Review of Betsoft casino software
Betsoft are currently blacklisted by Casino Listings due to discrepancies recorded on their games by our progressive jackpots tracker, the refusal to pay a legitimate progressive jackpot win to a player, and a couple of other reasons detailed below.
Non-random, non-winnable, unfair progressive jackpots
After being alerted to concerns about progressive jackpots being impossible to win by a member of our forum, we began an investigation into Betsoft's progressive games using our jackpot tracker. After collecting data for a nine month period we feel we now have the necessary evidence to conclude that Betsoft's progressive slots are not operating consistently or fairly across casinos, nor even between different coin sizes on the same games at the same casino. Exhibit A was the game Good Girl Bad Girl which we monitored at both Bovada and Slots.lv casinos, both well regarded casinos owned by the same operator. During the period of our monitoring we saw jackpots at multiple coin sizes that were won several times a week at Slots.lv, yet they were never won at all at Bovada despite the volume of play being much higher at Bovada. Take a look for yourself:
In addition we monitored a period in February and March 2016 when jackpots that were being won every few hours for an average of a couple hundred dollars suddenly stopped being won for a period of around three weeks. After they reached all time highs of several thousand dollars, they were presumably won and dropped back to their seed values whereupon they resumed their previous patterns of being won several times a day for much smaller amounts. This could be due to extreme variance if it happened to one jackpot alone, but when you see it happen to five or more jackpots, all at the same time, then the only explanation is that the odds of winning changed.
While we can only speculate as to whether the casino or Betsoft is in control of this, or whether it is due to a bug or intentional, the bottom line is that the games are not operating fairly. You cannot be sure that it is even possible for you to win the advertised progressive jackpot when you are playing a Betsoft slot machine.
Refusal to pay a progressive jackpot winner
In June 2016 the case of Jason, a player at an unregulated Bitcoin casino, Betcoin.ag, came to our attention. Jason had hit five yachts in a row while wagering max coins on the Betsoft progressive slot The Glam Life. The paytable for the game clearly states that this is what is required to win the progressive jackpot, which at the time stood at a shade over 1,000,000 mBTC. After the game only paid out a 1000 coin win (500 mBTC) Jason queried the casino and, after several changes of story, was told that he wasn't paid the jackpot because the win occurred during the game's free spins bonus round.
Nothing on the paytable or game documentation stated this rule, nor was the casino or Betsoft able to provide any evidence to support his claim. Incredibly, Betsoft later changed the paytable in the game to state "jackpot cannot be won during any other bonus feature" (yes that is exactly what they wrote, the "any other" part doesn't make sense to us either). Sadly the player's silence was bought by either Betsoft or Betcoin with a payment that no-one will divulge the details of. As we can see no-one publicly claiming that he was paid the full amount (least of all the player himself), it is certain that he was offered less than what he truly won in a "take it or leave it" deal.
Worthless RNG audit
Betsoft is licensed to operate and supply games by two main regulators: Curacao eGaming and the Malta Gaming Authority (under the name Digital Software Limited). Its most recent random number generator (RNG) audit contains the following extremely concerning disclaimer:
P) Additional information (RGR Part VI, 26.i)
The RNG subject to testing (test item J14120011 - I001) was tested independently without any game connected; no integrations between RNG and games were tested.
What this means is that Betsoft's games themselves have not been tested to ensure that they operate fairly. Testing the RNG that they use in isolation tells us virtually nothing about a game's fairness. A slot machine game can ask a well programmed, statistically fair, RNG for a random number. What it does with that number is then up to the programmer. Don't want to pay a big win? It would be trivial to discard the number and ask for a new random number. Therefore this RNG audit, as far as certifying that Betsoft's games are fairly programmed to produce statistically random results, is worthless.
2014 loss of Alderney gambling license
Betsoft Gaming used to hold a license to operate from the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC). The AGCC suspended this license in July 2014, without publicly stating a reason. A hearing date of October 13, 2014 was set to review the suspension, but by September 25 Betsoft had voluntarily handed in its licensing certificate. Thus no investigation was ever carried out and the public remains unaware of the details of why this suspension was enacted.
Caught running non-random keno games in 2010
Another key fact that came to light when we dug deeper into Betsoft's history after the aforementioned recent incidents is that in October 2010, the then little known company was busted offering keno games that returned non-random results that made it impossible to win. That sure sounds familiar. The evidence was uncovered by concerned posters on the twoplustwo poker forum. The games were being run at disgraced poker brand Absolute Poker, which had been in the news in preceding years after themselves being caught in an infamous "super-user" cheating scandal in 2008. If only we had known then what we know now.
The curious case of Nucleus Gaming
In recent times sharp eyed players may have noticed an ostensibly new supplier of games called Nucleus Gaming that has unleashed a catalogue of slots that look almost identical to Betsoft's library. We say almost identical because they are identical in all respects except for the names of the games. For example The Family II from Nucleus is equivalent to The Slotfather II from Betsoft in all ways aside from the name. A perusal of Nucleus Gaming's website reveals almost nothing of value in terms of the corporate structure or ownership of the company. So we are unsure whether the companies are related or Nucleus is engaging in some sort of piracy.
We have seen a similar situation with another rogue supplier Pragmatic Play. In that case they have spun off a brand called IGTech which supplies identical games with altered names. It appears most likely to be an attempt to evade restrictions on their games being supplied to countries that their European licenses don't allow. So that could well be the explanation here. However the big difference is that Betsoft does not possess any worthwhile supplier licenses that prevent it from supplying games wherever it wants, which is why its games are predominantly found at unlicensed or unregulated casinos.
Whatever the case, we advise you to avoid games from Nucleus Gaming. We are not sure which is a worse proposition: could they be re-badged Betsoft games being marketed under a different name for unknown reasons, perhaps to avoid Betsoft's bad reputation? Or potentially even worse, pirated copies of an already rogue supplier's games with no audits or accountability for their fair operation?
Conclusion
While Betsoft's slot machines may be great looking, what we have found behind the facade is rotten. We have no confidence that the outcomes of Betsoft's games are truly randomly generated, or that their games are sufficiently tested for fairness, nor that they will pay you in the unlikely event that you win one of their progressive jackpots. That assumes of course that the jackpot is even possible to win on the game you are playing, which is an assumption that we have demonstrated may not always be true. Betsoft has shown a willingness to indulge in unfair play and stiff players by changing the rules of their games after the event. In a trust based industry like online gambling, that is one of the worst things a company can do. We strongly recommend that you do not play any of Betsoft's games, no matter which casino you happen to be visiting.