Novomatic Experiences

Built with two hands

The largest New Zealandother casino company, Merkur, was launched in the post-war period by Paul Gauselmann. The situation is similar with the initial story of Novomatic, Mercury's Austrian counterpart. A young butcher named Johann Graf first started importing pinball machines, then started his own business in 1980 and continued to expand his company – Novomatic Automatenhandels GmbH.

Initially, it was only about the production and distribution of Novomatic slot machines. Over the years, however, Novomatic has continued to develop and became a provider of turnkey gaming libraries and complete casino management systems. Many subsidiary companies were founded that specialized in individual areas, including Admiral Sportwetten GmbH or other types of casino games such as live roulette, blackjack and Co. In short, the Novomatic Group grew and prospered.

Casino Austria? Novomatic!

Today, 40 years after the founding of the first company Novomatic Automatenhandels GmbH, the group of companies has established itself as one of the leading casino and gaming companies in the world. The headquarters of the gambling group is still Austria, namely Gumpoldskirchen, a town not far from the capital Vienna. From Gumpoldskirchen, the group rules over an economic empire that extends over 70 countries of the world. In total, the Novomatic Group generates a job for more than 30,000 employees worldwide. In 2018, the Novomatic Group, the majority of whose shares are still in the hands of Johann Graf, was able to sell about $ 5 billion.

This shows that the booming online casino industry is just one part of the whole industry: the operation of arcades, the production of vending machines and everything you need – jackpot slots, games playable in the app, multi-player blackjack and roulette, ... the company's offer is comprehensive and there is a good rating in almost every Novoline review. Novomatic is unrivalled in its own country. No wonder, then, that the names Novomatic and Novoline mean casino and slot machines practically directly for Austrians!

Attention, to clear up any confusion right away: However, neither Novoline nor the Novomatic Group of companies in general has anything to do with Novoferm. Novoferm and Novoline do not share much more than their first two syllables. Novoferm is just a company with a similar name, but expectant players can only find electric garage doors and the like.

Stargames, the Novoline Online Casino

Novomatic and their slot machines brand Novoline had long since become famous through their own land-based casinos, when the Internet spread among the general population and the first online casinos were born. Novomatic participated in the burgeoning online gaming market through its subsidiary Greentube. Greentube is the Novomatic branch that is responsible for the development of online casino games and their mobile versions, so that the classic Novoline games could soon find their way into online casinos.

Powered by Greentube, the Stargames online casino opened its doors in 2008 and quickly became a player magnet, because only there the original Novoline Greentube slots were offered, which many players still knew from the terrestrial Novomatic casinos. Later, Novoline slots were also offered by other online casinos and thus spread over the Internet. Nevertheless, the Stargames online casino remained THE online casino par excellence for many players, especially those from Austria, for many years. They probably gave Stargames so much confidence because it was officially known that the online casino was allied with the domestic Novomatic company.

Bad news 2017: Novoline leaves the online casinos

At the end of 2017, a big blow came unexpectedly for many players: the Stargames online casino would no longer offer real money games from now on. A deposit of dollars was no longer possible, and the beloved Novoline slots could only be played with play money. Because playing without real money has no appeal for almost all players, this change actually meant the end of the Stargames casino.

And also at other places on the Internet Novoline slots could only be offered without real money. The reason was that Novomatic itself, just like in New Zealand Merkur, had decided to completely withdraw from the online gaming market.

No further reasons have been given, but there are two assumptions that could well and gladly get there: Novomatic and Merkur are much more involved in the land-based casino market than in the online business, and are therefore much more dependent on the favor of their local governments. Online gambling, on the other hand, is a legally controversial matter in which EU law and country law come into conflict with each other. To be on the safe side, Novomatic and Merkur therefore distance themselves from the matter for the time being.

However, others also rumour that the explosive contents of the so-called Paradise Papers had something to do with the sudden Novomatic withdrawal. However, it is not known what exactly this data leak said about Johann Graf and his group of companies.

The best Novoline alternatives

But enough with the background knowledge – as interesting as it is, our most important Novomatic experiences definitely include the games. That's why we want to briefly introduce the three best Novoline slots here and name alternatives in the same breath – because since no Novoline slot can be played with real money on the Internet anymore, the demand for Novoline Lookalike slots has risen steeply.

Book of Ra - Book of Dead

Book of Ra by Novoline is NZR Egypt slot par excellence and thus the founding father of a whole slot machine genre that will probably never go out of fashion. No matter how many decades pass and how many laws change – pharaoh's treasures, mysterious pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphs – the motto of Ancient Egypt simply will never "grow old"!

Book of Ra is still known from the times when you played at the slot machine in the pub and therefore has, in addition to the entertainment factor, also a not to be despised nostalgia factor. Nothing could have hit the players worse than a complete disappearance of Boof of Ra – and that's why we all thank the hardworking employees of game developer Play n GO, who released the alternative Book of Dead.

Book of Dead is similar to the Novoline classic not only in terms of theme, but also in terms of paylines, payout ratio and functions, the slots are very similar. Of course, the best should not be missing: the bonus round, which gives the archaeological treasure hunter a number of free spins!

Sizzling Hot

Sizzling Hot is Novoline's famous interpretation of the classic fruit slot design. The tradition of placing fruits and the lucky number seven as symbols on the slot machine reels dates back to the early days of the slot machine scene, when you could actually still play on quaint box and lever machines for chewing gums in different flavors.

There have been four different versions of Sizzling Hot over the years – Sizzling Hot Deluxe, Sizzling Gems and Sizzling 6 in addition to the original version. Since you can no longer play these for real money online, players are switching to various other fruit slots – there is no single slot that works like a copy. You choose what you like best: Fancy Fruits, Fruit Chase, Wild Cherries, Berryburst Max, Fruit Shop, Fruit Mania and Magic Fruits.

Lucky Lady's Charm

Another star among the Novoline slots is Lucky Lady s Charm. 5 Reels, 10 Paylines and a graceful lady – what more do you want as a player? Since the majority of casino players are male, there should never be a shortage of slots with a certain feminine aesthetic. The lucky namesake of the game has been sorely missed since the beginning of 2018, but other game manufacturers are always looking for a good player rating and have therefore created many slots that are very similar to Lucky Lady s Charm in terms of theme, graphics and gameplay: Madame Destiny, Lady in Red, Goddess of Life, Lady Luck, Gypsy Soul, Lucky Fortune, and many more.

So you can see: in the very competitive online gaming industry, players do not need to be discouraged: there are always a number of software providers who will strive to always offer exactly the right thing! And hopefully Novomatic will not stay away from the online market forever.