What does it cost to develop a custom slot?

$45,000–$120,000 for a production-grade HTML5 slot including math, art, audio and certification. Megaways and cluster-pays trend toward the upper end.

Can you build games on Unity instead of HTML5?

Yes, but only for native-only deployment. For browser-first iGaming we strongly recommend PixiJS — smaller bundles, faster boot and zero Unity licence cost.

Game Development

Casino Games Development — Slots, Table Games & Live Studio Tech

Custom casino games development in 2026: slot math, HTML5 engines, table game logic, live dealer streaming and how to certify with BMM, GLI or iTech Labs.

June 10, 2026 11 min read Slots, Table Games, Live Casino, Engineering

Building your own casino games is the highest-margin play in iGaming — you keep 100% of the GGR instead of paying 12–18% to a third-party studio. The trade-off is upfront cost and a 6–9 month build cycle per game family.

Here's the full stack we use to ship slots, table games and live studio tech for operators that want their own IP.

Slot games

Modern HTML5 slots are built on PixiJS or Phaser, with a separate math service exposing reel strips, paylines, free-spin triggers and bonus features. Splitting math from rendering means the same math can power desktop, mobile web and native wrappers.

Reel-strip design and volatility tuning to a target RTP (typically 92–97%).
Bonus features: free spins, hold-and-win, megaways, cluster pays, jackpots.
PCMS-friendly response payloads (Pragmatic Play Aggregator, EveryMatrix).
Multilingual + multi-currency from day one.

Table games

Blackjack, roulette, baccarat, sic bo, dragon tiger — table games require deterministic RNG, side-bet support and tight latency. We build them as turn-based engines with a thin state machine, which keeps audit and certification simple.

Live casino studio tech

A live studio is a full production stack: cameras, dealer training, OCR (optical card recognition), low-latency video (WebRTC or LL-HLS), and a betting overlay synced to the game state. We've shipped studios for operators in 4 jurisdictions and the playbook is replicable in 14–22 weeks.

Certification

Every game must be certified by an accredited test lab (BMM, iTech Labs, GLI, eCOGRA, QUINEL) before going live in any regulated market. Budget $3,500–$12,000 per game for certification, plus 2–4 weeks of lab turnaround.

Aggregator distribution

Once certified, distribute via Pragmatic Play Aggregator, EveryMatrix OneAPI, Relax Silver Bullet or Softswiss to skip individual operator integrations. Expect 50/50 revenue split with the aggregator on top of operator GGR share.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost to develop a custom slot?: $45,000–$120,000 for a production-grade HTML5 slot including math, art, audio and certification. Megaways and cluster-pays trend toward the upper end.
Can you build games on Unity instead of HTML5?: Yes, but only for native-only deployment. For browser-first iGaming we strongly recommend PixiJS — smaller bundles, faster boot and zero Unity licence cost.