino, 888games and many others. Besides, Dragonfish department (which used to act under the name of Random Logic) develops online casino games and supply them at 888casino and at other sister casinos.

The owners and founders of the company are famous Israeli entrepreneurs Avi Shaked, Aaron Shaked, Shay Ben-Yitzhak, and Ron Ben-Yitzhak. The shares of 888 Holdings are listed on London stock exchange, and its total value exceeds $1,000,000,000.

The main offices and headquarters of 888 are located in Gibraltar. The company also has licenses to conduct gambling activities in the UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Romania, Nevada. New Jersey and Delaware.

The activity of the company is divided into two directions: B2C (Business to Client) - interaction with the users of their web sites (casino, poker, sports book and so on) by supplying software and service, and B2B (Business to Business) - interaction with company partners. The partners of 888 develop software for their platforms and supply the games on 888 platform. Such an approach allows 888 company successfully compete in both directions.

B2C direction can be divided into 5 categories:

  • Casino - 888Casino, 888Casino Live, 777.com, 888Games. These web sites offer their users to play video slots and other games by 888 company and other developers. Total share of online casino is 57% of B2C activities.
  • Poker - 888Poker - is one of the best poker rooms that is available both on desktops and on mobile devices. 888Holdings also has WSOP.com poker site which is an official sponsor of the WSOP tournament series. These facts prove that poker brands are pretty popular and has the software of high quality.
  • Bingo - 888Bingo, 888ladies, Winkbingo, Tastybingo, Bingofabulous, Redbusbingo, Bingostreet. These web sites give the opportunity to play in a variety of Bingo types.
  • Sports betting - 888 Sport - is a sports book which offers online betting on many sport events.
  • Games for gadgets and social networks - a special department called Mytopia works in this direction. Its employees develop games for mobile devices and for Facebook social network.

History of 888 company

The 888 company was founded in 1998 in the British virgin Islands and was originally called Limited Virtual Holdings. That same year it got a license on Antigua Island, changed its name to 888 and launched its first service - online casino Casino-on-Net.

In 1998, a subsidiary company Random Logic Limited was launched in Tel-Aviv, which was engaged in scientific research and development in the field of marketing services for 888.

In June of 2002, the company launched its second project - Reef Club Casino. Same year 888.com was launched, together with Pacific Poker online poker room. In addition to that, 2002 was the year the office of the company in London was opened.

A year later, in 2003, 888 got license from Gibraltar Gaming Authority and moved its headquarters there.

In 2004, the company launched test version of 888.tv and 888.info web sites and sports book Betmate.com, available to everyone except for the USA residents.

In 2005, 888 Holdings was listed on London Stock Exchange and became a co-founder of eCORGA - independent company which works on protection of online players rights.

On September 29, 2006 the Government of the USA passed a law that prohibit gambling. In result of that 888 activities on the territory of this country was stopped. That same year the company began negotiations with Ladbrokes about cooperation, but some time later they were terminated by mutual consent of the parties.

In 2007, 888 company, paying more than $43,000,000, acquired the assets of Globalcom Limited, that is the company, which supplied users with bingo games. The first quarter saw the rollout of innovative products such as localised Video Slots, Blackjack in Poker and Blackjack. In addition to that, in 2007 the company started its movement towards B2B direction by offering their partners to host software on their platform.

In 2008, 888 Holdings made a statement they will be working on four directions: online casino, poker, bingo and sports betting. 888sport sports book launch confirmed it. That same year 888ladies web site was launched, it allowed the representatives of the gentle sex to play on specially designed video slots and bingo.

In 2009, the company made re-branding, after that B2B direction and online casino games development went to subsidiary company Dragonfish. In December of the same year 888 purchased Wink Online Bingo company, and strengthened its positions in online Bingo business.

In 2010, all four directions of holding’s activities got similar names to optimize recognition of the brand: 888casino, 888poker, 888sport and 888bingo. In June of this year 888 acquired Mytopia company, in result it got an opportunity to develop games for mobile devices and social networks.

In March 2011, 888 signed an agreement with Caesars Interactive Entertainment, after getting approval form authorites of Nevada. That was the first step towards 888 coming back to the United States market. That year 888 also entered the market of Italy.

In 2012, the company prolonged an agreement with Caesars Interactive Entertainment, according to which it got the permission to work on the territory of the United states, once gambling there become legal.

In 2013, 888casino and 888poker were launched on the territory of Nevada and Delawere. 888 poker became the sponsor of WSOP. Thus, 888 became the first brand which resume activities on the territory of the USA after the events of “Black Friday”. In the May of that same year, 888sport began cooperation with Kambi Sport Solutions company.

In 2015, 777.com web site was launched, it had retro-styled design and offered users to play slot machines. That same year video slots by 888 were launched in Spain. Also, in 2015the representatives of the company announced their intentions to purchase William Hill for $1,470,000,000, but the contract did not jell.

In 2016, Itai Frieberger became the CEO of the company.

888 casino software

888 Gaming management works strenuously to provide gamers with the best and most reliable games. Most of the portfolio of the company consists of video slots. 888 Gaming also releases 3D-games, live dealer games, such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat.

All the games under the 888 Holdings brand are developed by Dragonfish department, which was earlier called Random Logic. The principle of operation of this department and the whole company is significantly different from the approach of other developers. The thing is 888 Holding creates games only for their own web sites. All the games specialists of 888 release are available only at brands that belong to the 888Holdings. The only exception are bingo brands and bingo games.

Speaking about slots, developed by the department, there are plenty of them, still the number of slots released is smaller than the number of games by such giants as Microgaming, NetEnt or Playtech, though. Among the popular slots are Blankety Blank, Gods of Gold, Freaky Fruit, Evangelion and series of the others. We should highlight progressive slots, like Millionaire Genie, for example. It was created in 2013 and has 5 reels, 15 paylines and 3D-graphics. Also, Dawn of the Dinosaurs slot with 25 pay lines and 5 reels is quite popular. Most of slots have free spins in bonus rounds.

The quality of software by 888 is rather high, but rank below the average of the games by the leaders of the market. In other words, the company goes ahead of smaller brands but can’t compete with top developers, even considering their big scale.

By the way, most of the brands, that belong to 888 Holdings - casino sites with no deposit bonuses. With the help of such bonuses one is able to test games by 888Holdings for free. The most interesting bonuses of such kind are 777.com casino 77 free spins that are issued on sign up and 888 Casino up to $€888 freeplay bonus no deposit required.

888 Holdings - honesty and safety

First and foremost the way 888 went through to make it to the top is a reflection of the fact that the products of the company are safe and secure. A lot of time and effort has been spent to gain users’ trust and work up a reputation among the partners. 888 Holding has numerous licenses: by Gambling Commission of Antigua, the UK Gambling Commission, the authorities of Gibraltar, and is subject to regular inspections by independent organizations.

The company is also one of the co-founders of eCORGA - one of the independent organizations, which helps users fight for their rights over the operators.

All the software of 888 is made with 128-bit SSL encryption that helps to protect information from the fraudsters.

888 Holdings awards

  • In 2007 and 2008, 888 became “Best betting and gaming company of the year” according to Leisure Report. Also in 2007, 888casino became “Best online casino” according to The Gambling Online Magazine.
  • In 2011, Dragonfish won the award as “Best supplier of poker software of the year” according to B2B Awards eGaming Review
  • In 2012, 888Bingo was called “Best Bingo operator of the year” according to IGA Gaming Awards.
  • In 2013, the company earned three awards at once: “Best poker operator of the year”, “Best casino operator of the year”, and “Best Bingo operator of the year” according to EGR.
  • In 2014. 888casino was named “Best digital operator of the year".
  • In 2015, 888 casino has become a "Best online casino operator of the year".
  • In 2016, 888 was awarded as the best operator of the year at Global Gaming Awards

List of 888 Gaming casinos for real money

Below is the list of online casinos with games by 888 Holdings and its subsidiaries where one can play for real money.