First a quick note on what I am referring to by the term ‘live casino’. I do not mean a traditional terrestrial casino, nor do I mean an online casino with game outcomes determined by random number generators.
What I am referring to is a casino that you can play online, but which streams live games involving real playing cards being dealt by human dealers and real roulette wheels similar to what you will find in a ‘brick and mortar casino’. The games are streamed real time to players’ computers and accompanied by a user interface that allows for participation in the game.
New? Not really. It’s certainly a developing niche but one that’s been around in some form or another for over 5 years now. But it is only relatively recently that these games are becoming widely available to a playability standard that makes them a compelling offering.
Because the games rely heavily on a real time video stream, video streaming/compression technology as well as player connection speeds are crucial to how well the games may be played. Broadband penetration and advances in streaming technology have both been significant in the last few years.
Cutting a long story short, if you’re living in a developed country, chances are you will be able to play these games and they’ll look pretty good. While there are thousands of RNG powered online casinos, the pool of live casinos is significantly smaller. But it is growing fast. Which begs the question; what do you look for in a live casino?
Game range at most of these casinos is limited to roulette, blackjack and baccarat and slight variations (available side-bets for instance) of these games. Interface functionality isn’t enormously different either. Certainly some platforms replicate the real casino experience better than others in terms of look and feel and studio ambience, but these are subjective calls really.
The big differentiators that players should always look to are all about license…
1. Licensee – who operates the casino and are they a large, reputable corporation?
2. Licensor – who provides the software and are they a large, reputable organization?
3. License – do the licensee and licensor have white-list jurisdiction operating licenses?
By Milton Shaw
Live Dealers Casino is a live casino guide with further insights and reviews from Milton Shaw.