Hawkplay Game Providers: Studios, Licences & RTP
The section contains 5 pages about game providers.
Key facts and contents
- Hawkplay Evolution
- Evolution makes games as a studio; it is not an operator.
- Hawkplay FA CHAI Gaming
- FA CHAI Gaming designs games and is not an operator.
- Hawkplay JILI
- JILI builds the games; it is a studio and not an operator.
- Hawkplay PG Soft
- Studio, not operator: PG Soft develops games.
- Hawkplay Pragmatic Play
- Pragmatic Play is classed as a game studio and not as an operator.
This section covers 5 game providers entries. In this corner of the subject, the most frequent error is blurring a game studio and a casino, which are distinct companies under different regulators. Studios behind the titles in Philippine-facing lobbies are the subject here: their identity, their actual licensed activity, and the question of a publicly checkable return-to-player figure.
Everything in this section
| Studio | Publishes RTP | Specialisms | Licence position |
|---|---|---|---|
| JILI | No | slots, fishing games | PAGCOR (Electronic Gaming Licensing Department) |
| Pragmatic Play | Yes | slots, live casino | Malta Gaming Authority |
| PG Soft | Yes | slots | Malta Gaming Authority |
| FA CHAI Gaming | Yes | slots, 3D fishing games | Curacao Gaming Authority — status unresolved |
| Evolution | Yes | live dealer casino, live game shows | Malta Gaming Authority |
There are 5 pages, and every one is about a single entry instead of a roundup of several. A “not published” field above is answered on the entry’s own page, where you can see who would have had to publish it.
Each entry in a paragraph
The aim is a short note per entry, so you can see which page is worth your time.
JILI explained
There is no founding year and no headquarters given. Product lines are slots, fishing, table and card games, and bingo.
Its page starts the list of records with PAGCOR (Electronic Gaming Licensing Department). JILI games are entered in the list of electronic games that PAGCOR EGLD has cleared.
It publishes no RTP. This site gives no figure for its titles; the numbers circulating elsewhere are third-party estimates in disagreement.
Pragmatic Play in full
Founded 2015, based in Gibraltar. Produces bingo, slots, crash games, live casino and virtual sports.
First on its page’s list of records is Malta Gaming Authority. Pragmatic Solutions MT Limited is the licensee behind MGA/B2B/619/2018.
Its titles’ RTP figures can be traced to the studio, since it publishes RTP itself. Pragmatic puts one RTP per title on its game pages; the number shown is the ceiling of a set.
PG Soft explained
Founded 2015, based in Valletta, Malta. Builds slots.
First on its page’s list of records is Malta Gaming Authority. Pocket Games Software Limited (C 76195) is the name on licence MGA/B2B/435/2017.
Its titles’ RTP figures can be traced to the studio, since it publishes RTP itself. RTP exists in PG Soft’s game data but is not rendered for visitors: the on-screen field is a blank dash, and the number is carried in the server’s page data.
The FA CHAI Gaming entry
Founded 2019, and states no headquarters. It makes arcade games, table games, slots and 3D fishing games.
Its page opens with a record for Curacao Gaming Authority. WiseInNet Technologies B.V., which operates FA CHAI’s site, holds Licence OGL/2024/1184/1010.
Its titles’ RTP figures can be traced to the studio, since it publishes RTP itself. Of the seven studios here, FA CHAI is the most straightforward to check, since it shows RTP directly on its own public games listing..
The Evolution entry
Founded 2006, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Builds live dealer casino, live game shows.
First on its page’s list of records is Malta Gaming Authority. Evolution Gaming Malta Limited is the licence holder, under MGA/CRP/187/2010.
Its titles’ RTP figures can be traced to the studio, since it publishes RTP itself. Third-party sources report consistent RTP figures for Evolution’s game-show titles, so they are recorded as publishing RTP..
Find the details of the game providers within the game itself
No part of this relies on your trust. Licence claims on these pages all trace to a public register, and the registers are open:
- When looking up a Malta licence, use the company name rather than the brand name in the MGA authorisation portal. It is common for the licensee to be a subsidiary under another name; Pragmatic Solutions MT Limited holds Pragmatic Play’s Malta licence, not any entity called Pragmatic Play.
- Use the account number to search the Gambling Commission public register when you need a UK licence. A record for an active licence lists its activities along with when each began, plus any regulatory settlement against the holder.
- On pagcor.ph, locate the studio’s approved-games PDF to see its PAGCOR EGLD listing. Its approval is of game content for licensed operators, which is how to read it. When the document does not state that the studio is licensed, the studio is not.
- An RTP figure for any given title is on the studio’s own page for that game. Should the figure be absent, no comparison site holds it; and where two comparison sites conflict, the conflict is the result.
The thing most often got wrong here
Keep a PAGCOR operator licence and a PAGCOR EGLD listing apart; that is the distinction that matters most here. EGLD listings are PAGCOR’s way of saying a studio’s game content is approved for the operators it licenses. It does not represent a studio licence, and it is silent about any casino that carries those games.
Beyond that single item, four of the seven studios below have nothing. Plain words on each of their pages make the point, as “PAGCOR listed” and “PAGCOR licensed” are a single word apart but very far apart in meaning, and readers generally hope for the second.
Finding game providers at Hawkplay
- Start by signing in at Hawkplay; the game lobby comes next.
- The lobby can be filtered by studio, and titles can be searched by name.
- A game’s stake range and paytable are on its info screen, which is worth opening before you play.
- Budget the session before you play, and put a low stake on any studio you are new to.
FAQ
Which of the studios listed here state an RTP figure?
Evolution, FA CHAI Gaming, PG Soft, Pragmatic Play. Every other studio stays silent on it; this site prints no RTP for their titles and does not borrow one from a comparison site.
Does a studio licence protect a player?
Not directly. What a studio licence covers is the games' maker, meaning the company. The operator's regulator is where a player's recourse lies, under a licence that a different company holds.
Does Hawkplay carry all of these studios?
Each game tile names its studio, so opening Games in the Hawkplay lobby shows you which ones are live for you. On these pages, a studio is described using its own published record.
Why is a PAGCOR EGLD listing not simply a PAGCOR licence?
An EGLD listing means a studio's game content is approved for the operators PAGCOR licenses to use. To run a casino an operator needs a PAGCOR licence, which is what authorises it. Four of these studios carry the first and not one of them carries the second.
Some studios appear here without a founding year or headquarters, so what is behind that?
Because they do not publish one. JILI disclose neither on their own sites. No figure for either is repeated here, since the ones on affiliate listicles carry no primary source.
If a game carries a GLI or BMM certification, is it fair?
What it indicates is that an independent test laboratory has gone over the random number generator, plus the paytable, against a standard. Useful as it is, it stands apart from a licence, and neither document concerns the operator offering the game.