The Microgaming Story: From the First Online Casino (1994) to Games Global
Microgaming built the software that started the online casino industry in 1994, helped create its first independent testing body in 2003, and made progressive jackpots a mainstream category. In 2022 its entire games portfolio moved to Games Global, the Isle of Man company that produces the MGPlus catalogue you play on Pirate777 today. Here is the 30-year arc, and what actually carried over.
On this page
The 30-year timeline at a glance
| Year | What happened | Why it still matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Released what is credited as the first online casino software | Software-rendered reels, server-verified outcomes and a single shared balance all start here |
| 2003 | Co-founded eCOGRA, an independent RNG and payout testing body | Set the expectation that a studio points at a third party, not itself, on fairness |
| 2000s | Progressive jackpots became a mainstream category | The pooled-prize format every major studio now competes in — though these specific titles are not in our lineup |
| 2010s | Built Quickfire, a multi-studio distribution platform | A large part of why a modern lobby can offer a dozen studios side by side |
| 2022 | Games portfolio transferred to Games Global Operations Limited | Owner changed; games, mathematics and published RTP figures carried over intact |
| Today | MGPlus on Pirate777, UKGC-registered studio, 94–97% RTP band | What you actually open in the lobby |
1994: the first online casino software
Microgaming released what is generally credited as the first online casino software in 1994 — at a point when the commercial web itself was barely a year old and most people had never used it. Almost everything the category now takes for granted traces back to that early work: reels rendered in software rather than spun mechanically, outcomes verified on a server, and a single player account holding a balance across multiple games.
The company was founded on the Isle of Man, which remains the base of the business that owns the catalogue today.
2003: co-founding eCOGRA
As online gambling grew through the late 1990s, so did entirely reasonable questions about whether any of it was honest. In 2003 Microgaming co-founded eCOGRA, an independent body set up to test random-number-generator integrity and audit published payout rates.
It was an unusual move: a games maker helping build the watchdog that would examine its own products. It also set an expectation the whole industry later adopted — that a studio should be able to point at someone other than itself to support a fairness claim. The full picture of what testing covers, and the licence you can independently verify today, is in the fairness and certification guide.
The progressive-jackpot era
Microgaming’s progressive-jackpot work is the part of its history most players have heard of. The Mega Moolah series linked a pooled prize across many games and repeatedly set records for the largest online slot jackpot payouts, taking the format from a novelty to a headline category that every major studio now competes in.
Worth being clear about availability, though: Mega Moolah is not part of the MGPlus lineup on Pirate777 — it belongs to this history rather than to our catalogue. The jackpot-bearing MGPlus titles you can actually open here include Lucky Twins Jackpot, Carnaval Jackpot, Playboy Gold Jackpots, Pong Pong Mahjong Jackpots and Circus Jugglers Jackpots. Several of those publish a base return in the 94% band precisely because a slice of the return feeds the pooled prize — the standard trade-off of the format.
Alongside the jackpots, long-running franchises gave the catalogue genuine staying power. The Thunderstruck line, Break da Bank, Break Away and Avalon all still sit in the MGPlus catalogue on Pirate777, several titles deep in most cases.
Quickfire: becoming a distributor
Beyond making its own games, Microgaming built Quickfire — a distribution platform that let operators serve third-party studios’ content through a single integration. It is a dull-sounding piece of plumbing that mattered enormously: it is a large part of why a modern casino lobby can offer a dozen studios side by side instead of one. The aggregator model that MGPlus itself now sits inside is descended from that idea.
2022: the move to Games Global
In 2022 Microgaming stepped back from games distribution and its entire portfolio transferred to Games Global Operations Limited, also based on the Isle of Man. The games, their mathematics, the studio credits and the published RTP figures all carried over intact — this was a change of owner, not a rebuild of the catalogue.
The MGPlus games are produced by Games Global Operations Limited (Isle of Man), which took over Microgaming’s games portfolio in 2022 and holds an active Gambling Software licence with the UK Gambling Commission under account 58841 — a listing you can check on the regulator’s own register: view the UKGC entry. That is studio-level standing, not a licence held by Pirate777, and we don’t present it as one.
So the practical answer to “did anything change for players?” is: the name on the corporate paperwork, and very little else you would notice in a lobby.
What it means on Pirate777 today
When you open the MGPlus chip on Pirate777, you are browsing that 30-year lineage — several hundred titles now produced under Games Global, still carrying the Microgaming heritage and the tight RTP clustering the studio became known for.
One point worth stating precisely, because “96%” often gets repeated as though it were a floor: it is the cluster, not the floor. The published range across the MGPlus catalogue runs 94% to 97% — the bulk at 96%, a small top tier at 97%, and a minority at 94–95% that includes several jackpot-bearing titles, where part of the return feeds the pooled prize instead of the base game.
The catalogue also runs beyond slots: there is a set of fishing titles, including Alaskan Fishing, Go! Fishing: Reelin’ Fortunes and the WD Golden Fortune Fishing family, plus a handful of fast-round arcade games. Everything runs browser-based on the single wallet — no separate app download.
Start with the complete Microgaming guide for the catalogue breakdown, or the top-10 highest-RTP list if you want the 97% tier directly.
Explore the rest of the Microgaming cluster on Pirate777: the complete Microgaming guide, the top-10 highest-RTP Microgaming slots, Microgaming vs Playtech, the RM10–RM50 budget guide, and the fairness & certification guide.
— Pirate777 Team. Studio licensing verified against the UK Gambling Commission public register; catalogue and RTP figures verified against the May 2026 platform refresh.
Important: Pirate777 is for players aged 18 and above. RTP figures inform — they don’t dictate — outcomes; any single session can run negative on variance. Only stake what you can afford to lose, and set a session bankroll and time limit. Responsible-gaming resources: GamCare and GambleAware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Microgaming’s games portfolio transferred to Games Global Operations Limited, an Isle of Man company, in 2022. Games Global holds an active UK Gambling Commission Gambling Software licence under account 58841, which you can check on the regulator’s public register. The games, RTP figures and studio credits carried over unchanged.
It is generally credited as the first, released in 1994. Much of what the category now takes for granted — software-rendered reels, server-verified outcomes and a single account balance shared across games — traces back to that early work.
No. Mega Moolah is part of Microgaming’s history rather than the MGPlus lineup here. Jackpot-bearing titles available on Pirate777 include Lucky Twins Jackpot, Carnaval Jackpot, Playboy Gold Jackpots, Pong Pong Mahjong Jackpots and Circus Jugglers Jackpots.
No. The 2022 transfer moved ownership of the portfolio, not the content. The titles, their mathematics and their published RTP figures stayed intact, and the catalogue continued under the same studio credits.
Quickfire was Microgaming’s distribution platform, letting an operator serve games from many third-party studios through one integration. It is a major reason modern casino lobbies can offer a dozen studios side by side, and the aggregator model MGPlus sits inside descends from it.
