Arguably one of the most famous casino software providers to come out of Germany, Merkur Gaming isn’t quite the household name outside of its homeland, as you might imagine. A developer with literally decades of experience in the land-based gambling sector, Merkur is still very much a developer that you’re going to want to consider, especially if you favor online slots that are loosely based on popular land-based slot cabinets.
There are times when Merkur Gaming has found it tough to compete with its more famous (and better financed) counterparts, and for that reason, their titles sometimes don’t grab players in quite the same way as others do at crypto casinos. We believe in starting out with a blank page, though, so we’re going to introduce you to Merkur Gaming bit-by-bit here and let you make up your own mind. Let’s start by introducing you to top Merkur Gaming crypto casinos and some of their more popular titles as demos below.
Merkur Gaming is a German casino software provider and has a history that stretches back to 1974. Known throughout the German land-based gambling world, their online offering largely consists of slots. Merkur remained a relatively unknown operator for most of its history until it was snapped up by the Gauselmann Group in 2005. Once that happened, many of its VLT machines began to be ported to the digital betting sphere.
One of the major downsides to Merkur Gaming’s slots is that they don’t appear at as many cryptocurrency casinos as we’d like. Don’t get us wrong, this Lübeck-based software provider does showcase its game at the sites listed on the page, but it could do with spreading its wings and reaching a larger crypto casino audience. The same can be said of other land-based-turned-online casino software providers, though.
It is also worth noting that Merkur Gaming doesn’t offer cryptocurrency support in its games. This means that when you play Merkur’s slots at a crypto casino, your deposit will likely be converted into a FIAT currency for gameplay purposes. The Curacao licensed provider is a little behind the times and has always been a touch slow to react to the market. That’s not something that has endeared it to slot players’ hearts. Your best shot of finding Merkur slots is to head to crypto casinos featuring SoftSwiss’ open gaming platform, as they regularly appear on that network.
As touched on earlier, many of Merkur Gaming’s slots have a land-based look and feel to them. They are very “authentic” and considered a “homage” to land-based slot cabinets. That won’t come as a surprise when you learn that many of Merkur’s online slot games are ports of those titles. In short, they are land-based slots converted to a digital platform.
Slots form most of Merkur’s online library, with slot themes varying from Irish luck to Oktoberfest, crime, and witchcraft. While most Merkur slots feature a 5-reel, 25-line interface, some support sixty-four paylines or even as many as 174 ways to win. Wagers are generally affordable, but special features are in short supply.
Most Merkur Gaming slots offer free spin bonuses, save for fruit machines. You may also come across scatter wilds occasionally. However, you won’t find many progressive jackpots in their library, and RTP rates tend to linger around or just below the 95% mark. Expect lower RTP rates in Merkur Gaming’s fruit machines.
Merkur Gaming has had ample success at porting its land-based slots to the online casino world, especially those games that are recognizable and popular from brick-and-mortar sites, including golden oldies like Lucky 7s and Arabic Desert Adventures. However, some of their more recent releases are better than most, and we’ve detailed five of the best ones for you below. They include:
For the most part – expect slot machines aplenty. Most of these are ports of land-based games but can include various kinds, including video slots and fruit machines.
Merkur Gaming’s slots are licensed out of Curacao, regulated, and RNG-certified. However, the RTP rates in some games are lower than some players would like.
It’s a tough call between the Sherlock Holmes-inspired slot, 221B Baker Street, and Magic Mirror Deluxe II. If we had to pick, we’d say that 221B Baker Street is arguably more popular and better known.