Northern Lights Gaming is the studio behind Unusual Suspects, the cops and robbers slot whose detectives and getaway bombs have grown into a whole series since 2023. Add Bison Moon and a retro flying slot called Ticket to Riches, and you have most of what draws players to the Northern Lights Gaming casinos in our database.
Below the list: who started the studio, how its games reach casinos, the numbers behind five of its slots and what to check before you sign up.
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What is Northern Lights Gaming known for?
Northern Lights Gaming is a slot studio founded in 2017 by former Barcrest and WMS people, with offices in Manchester and Stockholm. It is best known for the Unusual Suspects series and the Bison Moon slots, and its games are distributed exclusively by Games Global, the company that bought Microgaming's distribution business in 2022.
Best Northern Lights Gaming Casinos
Unusual Suspects, the Series That Defines Northern Lights Gaming Casinos
Rainbow Riches Veterans in Manchester and Stockholm
Bison Moon and the Other Regulars in Northern Lights Gaming Casinos
Yggdrasil First, Quickfire Next, Games Global Now
Same Detective, Different Maths
If you know one game from this studio, it is probably the cops and robbers one. Unusual Suspects launched as a Games Global exclusive in July 2023, went wide that September, and the studio has been building on it ever since.
The original plays on 5 reels, 3 rows and 20 paylines. Golden Wilds and Detective Wild frames do the heavy lifting, a Free Spins Booster meter fills in the background, and SlotCatalog lists medium volatility with a top win of 8,000x the stake.
The March 2024 sequel moved to a 5×4 grid and piled on extras. Before free spins you pick one of five suspects, each hiding a perk such as extra wilds or extra spins, and in Big Boss Free Spins every captured villain adds a multiplier and more spins. On the last free spin the Getaway Bonus hands you a bomb: defuse it and you get one more spin. A Vault Jackpot on top pays up to 15,000x the initial wager.
Wanted: Unusual Suspects followed in September 2024 with a Sheriff Wild that collects gold coins, and Unusual Suspects: Legends of Olympus took the formula to the Greek gods in June 2025. Same skeleton, new costume each time: great if you liked the first one, repetitive fast if you did not.
Northern Lights Gaming was founded at the start of 2017 by people who came from Barcrest and WMS, two well known makers of land based slot machines. Andrew Goodale, who ran the studio as CEO for more than eight years, was part of the team behind Rainbow Riches, and co-founder Ed Pattman was lead artist from day one.
The work was split between two cities from the start: Manchester as the creative hub, Stockholm mainly for technical development. In April 2018 Goodale described the plan as high end slots aimed squarely at the UK market, and said the company had received UK and Alderney gaming licences. We could not confirm that in the registers, so treat it as the studio’s own 2018 statement.
2025 brought a new management team. Chris Loftus, who joined as commercial director in April that year, was promoted to CEO in October as Goodale stepped down. Days later Pattman was named head of studio, with Scott Newby as head of games.
The detectives get the headlines, but other slots turn up again and again in Northern Lights Gaming casinos. These are the figures SlotCatalog lists for five of them, with the top RTP setting each game can run:
| Slot | Wide release | Layout | Top RTP | Volatility | Max win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticket to Riches | 2022 | 5×3, 243 ways | 96.05% | Medium | 5,000x |
| Bison Moon | 2023 | 5×3, 25 lines | 96.08% | High | 12,500x |
| Unusual Suspects | 2023 | 5×3, 20 lines | 96.05% | Medium | 8,000x |
| Bison Moon Ultra Link&Win | 2023 | 5×3, 25 lines | 96.13% | High | 12,500x |
| More Unusual Suspects | 2024 | 5×4, 20 lines | 96.06% | Medium | 15,000x |
Bison Moon is the one with the tallest ceiling: a North American wildlife slot with a Link&Win feature and 3×3 mega symbols in free spins. Ticket to Riches is the calmer, older choice, a retro aviation theme with a Last Call pick bonus. How many games the studio has made in total depends on who is counting: its own website says more than 37, a 2025 trade report said more than 40, and SlotCatalog lists 59.
Northern Lights has never run a casino platform of its own. In April 2018 it became the first outside studio on Yggdrasil’s YGS Masters programme, and the same spring Goodale mentioned a platform deal with SG Digital.
The bigger step came in January 2020. The London venture firm Velo Partners made a strategic investment through its RNG Foundry accelerator, and Microgaming took exclusive distribution rights to part of the studio’s content through Quickfire, the platform we cover on our Quickfire casinos page.
Games Global bought Microgaming’s distribution business and games portfolio in 2022, and today the Northern Lights website says its games are distributed exclusively by Games Global, and press releases since 2023 call it a Games Global exclusive studio. In practice that makes Northern Lights Gaming casinos the casinos that take the Games Global feed, the same lobbies we list on our Microgaming casinos page.
Here is the catch with nearly every slot in this catalogue: the casino picks the payout setting. SlotCatalog lists these versions for the two original detective games:
Nearly ten percentage points separate the best and worst version of the same game. The art and features look identical on every setting, so the info screen is the only place you will see which one a casino chose. That makes it worth a look in all Northern Lights Gaming casinos, not only the ones you are unsure about.
Bison Moon adds a second wrinkle, the Win Booster. It is an ante bet that SlotCatalog says lifts the top RTP to 96.33%, and on Bison Moon Ultra Link&Win it costs 2.5x per spin and is not offered in the UK. A slightly better return for a bigger stake only makes sense if that stake still fits your budget.
The list at the top of this page shows the open Northern Lights Gaming casinos in our database, with closed and blacklisted sites left out. Our game provider directory covers the rest of the field.
Start with the licence: it has to cover the country you live in, and if online casinos are not legal where you are, do not play. Then the withdrawals: limits, processing times and when identity checks happen. Then the RTP version, as above.
Last, the bonus terms. Jackpot features and bonus buys are sometimes excluded or weighted lower while you wager, so check how Northern Lights slots count before you take an offer. Our reviews cover all four points.
The studio has worked from two cities since 2017: Manchester, the creative hub, and Stockholm, mainly for technical development.
Chris Loftus has been CEO since October 2025, when co-founder Andrew Goodale stepped down. Co-founder Ed Pattman is head of studio and Scott Newby is head of games.
We found no source saying so. Games Global distributes the studio’s games exclusively, which is why Northern Lights Gaming casinos are casinos on the Games Global network. Velo Partners invested in 2020, but we found no public record of who owns the company today.
Unusual Suspects is the obvious start, since the whole series grew out of it. If you prefer bigger swings, Bison Moon is high volatility with a top win of 12,500x according to SlotCatalog, and you will find both in most Northern Lights Gaming casinos.
Some do. SlotCatalog lists a 100x bonus buy for More Unusual Suspects where it is available, and Wanted: Unusual Suspects lets you buy Free Spins or Super Free Spins. Whether you see the option at Northern Lights Gaming casinos depends on the casino and the rules in your market.
That depends on the casino, not the studio. Pick Northern Lights Gaming casinos that are licensed where you live, read the withdrawal terms and check the RTP version of the game before you play.
Northern Lights is one of many partner studios in the Games Global catalogue, and the index below shows the other providers we cover, each with its count of open casinos.
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