The accolades never seem to end for Microgaming; they have dynamically become the biggest global provider of online gambling software and excel in every direction. Their slots are the best, their casino games are the best and now it appears that their poker network is also the best. I always believed this accolade would go to the Playtech iPoker network brand, but this year I was wrong and Microgaming collected the EGR B2B award for poker network as well as innovation in slots provision.

All online casino gaming companies who offer a B2B service (Business to Business) are in line to be nominated for the EGR B2B Awards; which recognize the very best operators and service providers in the online gambling industry. This is only the second year that these awards have been run, and they were presented along-side the eGaming Review conference and exhibition. They call it EGR Live and it was held on Tuesday the 3rd of May, 2011 at the Chelsea Football Club - London.

Microgaming was actually shortlisted to receive 5 awards, which included: RNG Casino Supplier of the Year; Poker Network of the Year; Innovation in Slot Provision; Poker Software of the Year and Slot Provider of the Year. Despite the fact that they were up against tough competition, they aced the two awards and CEO at Microgaming - Roger Raatgever, commented: “We are delighted to receive two awards"!

This games software provider has definitely become a force to be reckoned with in terms of slots provision - their roll-out of games is massively competitive and aggressive, and they probably release more games monthly than any other similar competitor. However the EGR slots award was not for the most games released - it was for innovation, and as anyone in the online gambling industry will tell you; innovation is king.

Independent thinking and innovation has played a central role in the past and future growth of this company, and considering they were founded a decade ago, they are actually doing very well. In recent times a couple of software companies have been close to folding, Cryptologic have had problems, as have Parlay Entertainment. A recent company buyout of Entraction by IGT is beginning to make us think there may be troubled times ahead.

In the meantime Microgaming poker has also proven to be top of its game - their team has confirmed they have the ability to keep their brand cutting-edge. And while we are discussing the Migrogaming poker network (MPN) there were some rather large winners recorded over the Easter period. A headline guaranteed tournament took place for the Easter Festival, and this was the largest guaranteed tournament to play by far on this network to date. It paid out €750,000 to 130 players, with a Unibet poker player in first place. This winner took home a life-changing prize of €176,250! The Bad Beat Jackpot was also won after being seeded recently with $200,000. It was split by four (also) Unibet players on the 26th of April.