Online casinos have routinely been at the intersection of technological advancements and gaming. They were quick to establish themselves when browser-based games were blooming in the 00s, and effectively transitioned to mobile gaming when smartphones pivoted to committing to HTML. As 5G comes into its more realised being, iGaming operators are focusing efforts on how to maximise their service.
To stand-out among a hugely competitive market, operators need to be adaptive and willing to take risks. 5G – and, potentially, VR and AR – represents the latest fork-in-the-road for the industry. It is instigating growth for new businesses which are able to capitalise on gaps in the market and launch theirs while competitors get to grips with what 5G – and other tech – can bring them. The faster download speeds and lower latency means that real-time games and services are much improved, or are simply viable in a way 4G didn’t make them. This advancement in wireless communication is already being felt across the iGaming industry, but also in others.
For sportsbooks, in-play betting is one such area for improvement. As the ‘smaller’ events in sports receive more emphasis and focus in pre- and post-match analysis, sportsbooks are offering the opportunity to bet on them. These ‘smaller’ events aren’t as predictable pre-game as results, goalscorers, etc. In football, it’ll be things like the next corner, the next throw-in, or the next shot that count as ‘smaller’ in-play events. 5G makes real-time betting much smoother.
For online casinos, live casino is the biggie. Live-streamed content will be much more viable with 5G. It should be noted that live casino preempts VR and AR implementation too – and that will become obvious when we define live casino soon. While much of the traffic coming to online casinos look for the classic online games like roulette, slots, and poker, live casino – which offers all of these games – has a growing market.
Did you know that you can actually communicate with live dealers at fully licensed online casinos? Find out more about what live dealers get up to as the action unfolds in a live dealer game right here.
What are live dealer casinos?
A live dealer casino is a licensed product available at almost every online casino. The games can generally only ever be accessed in the real money mode because they are simply too expensive for providers to run in the practice/free-play demo mode.
The action from most live dealer casinos today is streamed directly to your device from one of several licensed television studios around the world. In other words, live dealer games have been made specifically for online casinos, which means the general public usually cannot just walk in off the street and play.
They are the next best thing to playing at actual land-based casinos, except you don’t have to leave the house and can watch the action from a television, mobile, smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
It’s easy to see now how this preempts VR and AR technology. You can see players putting on a headset or glasses and being able to see and interact with a fully realised digital casino table.
What do live dealers do during live casino games?
Live dealers today at today’s best live casino platforms present the action to you as it unfolds. If you can remember back in the day when some television channels had late-night casino shows, it’s similar to this. Live dealers are also basically the same as the dealers you can find at land-based casinos around the world.
They deal cards, release the roulette ball around the roulette wheel, and perform many other dealer duties. You can also now find many TV game show-themed live dealer games, where live dealers do more than just shuffle/deal the cards. They entertain you in several other fun ways.
How to play live games
You can instantly launch live dealer games in your web browser without having to download software or programs onto your system. However, there’s also the option to download a mobile casino app onto your handheld device and then play live dealer games from within the app. It’s up to you.
Using the interactive live chat feature, you can chat with the live dealers in real-time, along with any other players that are watching/playing the same game.
You can also change the camera angles in many of the games, adjust the graphics quality, increase/decrease the volume, and so much more using the player controls.
Which online casino software providers have produced the best live dealer games?
There are now over 40 individual software providers that specialise in producing, maintaining, and supplying live dealer games to online casinos. Some of the most notable providers include the following trusted names:
- Playtech
- Evolution Gaming
- Pragmatic Play
Honourable mentions
Other notable providers that some of you may already be familiar with by now are Ezugi, OnAir Entertainment, Swintt, Vivo Gaming, Microgaming (at just a limited number of online casinos), and Visionary iGaming (ViG).
There’s also Portomaso Gaming, Betgames.tv, Opus Gaming, Authentic Gaming, Actual Gaming (formerly Vuetec), Entwine Tech, OneTouch, SuperSpade Games, PlayPearls, Gold Deluxe, and Amusnet Interactive, to name just a few.
Which are the best live dealer games to keep an eye out for?
Some of the most popular live dealer casino games with friendly, fun, and professionally trained live dealers are the following hit titles:
- MONOPOLY Live from Evolution Gaming
- Live PowerUp Roulette from Pragmatic Play
- Live Mega Sic Bo from Pragmatic Play
- The Money Drop Live from Playtech
- Live Casino Hold’em from Evolution Gaming
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire Live from Playtech
- Live Crazy Coin Flip from Evolution Gaming
- Everybody’s Jackpot Live from Playtech
- Live Immersive Roulette from Evolution Gaming
- Live Mega Fire Blaze Roulette from Playtech
There are hundreds more games to choose from, and in most games, you can play from as little as $/€/£0.10 to $/€/£0.50 per round/hand/spin up to as much as $/€/£1,000.00 or more, depending on the game.
Remember to learn the rules before playing any live dealer games, and always start by placing small wagers.
