The development of technology has really done wonders for our online gambling experience. All other considerations aside, internet casinos these days are proper adult playgrounds with heaps of options and games that really get you involved. Modern online casinos are miles ahead of their modest ancestors from the early days of iGaming and things are only moving forward.
Talking about the development of online gambling, we can fail to mention live dealer casinos. Following on the trends and players’ wants and desires, game developers have decided to step up their game and brought a proper, live casino experience straight to our living rooms. Some years ago, we wouldn’t even think it possible, but there you have it.
Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, Caribbean Stud – you name it; these days you’ll find almost every single game available in a brick and mortar venue also available online, dealt by live croupiers. It’s not just we can place our bets and cross our fingers. These live dealer casinos let you chat to the dealers in real time and some of them are quite friendly and great to talk to.
From a player’s point of view, this is the kind of experience most of us want. Playing slots or RNG table games can be fun for a while but it can also get lonely pretty fast. With live dealer casinos, you get a feeling you’re actually a part of live action, chatting dealers up and seeing what other players are doing.
High Quality Streams & Seamless Gaming Experience
These days, there are few companies that provide live dealer games to online casinos. Some of the better-known names in the industry include Evolution Gaming, NetEnt, and Ezugi. There are also others, like Playtech or, more recently, Pragmatic Play, looking to expand from their RNG games into the world of live dealers and doing it quite successfully.
The way these companies are able to do it is by setting up their own studios, equipping them with tables, dealers, and, of course, technical gadgets required to get the whole thing to work. When you think about it, there are quite a few details to worry about here, like:
- Making sure the stream is delivered with no delays
- Accepting players’ bets in real time, before betting time expires
- Reading results of the spin or a hand dealt and assigning winnings
- Accrediting your winnings to your account
All of this has to happen quickly because no one wants to sit around doing nothing. Players are there to play so they want to be in action for as much as possible. So, the whole business of running a live dealer casino is quite demanding.
These companies, however, know how it’s done and what it takes to make things happen. They take advantage of the best available equipment in the market and use high-speed internet connections, making sure the flow of data is quick, seamless, and interrupted.
So, you get to interact with a live roulette or blackjack table without any effort. You click to place your bet and it is there. Technical errors are almost non-existent, which is quite remarkable given the complexity of it all.
Optimized for an Average Player
While online casinos may have access to the latest technology and money to cover this kind of expense, game suppliers know full well that the same doesn’t apply to their average customer. This is why these live dealer streams are optimized so much that you can have a seamless gaming experience even on a relatively old computer or a mobile device with really average performances.
If live dealer casinos were high-end products intended only for rich customers, they’d never get to enjoy the success or the popularity they enjoy today. Online casinos want all of their players to be able to enjoy these live games and not have to spend several thousand on a brand new computer just so they could play some live roulette.
Interestingly enough, the same applies to minimum stakes. Live dealer games often feature minimum bet levels that are lower than in most actual casinos.
The reasoning is the same – they want to make these products as available as possible to a large percentage of their overall player pool. And, given the fact some games, like roulette, don’t have a limited number of players that can play at any given time, there is every incentive to get as many players as possible to try their luck.
Trust Your Eyes, Not a Computer!
Although all the various aspects we discussed up to this point helped live casinos reach surprisingly high levels of popularity, one in particular probably played the biggest role. Many players just don’t like computers and believe in Random Number Generators. You can put a dozen seals of independent auditors all over an online casino and some players still won’t believe it.
Why should they – after all, they don’t see what’s happening behind the scene and even if they could see the coding, it would mean nothing to most people.
With live dealer tables, you get to see everything that goes down. You see cards being pulled from a shoe in real time; you see that roulette ball bouncing around and doing all sorts of weird stuff – as it should. There is no a tiny line of code somewhere in there telling the ball to stop in 13.
In fact, before it lands, no one on this earth can tell you where it would stop (unless you believe in psychics, that is), and for most people, this is the only thing they believe to be truly random.
Could There Still Be Cheating Going On?
Sure! And for some players, no matter what, they’ll always believe casinos are after them and cheating them left, right, and center. They could be using “magnets” in their roulette wheels or rig blackjack shoes to make sure you don’t win.
In theory, they could do all these things.
In practice, casinos don’t do this. Live online casinos are business operations just like your local brick and mortar establishment. They don’t need to cheat players to make money and by cheating, they’d risk losing everything.
But, conspiracy theories aside, live dealer casinos are as close as one can get to actually seeing what’s happening when they play online and knowing that everything is on up and up. For a majority, this is more than enough. As we all know,
luck goes in circles, but at least you can rest assured that the only reason why you’re losing is simply the fact your luck just isn’t in today.
Live Casinos of the Future
If the past is any indicator of the future, live casinos are only going to move towards being more realistic and more lifelike. New technologies are likely going to make this possible, so in a few years, we might be actually able to see people sitting at the table with us and communicate with them directly, if both choose to allow it, of course.
Future live casinos are also likely to create even more engaging environments for their players. We’ve already seen some companies do it for major sporting events, combining live game coverage with the table play. In all likelihood, we’ll be seeing more and more of this, and every time it happens, it will get better and more entertaining, as gaming companies will learn from their past experiences.
Since the live casino market is becoming increasingly competitive as well, major players in this niche are likely to continue everything they can to keep their positions at the top. This might include the introduction of tables with even lower minimum limits.
Although live roulette with $0.10 minimum bet may seem ridiculous, large live dealer companies might bite the bullet and do it anyways, ensuring their dominance.
And, with time, the technology we use to play today will likely become obsolete. Give it a few years, and you’ll probably be able to use voice commands to place your bets, ask for another card, split your hand, and whatever else. Things such as VR, voice recognition, etc., have come a long way and the gambling industry is always happy to take these innovations and run with them.
Conclusion: Live Casinos Are a Way Forward
In a world that’s become increasingly distant and isolated, people are looking for new ways to connect. Although no one would think of a casino as a place you’d go to make new friends, live dealer casinos offer an interactive, lifelike experience that actually features the ability to interact with another human being.
Moving forward, companies creating these live casino experiences are likely to move more and more towards increasing these levels of interaction, taking players beyond just gambling. The debate why we should need this in the first place is another matter entirely. The fact is, major stakeholders in the gambling industry have seen an opening and they’re taking full advantage of the opportunity.
The initial success of live dealer casinos is more than enough proof that players are enjoying this concept. With better technology, more interaction, and wider access, these live casinos are likely to thrive moving forward!
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