Despite operating for only six years, Hacksaw Gaming is killing it in the iGaming industry. The company has set itself apart from the many other iGaming software providers, giving it a well-regarded reputation and making it one of the most well-known providers available.
The company currently offers their games, which include slots, scratch cards, and instant-win games, to online casinos in over 20 countries around the world. They’ve partnered with hundreds of other organizations and have become one of the top iGaming providers.
What has this company done to stand out from fierce competition and find global success in just a few short years? This can be attributed to multiple factors, including where it operates from, its prioritization of established industry partnerships and licensing, its dedication to consistently adding to its catalogue of games, and its offering of a remote gaming server platform.
Hacksaw Gaming, like many iGaming companies, bases its operations out of the European country Malta. The country was the first in the European Union to regulate online gaming and, with over 300 licensed gaming operators, has become a hub for the industry. While some question Malta’s iGaming ethics and long-term viability, there is no doubt the country opens up many doors from a financial and geographical perspective. Malta allows iGaming companies to operate within other countries of the European Union and offers a flexible licencing system. These factors made it easier and more financially beneficial for Hacksaw Gaming to enter different European markets. On top of this, there are more opportunities for tax breaks and deductions with corporate and gaming taxes in Malta than in other places.
Hacksaw Gaming has focused a great deal of its efforts on securing partnerships with some of the world’s best-known casino brands to help them deliver exciting online gaming options. These casino brands include BetMGM, a subset of the brand responsible for some of the world’s biggest casino resorts like the Bellagio, as well as popular online casinos like PokerStars Casino, Betsson, and Leo Vegas that you can find on casinos.com. These different partnerships have created a far-reaching network that allows Hacksaw Gaming to thrive in markets worldwide.
But beyond offering its games at some of the most popular online casinos, the company has made concentrated efforts to network and make itself known to the iGaming industry and gamers. Through endeavours like making its presence known at industry conferences and creating partnerships with casino and gambling media outlets, Hacksaw Gaming has boosted its brand recognition and reputation.
An essential aspect of partnering with online casinos around the world is meeting regulatory requirements and obtaining licenses for the different regions.
2022 marked Hacksaw Gaming’s first jump into the regulated market in North America when it obtained an Ontario gaming license. Shortly after this, the company also expanded into the US with a license to operate in West Virginia.
The following year saw a period of significant growth for the company in obtaining licensure as well. The company made its way into a third continent, South America, by obtaining licensing to offer iGaming software in Colombia. The company also made its debut in casinos in two other US gaming-regulated states, New Jersey and Michigan, strengthening its American presence.
Beyond gaining licensure to partner with online casinos operating in North and South America, Hacksaw Gaming, since its beginning in 2018, has worked to become a licensed gaming provider for many countries across the EU, including countries like Croatia, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Romania, and Spain.
The company shows no signs of slowing in this global expansion. In fact, one of their key growth goals is to get their games into the hands of as many gamers as possible. In the company’s 2023 year-end wrap-up, after listing off its major licensures into new countries and a new continent, it proudly stated, ‘Next stop - the world!’ What would a gaming provider be if it didn’t deliver fun and immersive games? Alongside Hacksaw’s jump into different global markets, it has continued to develop award-winning games that players love. The company has even earned the titles of Best Game Developer, Slot Supplier Rising Star, and Outperforming Studio of the Year from organizations like Kongebonus and CasinoBeats.
Of the games Hacksaw offers, its slot game options like R.I.P. City and Chaos Crew! stand out as award winners. Other popular, though perhaps not award-winning, slots they offer easily become player favourites because of the attention paid to the details.
Those details are essential in meeting another of Hacksaw’s goals: creating an entertaining gaming experience. The company delivers beautiful graphics and fantastic music that’s enjoyable with or without headphones. Hacksaw prioritizes vertical device layouts (like the ones you’d see on a phone or tablet) for their gameplay, making gaming enjoyable regardless of the type of device you use. Hacksaw Gaming introduced OpenRGS in 2023. OpenRGS, the ‘RGS’ standing for remote gaming server, is a platform that enables other game developers to take their games live through Hacksaw’s established networks and markets. OpenRGS even helps with testing games, developing backend systems (like the mathematics needed for a random number generator), and ensuring games meet various regulations and requirements.
It is a platform that Hacksaw Gaming’s CEO says is ‘another huge milestone for Hacksaw Gaming and will help put independent studios on the map.’ Like other RGS providers, the Hacksaw platform helps to deliver games across different platforms and offers marketing services for the game developer. OpenRGS stands out from these other providers because it is one of the few platforms that provides an RGS platform and develops its own games, giving it a unique understanding of the RGS system.
“Slot Supplier Rising Star” may have been the award Hacksaw Gaming received, but considering its quick rise to international success in an incredibly competitive market, the company is deserving of the term “Rising Star” in a much more general sense.
From where it strategically set up its operations to how it has dipped its foot in markets across the globe, networked and partnered within the industry, made games that live up to the hype, and set itself apart as an RGS platform provider, the company seems to have made all the right moves at the right time.