Halloween slots take over casino lobbies

Blask data covers 342 Halloween-themed slots and the dark-themed games operators place alongside them. According to the data, vampire, witch and demon themed games hold almost the same lobby space as pumpkins and ghosts. About 15% of this space is filled by three games from a single studio.

51% of the season is devoted to holiday-themed games, and 46% to dark and mystical games. The remaining 3% goes to Day of the Dead themed games in Mexico. In the first weeks of the season, the standout game was the dark-themed Le Vampire. Hacksaw Gaming released this game on October 1 and it reached operator lobbies in 61 markets. Pragmatic Play responded on October 12 with Big Bass Halloween Splash 1000.

Two leading providers are gaining share in different ways. Pragmatic Play takes the largest share at 21%. This share comes from five Big Bass Halloween versions in the top 30, one of them through partner Reel Kingdom, as well as Coven Rising and two Forever Split games. Hacksaw Gaming reaches 15% with Le Vampire, Demonic Dolls and Epic SixSixSix.

Some operators are also placing Halloween versions of familiar games at the top of their lobby tabs, alongside new releases. For example, in 1xBet's lobby in Costa Rica, 36 Coins Halloween Jackpots is in first place, and in Betano's lobby in Chile, 9 Coins Grand Diamond Edition Halloween Jackpots is at the top.

Markets entered the season at different times. Greece started on September 17, which is about two and a half weeks before last year's October 4 start. The sharpest increases were seen in Latin America and northern Europe. In Peru, holiday-themed visibility rose sevenfold compared with September. In the United Kingdom, the September comparison may be misleading, since there were few Halloween games in British lobbies at that time. Compared with the same period last year, holiday-themed visibility in the UK is slightly more than double.