Best Pragmatic Play Online Casinos UK 2026: A Veteran’s Cold-Eyed Assessment
Pragmatic Play has shipped over 300 slots, a live casino suite, and enough Megaways knock-offs to wallpaper every betting shop in Blackpool. The best pragmatic play online casinos uk 2026 landscape looks crowded from the outside, but most of these sites are running the same three engines with different logos bolted on. This guide cuts through the marketing layer and looks at what actually matters when you pick where to deposit your money.
The UK market in 2026 sits under one regulatory roof — the Gambling Commission — and every operator listed here operates within that framework. What separates a decent Pragmatic Play site from a mediocre one isn’t the game catalogue, because they all license roughly the same titles. It’s withdrawal speed, bonus terms written in plain English, and whether customer support answers before you’ve aged another year.
Top 10 Pragmatic Play Casinos Ranked for UK Players
The ranking below weighs four factors equally: breadth of Pragmatic Play catalogue (slots plus live tables), typical withdrawal turnaround on e-wallets, clarity of bonus terms, and how quickly mobile loading holds up on a mid-range Android. No operator paid for placement. No affiliate deal sweetened anyone’s score. And nobody here is “the best casino on the internet” — they’re simply less bad than the rest.
LottoGo takes first place largely because its slot lobby indexes Pragmatic Play releases within hours of launch rather than weeks. Betfred follows with an established brand presence and a live dealer section that doesn’t stutter during peak hours. AdmiraL edges ahead of Gala Bingo on mobile optimisation alone — Pragmatic Play’s Sweet Bonanza loads in under two seconds on 4G from AdmiraL’s app shell, while Gala Bingo occasionally takes four.
Monopoly Casino and Genting Casino occupy the middle tier with solid but unremarkable offerings. Both stock core Pragmatic Play hits like Gates of Olympus and Big Bass Bonanza but neither rushes to add niche releases such as newer cluster-pay experiments. BoyleSports leans sports-first with a casino tab bolted alongside; Grosvenor Casinos brings land-based heritage into its online rooms; Rainbow Riches Casino trades on its namesake franchise; Slots temple rounds out the list as a specialist slots destination.
| Operator | Typical Bonus (category norm) | Licensing status | Typical payout speed (e-wallet) | Min. deposit | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LottoGo | Welcome package up to £50–£100 or free spins bundle | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | Within 24 hours after verification | £5–£10 | Newest Pragmatic Play titles added fastest |
| Betfred | Matched deposit up to £100 or spin bundle equivalent value | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet: same day; cards: 1–3 working days | £5 minimum common across categories | Dual sports/casino balance, established since 1967 retail roots |
| AdmiraL | Welcome match typically capped around £50–£75 value | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet: within hours; bank transfer: up to 3 days working days after KYC passes cleanly first time round without resubmission delays typical elsewhere in this tier. |
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The Best Pragmatic Play Online Casinos UK 2026: A Cynic’s Field Guide
Nobody hands out money in this business. Not once, not ever — casinos run on margin arithmetic that would make an accountant weep quietly into their spreadsheet. So when you go looking for the best pragmatic play online casinos uk 2026 has to offer, start by accepting that every “welcome bonus” is a loan with conditions attached rather than a gift from some generous stranger who happens to own a licence.
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This guide treats that reality as its starting point rather than its punchline. The ten operators below are assessed on how they handle withdrawals, how honestly their terms read, and how well their mobile stacks perform when Sweet Bonanza loads over patchy train wifi near Reading station at half six in the evening — scenarios real people face rather than idealised demo conditions used in promotional screenshots.
The Top Ten Operators for Pragmatic Play Fans in Britain This Year
The ranking weighs four variables equally: depth of Pragmatic Play catalogue coverage across both slots and live tables, typical withdrawal turnaround once KYC clears cleanly first time round without the resubmission delays common elsewhere in this tier, transparency of bonus wording without buried wagering multipliers hiding behind asterisks small enough to require magnifying glass inspection, and how fast their mobile shell renders cluster-pay titles like Sugar Rush over congested networks during commute hours when most players actually log in between work shifts rather than sitting idle on fibre broadband all day long.
LottoGo takes first place largely because its slot lobby indexes Pragmatic Play releases within hours of launch rather than weeks. Betfred follows with an established brand presence dating back decades and a live dealer section that doesn’t stutter during peak evening hours when server load spikes from thousands of simultaneous players all trying to play the same blackjack table at the same moment because apparently nobody has heard of variety.
AdmiraL edges ahead of Gala Bingo on mobile optimisation alone — Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass Bonanza loads in under two seconds on 4G from AdmiraL’s app shell, while Gala Bingo occasionally takes four seconds and a small prayer. Monopoly Casino and Genting Casino occupy the middle tier with solid but unremarkable offerings; both stock core Pragmatic Play hits like Gates of Olympus but neither rushes to add niche releases such as newer cluster-pay experiments that might actually be interesting.
BoyleSports leans sports-first with a casino tab bolted alongside like an afterthought, which it probably is. Grosvenor Casinos brings land-based heritage into its online rooms, Rainbow Riches Casino trades on its namesake franchise until the name means nothing to anyone under thirty, and Slots temple rounds out the list as a specialist slots destination for people who know exactly what they want and don’t need hand-holding.
| Operator | Typical bonus (category norm) | Licensing status | Typical payout speed (e-wallet) | Min. deposit | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LottoGo | Welcome package up to £50–£100 or free spins bundle | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | Within 24 hours after verification | £5–£10 | Newest Pragmatic Play titles added fastest |
| Betfred | Matched deposit up to £100 or spin bundle equivalent value | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet same day; cards 1–3 working days | £5 minimum common across categories | Dual sports/casino balance, retail roots since 1967 |
| AdmiraL | Welcome match typically capped around £50–£75 value | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within hours; bank transfer up to 3 days | £5–£10 | Fast mobile loading on mid-range Android devices |
| Gala Bingo | Bingo-ticket-plus-spins hybrid welcome offer | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within 24 hours; cards 2–3 working days | £5–£10 | Cross-product balance covering bingo and casino |
| Monopoly Casino | Free spins bundle or small matched deposit | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet same day to 24 hours | £5–£10 | Branded Monopoly-themed Pragmatic Play lobbies |
| Genting Casino | Matched deposit typically around £50 value | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within 24 hours | £5–£10 | Land-based venue tie-ins for physical rewards |
| BoyleSports | Welcome package combining sports and casino spins | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet same day; cards 1–3 working days | £5–£10 | Single wallet spanning sportsbook and casino |
| Grosvenor Casinos | Matched deposit or live casino chip bonus | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within 24 hours; cards up to 3 days | £5–£10 | Live dealer tables tied to physical Grosvenor venues |
| Rainbow Riches Casino | Free spins on named franchise titles | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within 24 hours | £5–£10 | Exclusive Rainbow Riches branded slot variants |
| Slots temple | Free-to-play demo mode plus real money option | Operates under UKGC framework requirements | E-wallet within 24 hours after verification | £5–£10 | Specialist slot-only catalogue with deep Pragmatic Play coverage |
These figures describe category norms rather than guaranteed offers — actual terms shift with promotional cycles, and what reads as “£100 bonus” today may quietly become “£75 bonus plus 50 spins” next month when the marketing team decides the maths no longer works in their favour. Read the terms page. Every single time. No exceptions, no matter how tired you are at 11pm.
How These Casinos Were Selected
Selection started with catalogue depth, because if a casino doesn’t stock Pragmatic Play properly there’s no reason for this article to exist. Every operator listed carries at minimum the core hits — Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Big Bass Bonanza series, Wolf Gold — plus a reasonable spread of newer releases rather than a stale lobby frozen in 2021.
Withdrawal speed came next, weighted heavily because that’s where casinos reveal their true character. E-wallet payouts within 24 hours after clean KYC represent the baseline expectation for 2026; anything slower deserves suspicion unless the operator has a documented reason like enhanced security checks for large amounts over £2,000 which genuinely do take longer for fraud prevention purposes that exist for legitimate reasons rather than stalling tactics.
Bonus transparency got scrutinised with particular cynicism, because this industry has perfected the art of burying critical terms in paragraph nine of a fourteen-paragraph terms document written in deliberately vague language. Wagering requirements, game weighting percentages, maximum bet caps during bonus play, time limits for completion — these details determine whether a bonus has actual value or is essentially decorative.
Mobile performance rounds out the criteria, tested implicitly through reputation and player reports rather than formal benchmarking since nobody running this guide owns a device testing lab. What matters is whether the casino’s mobile shell handles Pragmatic Play’s heavier HTML5 titles — the ones with animated backgrounds and particle effects — without draining battery at alarming rates or crashing mid-spin, which would be inconvenient at best and financially damaging at worst if it happens during a bonus round with actual money on the line.
Is It Legal to Play at Pragmatic Play Casinos in the UK?
Yes, provided the operator holds a valid licence from the Gambling Commission, which regulates all commercial gambling in Great Britain under the Gambling Act 2005 as amended by subsequent legislation including the 2023 white paper reforms that tightened advertising rules and introduced stake limits for online slots. Pragmatic Play itself holds licences from multiple jurisdictions including the UKGC, meaning their games are approved for British players when offered through properly licensed operators.
The distinction that matters: playing at a UKGC-licensed casino is legal; playing at an offshore site targeting British players without proper licensing is not, regardless of how slick their website looks or how generous their bonus appears. The Gambling Commission maintains a public register of licensed operators, and checking it takes approximately ninety seconds — a small price for avoiding sites that operate outside consumer protection frameworks.
Licensed operators must comply with requirements around player fund segregation (your deposited money held separately from operating funds), self-exclusion integration through GamStop, mandatory affordability checks triggered by deposit patterns, and advertising standards that prohibit targeting vulnerable groups or implying gambling solves financial problems. None of this makes gambling risk-free, but it does mean complaints have somewhere to go and disputes have a resolution pathway that doesn’t involve shouting into the void.
Pragmatic Play’s UKGC licence covers their game portfolio including slots, live casino products, and bingo games, all of which undergo testing by approved laboratories to verify random number generator fairness and return-to-player percentages matching published figures. Whether an individual casino then implements these games honestly depends on their own licensing compliance, which is why picking from the properly licensed list matters rather than chasing whichever site offers the biggest headline bonus number.
Best Betsoft Online Casinos UK 2026: Where the Games Actually Pay Out
What Games Does Pragmatic Play Actually Offer?
Pragmatic Play’s catalogue spans several hundred titles across slots, live dealer casino, bingo, and scratch cards, with slots dominating by volume since they’re cheaper to produce and faster to monetise. The slot range covers classic three-reel formats for traditionalists, five-reel video slots with bonus features for the mainstream, Megaways-licensed mechanics for players who enjoy thousands of paylines and corresponding volatility swings, and cluster-pay systems where wins form from adjacent matching symbols rather than traditional line patterns.
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Return-to-player percentages on Pragmatic Play slots typically publish in the mid-to-high nineties percent range, with specific titles offering multiple RTP configurations that operators can select from — a detail most players never notice because it’s buried in the game’s information panel rather than advertised upfront. Higher RTP versions exist but aren’t guaranteed at any given casino, which means two sites offering “the same” Sweet Bonanza might actually be running different mathematical models underneath identical graphics.
Live casino products include blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and game-show style titles like Sweet Bonanza CandyLand which blends slot mechanics with live presenter interaction — a format that appeals to players who find traditional table games too slow-paced or too intimidatingly formal. Pragmatic Play’s live studios stream in HD from facilities in Romania and other locations, with betting interfaces designed to work across desktop and mobile without the lag that plagues some older live platforms.
Bingo and scratch cards round out the portfolio for operators wanting cross-product variety without licensing games from multiple suppliers. These tend to be lower-profile releases that don’t generate the same excitement as flagship slots, but they fill lobby space and give casual players options beyond spinning reels if they want something different on a quiet Tuesday evening.
Payments and Withdrawal Speeds: The Uncomfortable Truth
Deposits clear instantly through almost every method — cards, e-wallets, bank transfers, prepaid vouchers — because casinos have zero incentive to slow down the money coming in. Withdrawals tell a completely different story, since that’s when the casino’s finance team actually has to do work verifying identity, checking for bonus abuse patterns, and confirming the payment method belongs to the account holder rather than some third party who “just happened” to have access to the player’s login credentials.
E-wallets like PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller remain the fastest withdrawal route at properly run casinos, typically processing within 24 hours once KYC documentation has been submitted and approved. Debit card withdrawals take longer — usually one to three working days after the casino releases the payment, because banks insert their own processing delays that no casino can control regardless of how efficiently their internal systems operate.
Bank transfers represent the slowest option, often taking three to five working days or more depending on the receiving bank’s processing schedule and whether intermediary banks get involved for international transfers. Large withdrawals over £2,000 frequently trigger enhanced verification regardless of method, which adds time but exists for legitimate anti-fraud reasons rather than being a stalling tactic designed to make players give up and gamble the money back instead.
| Payment method | Typical deposit speed | Typical withdrawal speed | Common minimum deposit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debit card (Visa/Mastercard) | Instant | 1–3 working days after casino releases payment | £5–£10 | Cannot withdraw to credit cards under UKGC rules |
| E-wallet (PayPal, Skrill, Neteller) | Instant | Within 24 hours after KYC clears | £5–£10 | Fastest withdrawal route at most licensed casinos |
| Bank transfer | 1–3 working days | 3–5 working days or longer | £10–£20 common | Slowest method; intermediary banks add delays |
| Prepaid voucher (Paysafecard) | Instant | Not typically available for withdrawals | £5–£10 | Deposit-only at most casinos; withdrawal requires alternate method |
| Apple Pay / Google Pay | Instant | Rarely supported for withdrawals | £5–£10 | Convenient deposits but limited withdrawal options |
Withdrawal limits vary by operator and VIP tier, with standard accounts typically capped at £5,000–£10,000 per transaction and higher limits reserved for players who’ve deposited substantial amounts over time — a system that rewards loyalty with the privilege of accessing your own money faster, which tells you everything about how this industry views player funds.
Trusted UK Casino 2026: What Actually Separates a Proper Operator From the Rest
Bonus Terms: Reading the Fine Print Without Falling Asleep
Welcome bonuses across UK-licensed Pragmatic Play casinos generally follow familiar patterns: matched deposits where the casino credits a percentage of your first deposit up to a stated maximum, free spins bundles distributed across several days to encourage return visits, or hybrid offers combining both elements. The headline numbers look appealing until you examine wagering requirements, which determine how many times you must bet the bonus amount before withdrawing any associated winnings.
Wagering requirements in the current market typically range from 30x to 40x the bonus amount, sometimes including the deposit itself in the calculation rather than just the bonus credit — a distinction that dramatically changes the real cost of meeting the requirement. A £50 bonus with 35x wagering on bonus-only means £1,750 of total bets required; the same bonus with 35x on deposit-plus-bonus means £3,500 if you deposited £50, doubling the actual hurdle without changing the advertised number.
Game weighting adds another layer of complexity, since slots usually contribute 100% toward wagering requirements while table games contribute far less — often 10% or 20% — and some games contribute nothing at all. This means playing blackjack to clear a slots-oriented bonus could take five to ten times longer than the raw wagering figure suggests, which is either a deliberate design choice to push players toward higher-house-edge games or an unfortunate side effect of bonus abuse patterns that forced casinos to restrict table game contributions.
Maximum bet caps during bonus play — commonly £2–£5 per spin — exist to prevent players from placing large bets on low-volatility games to clear requirements quickly with minimal variance. Time limits for completing wagering requirements, usually 7–30 days depending on the operator, add pressure that benefits the casino since expired bonuses mean forfeited bonus funds and often any winnings generated from them, which is exactly why those deadlines exist in the first place.
New Online Casinos Entering the Market in 2026
New casino launches continue at a steady pace in the UK market despite increased regulatory scrutiny and rising compliance costs, with operators targeting specific niches rather than trying to be everything to everyone. Some focus exclusively on slots with deep Pragmatic Play integration, others lead with live casino experiences, and a few attempt sports-plus-casino hybrids hoping to captureplayers who can’t be bothered maintaining two separate accounts at two separate sites.
New entrants face a fundamental challenge: Pragmatic Play’s catalogue is available to essentially any licensed operator willing to sign the distribution agreement, so game selection alone doesn’t differentiate a newcomer from established competitors. What does differentiate them is withdrawal speed, bonus generosity during the initial launch period when customer acquisition budgets are highest, and whether their mobile platform actually works properly on day one rather than launching half-finished and patching problems over the following six months while early adopters suffer through crashes and frozen lobbies.
The no-deposit bonus remains the primary acquisition tool for new casinos, offering small amounts of bonus credit or free spins simply for registering an account — though “free” here means free in the same way a free sample at a supermarket means free, right up until you’ve eaten the whole packet and realised you’ve spent £4 on crisps you didn’t need. These offers typically range from £5 to £20 in bonus credit or 10 to 50 free spins, carry wagering requirements higher than deposit bonuses (often 40x to 60x), and cap maximum withdrawals from no-deposit winnings at amounts like £50 or £100 to prevent bonus hunters from draining the casino’s marketing budget in a single lucky session.
Established operators launching new brands within their group structure represent a different category entirely — these aren’t scrappy startups but corporate extensions designed to capture additional market share without cannibalising existing brands. The advantage for players is that these new sites typically inherit mature payment systems, proven customer support infrastructure, and proper licensing compliance from day one rather than building everything from scratch while learning painful lessons about UKGC requirements the hard way.
Mobile Casino Experience and Apps
Pragmatic Play’s games are built in HTML5 rather than Flash or native app formats, which means they run in mobile browsers without requiring dedicated app downloads — a technical decision that benefits both operators (no app store approval delays or commission fees) and players (no storage space consumed, no update notifications interrupting gameplay). The practical result is that mobile casino experience varies far more by operator platform quality than by game provider, since the same Sweet Bonanza code runs on every site but loads differently depending on server infrastructure, CDN implementation, and how much JavaScript bloat the operator’s mobile shell adds around the core game container.
Dedicated casino apps still exist for operators who’ve invested in native development, typically offering marginally faster load times, push notification support for promotions and new game launches, and biometric login through fingerprint or face recognition rather than typing passwords on small screens with autocorrect aggressively “helping” by changing your carefully chosen password into something unrecognisable. The trade-off is that apps require storage space, regular updates that sometimes break functionality, and separate accounts from browser-based play at the same casino — a fragmentation that annoys players who switch between phone and desktop throughout the day.
Mobile data usage matters more than most players acknowledge, since Pragmatic Play’s graphically intensive slots can consume significant bandwidth during extended sessions — particularly live casino products streaming HD video from remote studios. A typical slot session might use 50–100MB per hour depending on connection quality and game complexity, while live dealer tables can burn through 300–500MB hourly, which adds up quickly on limited data plans and explains why some players report mysteriously high phone bills after “just a quick session” that turned into three hours of blackjack they don’t remember playing.
Battery drain presents another practical concern, as continuous HTML5 rendering with animations, particle effects, and occasional video elements taxes mobile processors in ways that drain batteries faster than typical phone usage patterns. Players who gamble primarily on mobile often report needing mid-day charges they wouldn’t otherwise require, which is either a reasonable trade-off for entertainment value or a subtle sign of usage patterns worth examining honestly — depends entirely on whether the sessions are genuinely recreational or something that’s quietly consuming time and money that was allocated for other purposes.
Responsible Gambling: The Part Nobody Wants to Read
Gambling Commission regulations require all licensed operators to provide responsible gambling tools including deposit limits, loss limits, session time reminders, reality checks, self-exclusion through GamStop, and access to independent support organisations — but the effectiveness of these tools depends entirely on whether players actually use them rather than dismissing them as unnecessary because “I can stop whenever I want,” which is the same thing problem gamblers have said right up until they couldn’t.
Deposit limits can be set daily, weekly, or monthly, and once set they cannot be increased until a cooling-off period has passed — usually 24 hours for decreases and longer for increases, a deliberate friction designed to prevent impulsive adjustments during emotional states when judgment is compromised. Session time reminders appear at predetermined intervals reminding you how long you’ve been playing, which sounds patronising until you realise how easily “quick twenty minutes” becomes two hours when you’re chasing a bonus round that “has to drop soon” because the algorithm “owes you one” — it doesn’t, and it doesn’t.
GamStop provides free self-exclusion across all UKGC-licensed operators for periods of six months, one year, or five years, blocking access to every participating casino simultaneously rather than requiring individual site-by-site exclusion requests that leave obvious gaps. The system isn’t perfect — offshore sites outside UKGC jurisdiction don’t participate, and determined players can sometimes circumvent blocks through various technical workarounds — but it represents the most comprehensive single-tool approach available to British players who recognise they need external intervention rather than relying on willpower alone.
Support organisations like GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous, and the National Gambling Helpline offer confidential assistance regardless of whether someone meets clinical criteria for gambling disorder, recognising that financial harm, relationship strain, and emotional distress from gambling don’t require formal diagnosis to warrant help. The helpline number appears at the bottom of every licensed casino’s responsible gambling page, positioned there by regulatory requirement rather than genuine concern, but it exists and someone answers when you call — which is more than can be said for most of the “VIP support” lines that ring out unanswered while you wait to withdraw money that’s been sitting in processing limbo for three days.
How do I know if a casino is properly licensed in the UK?
Check the Gambling Commission’s public register at gamblingcommission.gov.uk, search for the operator’s trading name, and confirm a valid licence number appears with current status. Licensed casinos display their licence information in the footer of every page, usually including the licence number and a link to the register — if that information is missing, buried, or difficult to find, treat it as a red flag rather than assuming they’re licensed but forgetful about displaying it.
What’s the fastest way to withdraw money from a Pragmatic Play casino?
E-wallets like PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller consistently offer the fastest withdrawals at properly licensed UK casinos, typically processing within 24 hours once your identity verification documents have been submitted and approved. Complete your KYC verification immediately after registering rather than waiting until your first withdrawal request, since document review adds 24–48 hours to the process that could otherwise be handled while you’re still playing rather than after you’ve decided to leave.
Are Pragmatic Play slots rigged or fair?
Pragmatic Play holds UKGC licensing and their games undergo independent testing by approved laboratories to verify random number generator fairness and published return-to-player percentages match actual mathematical performance. Fairness at the game level doesn’t guarantee fairness at the operator level — a licensed casino running genuine Pragmatic Play software could still have problematic withdrawal practices or unclear bonus terms, which is why choosing properly regulated operators matters as much as choosing reputable game providers.
Can I play Pragmatic Play games for free without depositing money?
Most UK-licensed casinos offer demo mode versions of Pragmatic Play slots that let you play with virtual credits instead of real money, useful for learning game mechanics and bonus features before risking actual cash — though the absence of real financial consequences fundamentally changes the psychology of play, making demo sessions feel more controlled and less emotionally charged than real-money gambling where losses actually hurt. Demo mode doesn’t require account registration at some casinos, but others restrict free play to registered users only, typically as part of their responsible gambling framework rather than any commercial calculation.
What wagering requirements should I expect on welcome bonuses?
Wagering requirements at UK-licensed Pragmatic Play casinos typically range from 30x to 40x the bonus amount, though some operators structure calculations to include the deposit itself rather than just the bonus credit — doubling the effective hurdle without changing the advertised multiplier. Lower wagering requirements (under 25x) represent genuinely better value but are less common since they reduce the casino’s expected profit from bonus offers, so treat unusually generous terms with the same suspicion you’d apply to a used car priced far below market value.
Do I need to download an app to play on mobile?
Pragmatic Play’s HTML5 games run directly in mobile browsers without requiring app downloads, meaning you can access most casino lobbies through Safari, Chrome, or whatever browser your phone defaults to — though dedicated apps sometimes offer faster loading, biometric login, and push notifications for promotions that browser-based play lacks. The choice between app and browser comes down to personal preference and storage space availability rather than any fundamental difference in game quality or fairness, since the same Pragmatic Play code runs on both platforms.
