Evolution against Pragmatic Play: two routes to the same lobby

One arrived at slots through live casino and acquisition; the other built volume in slots first and added live afterwards. They now sell into the same operators. Evolution and Pragmatic Play compete for the same shelf space in an operator's lobby and got there by opposite routes. Evolution started as a live-casino studio operator and became a slot group by acquisition — NetEnt in 2020, Big Time Gaming in 2021 — which bought it a portfolio of established studio brands rather than a single catalogue. Live dealer has remained the larger part of the group. Pragmatic Play built slot volume first and added live casino, bingo and virtual sports alongside, selling the combination as a single supply relationship. Its distribution has been strongest where Evolution's studio footprint is thinnest. The comparison worth drawing is not catalogue size, which is a moving number neither company reports on the same basis. It is what an operator is actually buying: a set of acquired studio brands, or one supplier's multi-product range.