To change or not to change – that’s the question. Gamblers often stick with what they know, especially when a favourite slot or bet carries memories of a big win. Sports bettors are no different: a Saturday 5-timer Acca on the football, an each-way patent on the horses, or a correct-set score bet in the tennis. These cosy patterns are easy to repeat day after day, with little fresh thought required.
The tried-and-tested has its place, but every now and then we all crave something new. Online casinos know this too well – almost every UK site now has a “New” games section, and it’s one of the most visited parts of the lobby. But how new are these games, really?
With many casinos offering over 2,000 titles, variety isn’t the issue. The real question is whether punters are getting genuinely fresh releases from the best software houses, or recycled favourites given a cosmetic update.
We look at the shelves of new UK online casinos such as Puntit, Betnero, 247bet to see what’s genuinely new and what’s just dressed up with a fresh coat of paint.
Top New Slots and Dealer-Led Live Games at UK Online Casinos – Just Released
The new games featured here can be found at UK sites such as Mega, Prime, Pink Casino, and PokerStars.
Fire Toad 2 (Play ‘n Go)
Just days old, this croakingly-entertaining amphibian adventure has a fantastic volcano backdrop and a solid 96% RTP. There are over 1,000 winlines and look out for the Golden Lilypad Bonus, where serious moolah can be won.
Elysian Gold (ELK Studios)
A high-volatility Ancient Greece-themed 6-reeler, Elysian Gold has over 4,000 paylines and a humungous maximum win of 25,000x. The 94% RTP is a tad low, but there is genuine innovation here and 6 Bonus Features to keep you occupied.
Kraken’s Cove (Relax Gaming)
This medium-high nautical newbie has an expansive 7-reels and a pirate-pleasing 96% RTP. The Ship Wild Bonus is a great innovation and, if sea monsters are your thing, Relax Gaming have dished you up a treat.
Desert Fortunes (NowNow Gaming)
A simpler set-up here, with a 5×3 grid and 10 paylines. The RTP is an acceptable 95.88% and the well-established Egyptian/tomb themes are given a fresh look.
Zombie School Megaways (Pragmatic Play)
We all need lessons in being undead, so this high-volatility lesson in lurching is just the thing. Brand-new, it operates on a 6×7 grid and has a 10,000x maximum win. Ok, so maybe your school days didn’t involve bloodshed and baseball bats, but this comedic cracker will make you wish they had! The plus is that this new slot machine comes with up to 117,649 ways to win and is great for mobile casinos. The minus is that it has a low RTP (94.50%).
New live casino gaming is a much shallower pool to swim in, mainly because of the limitations of innovating the “Big 3” games, Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat, and also because the number of software firms active in this market is significantly smaller than in slots-world. However, that doesn’t mean that Live Casinos are a museum.
We still see fresh takes on old games and the ever-popular Game Show genre has become a really hub of innovation, regularly churning out fun and fantastical novel games. Here are some of the best new games for live casino out there;
Quantum Blackjack (Playtech)
This one has some nice, subtle changes to the original format, notably the 50x multiplier.
Marble Race (Evolution)
Want to bet on the outcome of a race between six coloured marbles as they bounce and roll down a specially designed track until they reach the bottom?! This is the game for you. Random starting positions mean that every race is different and this is a joyful addition to the burgeoning Game Show collection.
Agent Spinity (Winfinity)
A brand-new Big Wheel Game Show, there are 54 segments and chance for a 1,000x win. The best thing about this newcomer is the design, with a darkened urban landscape lit only by neon lights and some very sharply-dressed presenters. Entertaining, with a hint of the sinister…
Immersive Roulette Deluxe (Pragmatic Play)
Some lovely quirks have been added to the traditional game, with multiple camera angles and slow-motion replays. The highlight is being able to watch every bounce of the ball as it finds its home. Won’t blow you away, but will certainly enhance your play. Looks particularly good in mobile form.
If you’d like, check out some bonuses explicitly designed for live casinos.
What does “New” mean?
“New” is a broad term and in today’s UK online casino industry, it does a lot of the heavy lifting! But we can nevertheless break the term down into some broad categories that help us understand what we are getting when we go in search of the new…
Recently Released Games
The date is everything. If a slot or Live Casino game has just hit the market, regardless of content, it ticks at least one box. In slot-terms, this can mean an entirely new theme (i.e. NOT Egypt or Fishing), innovative new graphics and/or new features or mechanics that change the way the game is played.
Variants & New Slot Features
We are all familiar with the components of slots innovation with the likes of the Megaways engine (1,024 winlines anyone?), Cluster Pays and cascading reels, all accompanied by all the bells and whistles we expect from an aural and visual perspective. Some “new” games have merely added one or more of these wee “tweaks” and that can then justify a “new” tag.
In other words, a “variant” of an established game, rather than an entirely fresh creation. Add to these new slot functionality such as persistent wild forge, expanding columns, symbol collect, symbol splits, symbol replacements, big symbols, a bonus, a super bonus, cascading wins, and hold things.
Freshly Licensed Content
Observant punters will have noticed the creeping tendency for slot software outfits to dip into the world of movies and TV when mining for new ideas. Whether it is the Goonies, Ted or Jurassic Park slots or Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Live Casino games, this is a well-worn path that capitalises on a programme’s popularity. Products that already have a massive following can then be easily converted into punter-friendly “new” vehicles.
Return to Player (RTP) changes
Every self-respecting punter knows that the higher the RTP, the better it is in the long-run. In certain cases, a game may change its RTP and be re-launched as “new” when only an ultra-eagle-eyed player could spot the difference.
Things that may not be quite as “New” as they seem…
A Casino may be hosting an old game, released many years previously, but if it has never been on that specific site before, they will probably badge it as “new”. In one sense you can understand why they would market it that way, but if you have been playing the game on other sites for a number of years, you may wish to disagree with that branding!
Small, almost insignificant tweaks to an existing game, that barely change anything about the way you play it, can nonetheless lead to the “new” moniker. But the core components and mechanics of the slot or game may remain almost identical to the previous incarnation, so you won’t find much “new” about the experience of playing the latest update.
Also, we should note the Gambling Commission’s regulation changes that came into effect in January 2025 that concern the speed of play on slots. Among the changes are a ban on Autoplay options (players now have to spin each time themselves), a ban on Turbo features (these speed up play and thus can lead to losing more quickly) and a ban on playing multiple games at the same time.
This has, inevitably, led to game modifications across the industry to accommodate the changes and many “new” games are simply the old games but with the required regulation changes in place.
