The LIVE Dealer Casinos
Bringing the experience of a live land-based casino to your living room or mobile device has never been more real than now, thanks to LIVE Dealer Casinos.
This is all thanks to faster internet connections and VOIP communications, both of which have given us the ability to chat on the Web via video cam, and now even play LIVE casino games.
Online LIVE Dealer suites have been a massive success amongst casino table game players, and their popularity continues to grow, taking the internet by storm. They are licensed and regulated in the same way as virtual casinos, so you get complete peace of mind and security.
For those that are still skeptical about playing virtual casino games, then LIVE Dealer Casinos are now the obvious answer.
Rather than relying on a Random Number Generator’s (RNG) computerized algorithm, you can opt to play casino games via a web camera where the dealers, shuffles, and coups are streamed live to your device.
The Top 3 LIVE Casinos Online:
- Vegas Paradise (Microgaming & NetEnt)
- Jackpot City (Microgaming)
- Guts Casino (Evolution Gaming)
Types of Games LIVE Dealer Suites Have
Live Blackjack | Live Roulette | Live baccarat
When LIVE dealer suites first hit the scene, there were only a few games available. It all started with Roulette, Blackjack, and Baccarat. However, it quickly became apparent how popular the concept was becoming when online casino players flocked to the live tables.
Back then, there were not enough live tables to go around. It was in fact Microgaming that were the pioneers of the live dealer industry. The company quickly realized just how popular the concept of LIVE dealer suites was and started to open more tables – this was also when stakes were high!
Soon Microgaming has competition from NetEnt, then Evolution Gaming and now also Extreme Live Gaming.
With all this competition, more LIVE dealer suites are available, and more games have been introduced, including different variations of each of these games.
- Low and High Stakes Tables
Before you join a casino to play LIVE dealer games, take note that usually, the minimum bet on each game is around £0.50 on the lower stakes table. If your casino allows you to play in US$, then you should be able to get a minimum bet of $0.50 on the lowest stake LIVE casino games.
High stakes tables are usually mixed in with the low stales table, allowing bets of up to £/$3,000 on some of the games. If you are looking for higher stakes than this, then the VIP tables are the best place to head for high rollers.
VIP Tables
VIP tables offer the casino whales the chance to place high bets. Some tables can have a min/max bet policy of £/$50 – £/$15,000 per bet.
If you are a VIP at the casino, which with £/$15,000 bets you surely would be, you can sometimes negotiate terms and have your own private table. For instance, dealer hits on 17 instead of stands on 17. This type of negotiation is rare, but not unheard of.
- Minimum Bets: £/$50
- Maximum Bets: £/$15,000
Variations of Blackjack
Blackjack is arguably the most popular LIVE table game, and because of this, there are several variations available on all of the big 4 LIVE dealer suite’s gaming lists.
- Dealer Stands on 17
In all the Blackjack games, you will find that the ‘dealer stands on 17’, so be prepared with your optimal strategy for this style of Blackjack.
You can play this style of Blackjack in multi-hand games or single hand games on single or multi-player tables. There are also Black games available from around the world. For example, Evolution Gaming offers Blackjack Dublin, Blackjack Panama, Blackjack Monaco, and more hot destinations to give that around the world Blackjack vibe!
- Multi-hand Blackjack
- Single-hand Blackjack
Variations of Roulette
Roulette is also a popular casino game, and the LIVE roulette tables attract thousands of players. There are several styles of Roulette that you can choose to play with different views to choose from each table, depending on how you prefer to play.
Obviously, with the huge popularity of Roulette, there is a wide variety of options available.
- European Roulette
- London Roulette
- US Roulette
- Immersive Roulette
- Auto Roulette
- Double Ball Roulette
- Rocket Roulette
- Roulette VIP
Variations of Baccarat
Baccarat is very popular in the Far East, especially in Macau. It is also popular with Asian players in the West. Arguably it could overtake Blackjack and Roulette as it reaches new levels of popularity in the LIVE casinos.
Sometimes the tables can get quite full, but more recently, the LIVE dealer suites have added more tables to keep up with the growing mandate of online casino players insisting on playing Baccarat.
Here are some of the variations currently available:
- Baccarat
- Speed Baccarat
- Baccarat Squeeze
- Baccarat No Commission
- Baccarat VIP
Variations of Poker
When LIVE dealer suites first emerged, poker games were not included. However, as the idea of bringing LIVE casino games from the dealer suites to your device has become so popular, the demand for table game poker was also on the cards.
Now you can play several variations of poker versus the house LIVE:
- 3-Card Poker
- Ultimate Texas Hold’em
- Casino Hold’em
- Caribbean Stud Poker
Dreamcatcher
This is an add-on game that has become available in many of the LIVE online dealer suites. It is there because it has become very popular. A.K.A. ‘The Money Wheel’, you place a bet usually between £/$50 to £/$5,000 bet.
Dealers and croupiers that you may be familiar with from the card and roulette games will become a Dreamcatcher presenter at some stage in the night, spinning the big Money Wheel. If the presenter happens to be your lucky dealer, then maybe follow him or her to the Money Wheel and try your luck.
On the money wheel, you have numbers to bet on 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 40. These are the multipliers that will be applied to your bet if the number you wagered on lands on the money wheel.
Plus, there is an opportunity to win big if the wheel hits the x7 multiplier – this means all bets stay the same, and the wheel spins again. Should the number you wagered come in, you will be paid out the usual multiplier of your bet, and on top of this, you will have an x7 multiplier applied to your win.
What are LIVE Dealer Casinos?
They are casinos that give their members live video access to a LIVE Dealer Suite. These casinos will only host table games from the LIVE dealer suites, as mentioned in the previous section. There are no LIVE slots or Scratch cards; therefore, in the LIVE casinos, you will find games such as:
- Blackjack
- Roulette
- Baccarat
- 3-Card Poker
- Texas Hold-em
- Caribbean Poker
- Dream Catcher
When LIVE Dealer Casinos started to offer LIVE games, they started with just a few table games available such as Blackjack and Roulette. Since then, LIVE Dealer casinos have become immensely popular, and with that popularity, the LIVE dealer scene has inevitably continued to introduce new table games, increasing the variation of table games now on offer today.
Blackjack and Roulette are now available in several variations; for example, you can play European Roulette with a single ‘0’ or play US Roulette with the double zero, i.e. ‘0’ and ‘00’. As demand grew, the LIVE dealer suites began to add poker tables and, of course, Dreamcatcher.
- A casino that gives members access to a LIVE Dealer Suite
- Only table games are available
- LIVE casinos have become popular
- Variations of different table games
What is a LIVE Dealer Suite?
The Dealer Suites themselves are where the LIVE table games, dealers, and croupiers are hosted. This is a physical location licensed to operate real money online gaming remotely.
Each table game and its LIVE dealer or croupier is streamed back to numerous online casino websites via a webcam. Members of the casinos can then access these webcams via their casino account. The same LIVE dealers and games can appear in multiple casinos. For example, Jackpot City and Vegas Paradise are two separate LIVE casinos, but they both use the same Microgaming LIVE dealer suite.
One vital difference between LIVE dealer casinos and LIVE dealer suites is that the casino does not own the dealer suite. This is much the same principle used with virtual casino games.
Virtual casinos are basically a brand name of their own they do not own the games they offer their players. They licensee the games from different gaming providers like Microgaming or Netent. The casino, however, owns the website, the company, and the marketing for its casino brand
LIVE Dealer suites use the same principle. A company such as Microgaming owns the LIVE dealer suite and makes deals with numerous online casino brand names. These deals are agreements made between casino brand and live dealer suite owner for the casino brand to connect to the LIVE dealer suite.
The result is that the online casino can now offer its clientele LIVE dealer games; thus, the virtual casino also becomes a LIVE casino.
- LIVE Dealer Suites host table games, dealers, and croupiers in a physical location
- Casino brands have an agreement with the LIVE dealer suites
- Web Cams stream LIVE table games to the LIVE casinos
- Casino members can now connect to LIVE casino gaming in real time
How LIVE Dealer Suites Work
The technology that is behind the LIVE Dealer suites has been through vigorous testing. The software needs to ensure players can place bets, and that the webcams stream the dealer suits in high definition back to the player devices with no lag. They also need to guarantee that player bets are paid out quickly.
Below we have listed the key points behind the inner workings of today’s impressive LIVE dealer technology that has taken the online casino industry by storm:
- How to access LIVE Dealer Suites
If you have an account with an online casino that has a LIVE Dealer Casino, then head over to the ‘LIVE’ section. Once you are there, all the live games will be displayed. The number of table games and variations available to you will depend on the LIVE Dealer suite software provider that your casino uses.
As we mentioned above, the best four LIVE dealer suite providers are Microgaming, Net Entertainment, Evolution Gaming, and Extreme Live Gaming. The reason we mention these four LIVE dealer providers is that they all have a diverse collection of LIVE dealer games available.
If your LIVE casino does not offer a LIVE Casino option, then you can try any one of these four recommended LIVE casinos.
3 recommended LIVE casinos.
- Vegas Paradise (Microgaming & NetEnt)
- Jackpot City (Microgaming)
- Guts Casino (Evolution Gaming)
Once you have signed up and found the LIVE casino section, all you need to do when you are in the LIVE section is click on the game that you want to play. You will be taken to the table, and the LIVE webcam will stream the dealer and the table to your device.
Virtual Casino Chips
Once you have opened the LIVE table game you want to play, the webcam will show the dealer and table. An important point to note is that the dealer does not place the chips for you in a LIVE dealer suite. When you connect to the LIVE table, all your chips will be virtual chips just as you would get playing any of the virtual casino games.
Placing Bets
The way you place bets is slightly different between Roulette, Dream catcher and card games.
Card games
The software is neatly laid over the LIVE table, where the dealer will be sitting. You can place your virtual chips on the designated betting areas at the table just as you would in a LIVE casino.
The betting software records your bets just at would with any virtual casino games. Once all bets have been placed, the dealer will start to deal the live cards.
Depending on the table game you are playing, you will need to let the dealer know how you plan to act next. For instance, for Blackjack, split, double down, stand, or hit.
In essence, you will be going through all the same motions as you would go through if you were sitting at a land-based casino.
Roulette
Roulette tables have a virtual board to place outside and inside bets on. The dealer will be standing next to a wheel on a webcam or sat at the table. This means that when you are playing Roulette, you will not be placing your chips on a live table per se. It is a superimposed Roulette board just for betting.
In fact, the four main aspects of a LIVE Roulette game are live are the dealer, wheel, ball, and the final result of each coup played.
Dealer Announcements
Dealers are very well trained in the LIVE dealer studios and will make announcements as the action unfolds in the same way as a dealer would in a land-based casino. For example, if you are playing on a multiplayer Blackjack table with other players, the dealer will mention it is your turn to act.
If you decide to double down, the dealer will announce it. When you hit or stand, the dealer announces your decisions made. Hence, if you stand on 18, you will hear the dealer announce that you decided to ‘stand on 18’.
After all, the players have acted, and it is the dealer’s turn, the dealer will announce the dealer cards as the action unfolds. This would be whether the dealer hits or stands on or after a total of 17. Finally, the dealer announces the result of the dealer’s hand. At that point, the dealer will congratulate all winners.
On the other hand, for Roulette, the croupier will only be announcing when you can begin betting, speed you up when the ball is spinning, and call final bets before lastly announcing the results when the ball lands. Winners are again congratulated just as they would be in a brick and mortar casino.
Results Recognition Software (similar to facial recognition)
From this point onward, the question that remains is: how is the casino software fed the live results in real-time?
Behind the webcams is an intelligent software that reads the results on the tables in a similar way that facial recognition software can determine the structure of a person’s face, or how the London Congestion charge system can read number plates coming in out of the congestion charge zone.
The software can read the number the Roulette ball lands on as well as cards that are dealt on a Blackjack or poker tables. The software also recognizes when the game has ended so it can read the final results.
These systems are so sophisticated that they can determine the result in a matter of milliseconds. The results are fed back to the casino with surprising accuracy and linked to player bets. This answers the mystery behind how live players are paid out so quickly once the dealer has announced the final results.
In the end, everything is connected. The webcams are trained to read the results and are connected to the casino software that records player bets.
Chatting with dealer
On most of the games, you can type chat messages to the dealer. Occasionally the dealer will chat back with you or answer your comments. It’s the same as being able to socialize with a dealer in a LIVE casino.
- Camera Views
When playing games such as Roulette, you may want to choose how you would prefer to view the Roulette board and the wheel.
Here are some of the options you will be given (also see the screenshot below):
- Multi Camera View
- 3D View
- Classic View
Questions and Answers about Live Casinos
Do the LIVE Dealer Tables Ever Get Full?
For example, you will see the following naming convention:
- Blackjack A
- Blackjack B
- Blackjack C
- VIP Blackjack A
- VIP Blackjack B
- VIP Blackjack C
- Baccarat A
- Baccarat B
- Baccarat C
These are the same style of Blackjack game, but because the tables can get full quite quickly, there are several Blackjack tables listed as A, B, C, D, E, F, and so on, giving you a chance always to get a game.
When you open a LIVE casino’s home page, like Guts Casino’s Evolution Gaming and Net Entertainment offers, you can navigate to the LIVE casino section. Here you can see a perfect example of Blackjack tables and Baccarat tables with letters appended to the end of the game. This is the same style of Blackjack game, but a different dealer.
Dreamcatcher allows as many players as possible per spin, so there is no limit, while many of the Roulette games also take on 20 to 30+ players at once.
Can You Choose a Dealer or Croupier to Play With?
Every game will have an ‘I’ for the ‘Information’ tab where you can read the dealer’s name. Some people like to stick with their lucky dealer or croupier or have a set of favorites. The most popular dealers on the card games can often have their tables full. If the table is full, then you have the option to wait.On the other hand, Roulette does not have this problem so much because many of the tables allow 20+ players to join the same game. Whereas, Blackjack games generally only have seven seats available per table.
How are LIVE Dealer Suites Licenced and Regulated?
There are several licencing bodies that will issue a license and regulate Live Dealer Suites. For UK players, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) requires regular updates by requiring data to be submitted in regards to gaming results.
There are 3 main reasons for this:
- To check the pay-out percentages of each game
- To ensure the pay-out percentages are as advertised
- To provide players with a mediator in case of a dispute
Extreme Gaming, Microgaming, NetEnt, and Evolution Gaming all host their LIVE dealer suites at LIVE casinos that have been licensed by the UKGC. This means passing the 10 Steps to Cyber Security and obeying to regulations that have been designed to follow the British Consumer Rights Acts.
Other Licencing and Regulation Authorities
In addition to the UKGC, you will also see other licensing bodies issues licenses for the LIVE dealer suite software providers as well as for the LIVE casinos. This includes well-known authorities such as the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), Curacao Gaming Authority (CGA), and Gibraltar Gaming Commission (GGC).
All LIVE casinos and LIVE dealer suites we have mentioned above are regulated by these authorities. Many of them also have multiple licenses from the UKGC, as well as from the MGA, CGA, and GGC. This gives members double security as more than one licensing body actively regulates the casino.
In addition to this, there is double protection for online players because both the live casino and the live dealer suites will have obtained licenses for their games. You can rest assured the casinos are always under the watchful eyes of trusted authorities who are continuously looking for an excuse to dish out a fine for failure comply.Fining casinos, as well as suspending licenses, keeps the casinos in check at all times. Either a fine or suspension policies have been designed to hit the casinos with severe financial consequences should they be caught stepping out of line.
eCOGRA Fair and Safe
Another independent organisation that regulates and certifies the LIVE dealer suites and casinos is eCOGRA. You can look to see if the casino you want to play live dealer games at has an eCOGRA symbol usually in the footer of the home page.
This means that eCOGRA have checked all the games made available remotely. Pay-out percentages are made public and eCOGRA also shows you exactly how they decide which online casinos are worthy of their safe and fair certificate.
Furthermore, eCOGRA can act as a mediator between player and casino should there ever be a dispute. Sometimes player versus casino situations can be overwhelming as the casinos have all the money and power. eCOGRA much like the other licensing authorities, like the UKGC, can help players with a dispute. It basically gives the player a voice to be heard – another great way to keep the casinos in check.
- UK Gambling Commission
- Malta Gambling Authority
- Gibraltar Gaming commission
- Curacao Gaming Licence
- EeCOGRA Fair and Safe
Where to Find More External Information?
LIVE Dealer Suite Pros:
There are so many upsides to playing at a LIVE Dealer Suiter it is difficult to list them
- LIVE results: No more random number generators
- The buzz of real casino streamed to your device
- Play on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile device
- Wide variety of LIVE casino games to choose from
- Games are slightly faster than a land-based casino
- High rollers can get their own VIP tables
- You can play with your favourite dealer or Croupier
- Dealer Suites and Casinos fully licensed and regulated
LIVE Dealer Suite Cons:
There are some cons to LIVE dealer suites; although very few overall.
- Minimum stakes are higher in LIVE dealer suites compared to virtual games
- LIVE dealer suites do not offer free games – you can only play with real money
- The variation of LIVE dealer games is much less compared to virtual tables games
- Some LIVE dealer suites may require that you queue before you can play
