Online casinos are getting more popular as the time goes by; this is not a surprise if you consider that you can get all the amazing experiences from a casino: their games and the thrill of betting and winning money on the process, while you stay safe at home.
You could even say that online gambling is offering even more benefits than landline casinos in terms of having bonuses and promotions, more games that can be updated indefinitely, the possibility of having tournaments daily, weekly or monthly and VIP and loyalty rewards programs that will give your wallet a pretty decent boost while you play.
Live Dealer Casino Bonuses
Just a quick note on live dealer casino bonuses. These are somewhat rare as most casinos restrict all types of table games for new players. That said doesn’t mean you can’t find live blackjack bonuses for example.
Additionally to the possibility of having almost infinite games inside a website, online casinos have also implemented a variation of online games called “live dealer games” and, as it name implies, these are games where you can challenge a live dealer in order to not just compete against a machine as you would normally do on any other regular game.
These games work via live streams and are hosted by real life dealers contracted by the casino. So, you can even play against a real person (or persons as other players could join too, depending on the game) without even going to a real casino anymore. If you want to experience a real casino atmosphere without leaving your home and driving all the way to the casino, live dealer games are the best option for you.
Live casino games have differences with the standard virtual games that we use every day, even if the rules of the games are the same, you will see some changes like:
- The game will be streamed from either a land-based studio or a casino.
- A human dealer will work at the table.
- You can communicate with the dealer or the other players (if any) via chat box.
- Real tables are used on these games.
- Real cards and other equipment gears like, for example: a roulette wheel can be used.
Available live dealer casino games
There are a lot of online casino games that have made it to the live dealer section, and it is all due to popularity and market demand, and of course, some games are better on a live version than on a video version alone.
Many casinos offer a lot of variations for the same games, but the most usual kind of games that you will find are the ones on the list below:
- Live Blackjack (including its European and American versions)
- Live Roulette
- Live Baccarat
- Live Poker (including the Texas Hold’em and the Caribbean versions)
- Live Dream Catcher
- Live Monopoly
- Live Deal or no Deal
Even if you can find other live games like Bingo, Sic Bo or Dice the ones mentioned above are the most common ones and the most likely that you will find on most casinos live dealer section. Screenshot above is from King Billy casino.
Live dealer casino games: software
Apart from the casino’s streaming platform used to provide the interaction between dealer and the player/s, that is most of the time provided by a third party company that also develops the game itself like: Playtech, Microgaming, Evolution Gaming, Real Time Gaming and many others, and of course, the live chat that allows you to communicate in case that you need any kind assistance; live dealer online casino games uses a software called “Optical Character Recognition” or OCR that allows the physical transactions made by the dealer to be translated into data that is later used by the software to show the real casino experience without the player even noticing it.
The best part of online live dealer games is that the results are determined by a human component instead of a machine using random number generator (RNG) software. This represents a relive for some skeptical players that don’t have much trust on machines or RNG, because honestly, you are playing against something that you “can see” and not just an online game with a machine controlling it, even if games inside a casino have proven their fairness, there are a lot of online players that simply don’t trust them at all.
A few popular live dealer casino softwares include
Why are live dealer casino games so popular nowadays?
There are a lot of reasons why live dealer casino games are so popular on the gambling world. Besides providing an experience that is very close to any landline casino, the fact that these games are compatible with any mobile device, have a better compatibility with the internet connection and the pc/mobile technologies, offer improved chat options to have better communications with the players and the dealer, add more functions to the games and also have lowest stakes compared to landline casinos are some of the reasons behind live games popularity.
Pros and Cons about live dealer casino games
Now that you know the basic of how these games work, you should also know that there are pros and cons about playing this games like the ones we will show below:
Pros:
Online Casinos and “Brick and Mortar” Casinos have almost the same payback
Contrary to most people beliefs, online casinos can be actually a little more fair in terms of paybacks and RTPs (return to player), on the case of landline casinos, whenever they add a new game, for example a slot machine, they can change or ask the company to change the percentage of RTP that comes with the game, so, you could easily find the same game on different casinos where one pays more often than the other.
On the case of online casinos, whenever you find a game, regardless of the casino that you are playing in, you will find that the game offers the same RTP on every casino; this is due to the strict regulations and test to make online gambling safe and fair.
Online live dealer games offer welcome bonuses and promotions
As it is normal amongst online casinos, offering bonuses and promotions are the best way to attract and retain players to the casino, so, being live games as popular as they are, you can expect to get many bonuses and promotions for specific online live dealer games, also, some casinos just let you take a bonus so that you can expend it on any live dealer game of your preference.
Look for the best bonuses in order to take the most advantage of any online casino live dealer game, also, you can even find VIP programs or Loyalty Rewards programs that include bonuses that match up with live dealer games. Make sure to always check the casino’s terms and conditions or the bonus terms and conditions first.
Real Casino Feel
Every day online casinos are looking for better ways to improve their player’s online gambling experience, so, in order to accomplish this task; they would try by any means to provide the most realistic environment and atmosphere possible.
Fairness included
Even if there is still a lot of debate if online gambling is fair or not, this doubts get vanished away when you have a live dealer on a live stream with a no interrupted feed; if this does not take the doubts of whether as the game was fair or not, then nothing can.
Cons
Bigger stakes = Bigger losses
When we mentioned that online casinos want to recreate a real casino on the online world, we also referred to the risks that these kinds of games represent to your budget. As you would see when you enter a live dealer game, the minimum bets required would be higher than a regular online casino game and they could even match a real life game.
As their real live versions, online casino games bring to the table the chance of winning a lot of money fast and the chance of losing a lot of money just as fast.
Less social interaction
Even if online casinos are implementing more options for the players to socialize, the reality is that the social interaction part can be put aside in most online games, because let’s be honest with ourselves, you cannot expect to have the exact same experience on a landline casino where you have to go there, sit on a table and play or even chat with other players and the dealer when you are inside your home playing at an online casino.
The best part is that not everything is lots, you can interact with the dealer or even other players via chat (if available) but of course, you won’t be able to play by facing players face to face.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Live dealer casino games are very popular right now, and they gain more and more popularity every day, because of this, almost every online casino out there offers these kinds of games as they can offer a way for players to experience a real life casino inside the comfort of their home. Additionally these games are also liked because they offer the thrill of playing against a live dealer and not just an ordinary machine with some flashy colors.
There are even some casinos, like for example: Global Live Casino that is dedicated exclusively to offer the best live dealer casino games, so if you want to try any live game that is an excellent place to start.
To conclude this article we will now present you a list of what we consider are the top 10 online casino that offer live dealer games. The following list does not represent any hierarchical order:
