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Concept Gaming Review |  |
Introduction
Concept Gaming is based in the UK, active in the online gaming scene since 2010. They have quite a specialised selection of products, encompassing slots, table games, number games and a handful of other specialities, such as keno. The company also dabbles in bespoke development, building up games for online casinos and other software companies on request.
The games follow the latest technical standards, making them playable across a wide variety of devices. Table games are the main product for the company, which is quite rare in today’s world of slots and live casinos. This rarity proves to be a strength for the company, and a great opportunity to see what’s new in the world of roulette, blackjack and other similar games.
The table games and other products from Concept Gaming are widely available, via content platforms and directly via online casinos, big and small. Chances are, you’ve already played a game or two. Now let’s take a look at the rest.
Concept Gaming Casinos
Concept Gaming Casinos
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Table Games
Every Concept game, both slots and table games, look like they were made in the 1990's. The graphics are simple and low resolution. The gameplay is usually slow and clunky. It amazes me that this software has survived to reach 2021. Sometimes I compliment software for having a fun retro look, but this software is simply low-budget and probably made by somebody who has never entered a casino. That goes for whoever wrote the help files -- they are poorly written and often wrong. The best thing I can say is the odds of most of the games are competitive.
Baccarat
 Baccarat |
The baccarat game follows the standard rules with eight decks. The three major bets are offered at the usual odds. The house edge for each is as follows:
- Player: 1.24%
- Banker: 1.06%
- Tie: 14.36%
Blackjack
 Multihand Blackjack version 2 |
 5 Hand Vegas Blackjack version 2 |
 5 Hand Vegas Blackjack version 1 |
 Single hand blackjack |
 7 handed American blackjack |
 7 handed European blackjack |
 Ultimate American 5 handed blackjack |
 Jackpot blackjack |
 Ultimate Blackjack II |
Of the 20 games listed as "casino & keno" on the Concept Gaming web site, 11 of them are various blackjack games. Many are exactly the same and some differ only in the table cloth. The following rules are common to all the games.
- Blackjack pays 3 to 2
- Dealer stands on soft 17
- Cards shuffled after every hand
- Double after split not allowed
- Player may split once only
- Player may not draw to split aces
- A 10-card Charlie pays 3 to 1 (a worthless rule to the player)
Rules that vary are as follows.
- Number of decks. All games use six, except the single-hand game uses three. That's right three -- I've never seen that before.
- Whether dealer peeks for blackjack
- Whether surrender is allowed
- Number of positions at the table
A couple of the games offer side bets, Ultimate Blackjack II and Ultimate American 5 Handed Blackjack. One of them is called "Poker," but follows the rules of 21+3. Unlike most side bets, wins are on a "for one" basis. The following table shows the probability and contribution to the return of all possible outcomes. The lower right cell shows a return of 95.14%. The game help file claims it is 95.11%. You may choose whom to believe.
Poker Side Bet
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suited three of a kind | 100 | 1,040 | 0.000207 | 0.020745 |
| Straight flush | 35 | 10,368 | 0.002068 | 0.072383 |
| Three of a kind | 20 | 25,272 | 0.005041 | 0.100819 |
| Straight | 15 | 155,520 | 0.031021 | 0.465320 |
| Flush | 5 | 292,896 | 0.058424 | 0.292118 |
| Loser | 0 | 4,528,224 | 0.903239 | 0.000000 |
| Total | 5,013,320 | 1.000000 | 0.951386 |
Concept also offer the "Pairs" side bet on the same two games, which is the same thing as the Perfect Pairs side bet in land casinos. This one also pays on a "for one" basis. The lower right cell of the following table shows an expected return of 94.86%. The game help file claims it is 94.93%. Again, you may choose whom to believe.
Pairs Side Bet
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect pair | 35 | 780 | 0.016077 | 0.562701 |
| Colored pair | 10 | 936 | 0.019293 | 0.192926 |
| Red/black pair | 5 | 1,872 | 0.038585 | 0.192926 |
| Non-pair | 0 | 44,928 | 0.926045 | 0.000000 |
| Total | 48,516 | 1.000000 | 0.948553 |
The help files to all blackjack games are awful and often wrong. For example, I think they all say re-splitting aces and drawing to split aces is allowed, when neither are allowed in any of them. Their claims return percentages are wrong for both the base games and side bets.
A few of unique things to their games are the one three-deck game, the 10-card Charlie rule, and the random jackpot in the Jackpot Blackjack game. I doubt anybody has ever seen ten cards in the same initial hand of blackjack in the entire history of the world. Have a heart and make it something remotely possible, like a seven-card Charlie rule. As to the Jackpot Blackjack game, I don't know the value of that. The rules say it can hit only at $5,000 or more, it's more likely to be hit with a larger bet, and the chances of hitting are somehow related to a color bar on the screen.
The bottom line is they have one very good game in terms of odds, the Jackpot Blackjack game. The great thing about that game is it offers early surrender, making the house edge a nice low 0.06%. Hopefully, they don't read this review, because I fear they will correct that oversight if they do.
The following table shows the Blackjack games available in alphabetical order.
Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.
Craps
 Craps |
The craps game allows 3x odds on pass, don't, come, and don't come bets. The 3x multiple laying odds after a don't pass or don't come bet is incorrectly relative to the bet amount, not the win amount. A rule everyone in online gambling seems to get wrong. An exception to the 3x odds is the player may take 5x odds on a pass or come bet after a point of 8 only. Yes, the player may still take only 3x after a six.
The rule screens incorrectly say proposition bets on a 7 or 11 pay even money, but they actually pay the usual 4 and 15 to 1.
The field bet is the stingy version that pays 2 to 1 on both a 2 and 12.
All things considered, the craps game is slow and buggy. It was painful for me to play it for purposes of this review.
Keno
 keno |
 Keno Fortunes |
 Vegas Keno |
Concept has three keno games, which differ by graphics only. The pay table and game play are the same. The player may pick 1 to 15 numbers. The return ranges from a low of 90% with the pick 1 and a high of 96.29% with the pick 15. Following is the full pay table.
Keno Pay Table
| Catch | Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5 | Pick 6 | Pick 7 | Pick 8 | Pick 9 | Pick 10 | Pick 11 | Pick 12 | Pick 13 | Pick 14 | Pick 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 3.6 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 9.5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||
| 4 | 18 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.75 | 0.75 | |||
| 5 | 50 | 24 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2.5 | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | ||||
| 6 | 70 | 50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| 7 | 250 | 80 | 25 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| 8 | 750 | 60 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 7 | |||||||
| 9 | 1250 | 200 | 150 | 120 | 60 | 40 | 25 | ||||||||
| 10 | 1600 | 800 | 400 | 150 | 120 | 80 | |||||||||
| 11 | 2500 | 1500 | 500 | 400 | 250 | ||||||||||
| 12 | 4000 | 3000 | 1000 | 500 | |||||||||||
| 13 | 6000 | 2000 | 1000 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | 8000 | 2500 | |||||||||||||
| 15 | 10000 |
The following table shows the return according to the number of picks. The table shows the best value is the pick-15 at 96.29%.
Keno Return Table
| Pick | Return |
|---|---|
| 1 | 90.00% |
| 2 | 95.09% |
| 3 | 95.81% |
| 4 | 95.63% |
| 5 | 95.08% |
| 6 | 94.72% |
| 7 | 93.78% |
| 8 | 94.82% |
| 9 | 94.81% |
| 10 | 94.16% |
| 11 | 93.47% |
| 12 | 94.51% |
| 13 | 94.40% |
| 14 | 95.84% |
| 15 | 96.29% |
Roulette
 American Roulette |
 Vegas Roulette |
 Roulette |
The day I knew would come at last has come at last. Internet casinos now offer the dreaded triple-zero roulette. In the case of Concept, they call it Vegas roulette, which is fair, since that is where the game first appeared.
Besides the triple-zero, Concept also has double-zero (American) and single-zero (plain "roulette") games. Here is the house edge on each:
- Roulette -- 2.70%
- American Roulette -- 5.26%
- Vegas Roulette -- 7.89%
Slots
 Secret Agent |
 Kung Fu Cash |
 Bikini Beach |
 Abandoned Park |
 Twisted Fairytales |
 Area 51 |
 Beautiful Asia |
 Gangsters of New York |
Much like Concept's table games, the slots are very outdated. The graphics are reminiscent of the 90's. The game play is also quite simple. I suspect many games are skins of each other. They do get credit for disclosing the returns in many games. Here are some examples.
- Secret Agent: 95.0%
- Gangsters of New York: 95.20%
- Abandoned Park: 71.90% to 98.10%, depending on number of lines played
- Bikini Beach: 94.89%
- Kung Fu: 94.89%
These figures do not included 1% contribution to a random jackpot feature in many games.
Video Poker
 Jacks or Better |
The only video poker game is 9-6 Jacks or Better with a return of 99.54%, with optimal strategy. I don't like how they use Bicycle playing cards, which I'm sure is a trademark violation.
The following table shows the Video Poker games available in alphabetical order.
Concept Gaming Video Poker Alphabetic Order
| Game | Power Poker | Multi-Play | Pay Table | Return | Live Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacks or Better | No | No | 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-250 | 99.54% | Yes |
External Links
Corporate web site: concept-gaming.com/.
