Introduction

iSoftBet is an online betting software developer that is based out of Luxembourg and provides games to developers in regulated jurisdictions throughout the globe. The company has put out a series of both slots and table games with both desktop and mobile platforms in mind, and has generally earned a good reputation as a developer, as the group's games are available at great casinos such as Paddy Power, LeoVegas, Playamo, and others.

Slots

iSoftBet does a very nice job with their slot machines. By my count they offer 45 different games. I would categorize them into two types:

• Non-proprietary: These games have themes that iSoftBet probably came up with themselves, like Happy Birds and Mega Boy. They are fun, light, and animated. Most feature free spins and some kind of bonus game. Some have other than the usual 3 by 5 layout of reels. The returns are nicely disclosed in the rules.
• Proprietary: These have themes tied to a movie or television show, like Platoon or 90210. These play realistically with more features and video. The returns are not disclosed.

In most games the player can choose the denomination but not number of lines played. He must bet every available pay-line. As mentioned above, the non-propriety games are disclosed in the rules. Here are some examples:

• Slammin 7's: 96.63%
• Cloud Tales: 96.00%
• Happy Birds: 95.64%
• Mega Boy: 95.54%
• Pin-up Girls: 95.25%

Note that in just this sampling the returns vary by 1.38%, so be choosy about which game you play. While the returns of the proprietary games are not disclosed, I think it is easily assume the returns are less, to pay for the higher development costs and royalties.

Roulette

There are a host of roulette wheels to choose form but most are skins of European single-zero roulette, which carries a house edge of 2.70% on every bet. For the suckers out there, they also offer American double-zero roulette, with a house edge of at least 5.26% on every bet (it is 7.89% on the 0-00-1-2-3 combination bet).

Finally, there is a side bet on European Progressive Roulette that I've never seen before. If I understand the rules correctly, which were not well-explained, the player makes a $1/€1/£1 bet on every spin. If whatever number the balls lands in occurs at least twice, starting with the current spin, then the player will win. The more consecutive hits, the more the player wins. Here is how much the player will win with each consecutive number:

• 2 consecutive pays 15 for 1
• 3 consecutive pays 200 for 1
• 4 consecutive pays 3,000 for 1
• 5 consecutive pays Progressive

The player will be paid these awards at every step. So, if the same number hit five times in a row, not only would the player win the progressive, but another 3,215 won along the way.

Assuming a jackpot of 5,000, which is always where it started for me, the return on the side bet is 61.34%. For every extra 1,000 in the meter above 5,000, the return goes up by 0.534%. To reach break-even, the meter would have to be 732,781.

Another feature I've never seen before is the bonus in Bonus Roulette. After every win, the player has the option to spin a multiplier win, for a chance to multiply the win up to 3 times. Here is a breakdown of the slots in the multiplier wheel:

• Loss: 4
• 1/2x: 4
• 1x: 4
• 2x: 4
• 3x: 1
• Total: 17

The average multiplier is equal to (4/17)*0 + (4/17)*(1/2) + (4/17)*1 + (4/17)*2 + (1/17)*3 = 1.

So, there is exactly zero house edge in taking the bonus spin. Not many bets in the casino offer that. Whether you spin the Bonus Wheel or not should depend on the reason you're playing in the first place.

Baccarat

The baccarat game plays by the standard rules. The graphics and sound are nicely done. I just have two minor complaints, which are common to Internet casino software:

• I couldn't find the number of decks used anywhere.
• The table felt says the Tie bet pays 9 to 1, when in fact it pays 8 to 1. See my screenshot as evidence.

The minimum bet is nicely only $0.10. Be warned with bets under 50 cents that the 5% commission is rounded down to the nearest penny.

There is also a punto banco game, which follows the exact same rules. Much like in a land casino, the only difference between baccarat and punto banco is the name and the table.

Blackjack

iSoftBet has about ten blackjack games to choose from. Some differ from each other only by betting limits. The high-limit games are called "VIP," but are otherwise the same as the low-limit flea tables. However, there are rule differences among some of the games too. As usual for Internet casinos, the game rules are incomplete so I will tell you the rules as well as I can. If anyone from iSoftBet should read this, please write to me with the missing information.

Blackjack, Multi-Hand Blackjack

The rules for both these games are:

• Six decks
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Dealer does not peek at hole card for blackjack
• Double on any first two cards
• Double after split allowed
• No re-splits
• Surrender not allowed

The house edge under these rules is 0.57%.

Atlantic City Blackjack

 

The rules for Atlantic City Blackjack are:

• Eight decks
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Dealer peeks at hole card for blackjack
• Double on any first two cards
• Double after split allowed
• Re-split to up to four hands
• Surrender allowed

The house edge under these rules is 0.36%.

Since these are the known best rules at iSoftBet, I'll provide the following basic strategy for these rules below.

 

French Blackjack

The rules for French Blackjack are:

• Unknown number of decks
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Dealer does not peek at hole card for blackjack
• Double on two card 9-11 only
• Double after split allowed
• Re-split to up to four hands
• Surrender not allowed

Sorry, but without the number of decks I don't know the house edge. Assuming six, it would be 0.61%.

Reno Blackjack

 

The rules for Reno Blackjack are:

• Unknown number of decks. I can say it is at least two (because I saw the same card twice in the same hand)
• Dealer hits on soft 17
• Dealer does not peek at hole card for blackjack (since when do they follow this European rule in Reno?)
• Double on two card 10,11 only
• Double after split not allowed
• No re-splits
• Surrender not allowed

Sorry, but without the number of decks I don't know the house edge. Assuming six, it would be 1.09%. With two decks it would be 0.89%.

The rules for Super 7's Blackjack are:

• Eight decks
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Dealer peeks at hole card for blackjack
• Double on any first two cards
• Double after split allowed
• Re-spliting not allowed.
• Surrender not allowed

The house edge under these rules is 0.49%.

There is also the Super 7's side bet. It follows the 3-50-100-500-5000 pay table for a house edge with eight decks, and assuming no third-card guarantee, of 5.74%.

Casino Hold 'Em

Casino Hold 'Em is one of those games that is often offered at Internet casinos but is hard to find in the land ones, at least in the United States. They follow the 2-3-10-20-100 pay table on the Ante for a house edge of 2.16% relative to the Ante bet. On the AA+ side bet they follow the 7-7-7-7-20-30-40-50-200 pay table for a house edge of 6.26%.

Poker Pursuit

Poker Pursuit is what many Internet casinos call Let it Ride. iSoftBet follows the 1-2-3-5-8-11-49-199-999 pay table, which has a house edge of 3.57%. You can find more details about that pay table, which is the same as the standard one, except pays 1 less coin for a straight flush and royal flush, in my Let it Ride appendix 3.

Strangely, iSoftBet offers no side bet on the game.

Stud Poker

"Stud Poker" is what iSoftBet calls Caribbean Stud Poker. They nicely follow the more liberal 1-2-3-4-7-9-20-50-100 pay table found at the Casino Crans Montana in Switzerland. This lowers the house edge from the usual 5.22% to 4.45%.

There is no side bet.

Video Poker

The video poker offerings at iSoftBet are frankly a mess. Since I'm writing this close to Festivus, let me air my grievances in a list:

• Awful pay tables. The house edge ranges all over the place from 0.86% to 12.22%
• Unusual pay tables. Very strange pay tables. Some paid only 1,250 for a 5-coin royal. Others paid 3,000, when the norm is 4,000.
• Terrible help files. When you click on the question mark for the game rules a separate window opens up with just a general treatment of jacks or better.
• Bad game selection. Considering they have about 30 video poker games to choose from you would think they would have a nice variety of different base games. However, all are variations of jacks or better, tens or better, deuces wild, or joker poker.
• Truly awful auto-hold. I don't know who created the auto-hold feature, but he or she did a terrible job. The game is enamored with holding three to a straight but has no respect for low pairs. I would bet that the advice given is wrong more than half the time.
• Too many gimmick games. Lots of games pay a bonus for getting a joker, have random multipliers, or other mystery prizes. If you must mess with video poker at least disclose in the help files the rules of the bonus or twist you're creating and quantify all the possibilities.
• Progressives that aren't. Lots of the games are progressive but the meter always starts at the reset level when opening the window. The meter is supposed to keep growing until a player hits it.
• Pay table errors. One of the deuces wild games pays 4,000 coins for a 5-coin natural royal as well as four deuces. If the pay table were to be believed, then the return would be 150.87%. For now, I'm not going to include it in the list of games. In 3-play jacks or better the win for 1 to 5 coins bet for a full house goes 6-12-18-30-35. If you don't see the problem with that, the marginal increase for each coin bet goes: 6-6-6-12-5. Bizarre.

I will give iSoftBet credit for a game I've never seen before called Texas Hold 'Em Joker Poker. The game starts with the player picking one of three sets of two hole cards. Then the game deals five more community cards and the player is paid according to the poker value of his seven cards. Pretty good concept. Maybe I'll analyze it later.

Its a shame I have to give the video poker such a bad review. The hard part of the graphics and sound was done quite well. It is the easy part of selecting games and pay tables and creating help files where they totally blew it. The auto-hold too. That is complicated to do right so I would say that if you can't do it properly, don't do it at all.

The following table shows the Video Poker games available in alphabetical order.

Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.

High Low

High Low is a simple game of predicting whether the next card in the deck will be higher or lower than the last one. The wins are commensurate with the probability of winning. I made a separate page for the game so please click the link for more information.