What Are Live Dealer Slots and Should You Play Them?

1Main functionalities you will encounter when playing live slots

Live dealer slots come with a range of features designed to enhance interactivity, improve gameplay, and allow players to customize it to their preferences. Here are the main functionalities you will encounter when playing live slots. Many are unique to this subgenre, while others are also found in standard slots.

2The Bet Limits panel

The Bet Limits panel provides concise information about the minimum and maximum wagers you can place during the game. The limits may vary depending on your chosen bet type.

3The Paytable

The Paytable shows the winning criteria, the payouts for different bets, and the special features incorporated into the games, including scatter symbols, wilds, and free spins. Depending on the live slot, the paytable may also include information about the paylines on which players can form winning combinations.

4The Game History panel

The Game History panel lists the results of all rounds you have played, displaying your bets, wins, and losses.

5The Settings menu

The Settings menu allows you to tailor the gaming experience to your preferences. You can hide chat messages from other players and adjust the video stream quality, choosing from low, medium, high, or high-definition. Additionally, you can turn off game effects and studio sounds if you find them distracting.

6The Switch View

The Switch View feature lets you change the camera angle. In live dealer slots developed by Evolution Gaming you can choose from three options: 3D View, Classic View, and Immersive View.

7The Live Chat box

The Live Chat box allows players to interact with each other and with the live presenters hosting the games. The presenters are chatty and engaging, gladly responding to comments and addressing any questions. In most cases, players must add funds to their balance to use the chat feature.

8The Virtual Reality Mode

Virtual Reality Mode is exclusive to certain Evolution Gaming live dealer slots. It lets you fully immerse yourself in the game and enjoy a 360-degree experience, but you need a tracked controller and a VR headset. The feature works best with a broadband internet connection.

9The Autoplay feature

The Autoplay feature lets live slot players go through a set number of rounds automatically. Simply adjust your bet per spin and you are good to go. Players can usually configure the settings so that the feature deactivates after they trigger a bonus game or free spins.

10The Winners List

The Winners List shows the names of all players who won during the last round along with the payouts they pocketed. You can easily deactivate this feature from the game settings menu if you find it distracting.

1Rules of Play

The live version of Buffalo Blitz offers six reels, four rows, and a whopping 4,096 winning ways. Players start by choosing how many spins they want to play and selecting the amount they are willing to risk on those rounds. The six reels spin automatically during the main game. The live presenter initiates the free spins bonus by pressing an oversized red button positioned to the left of the massive reel grid.

Other than that, the live version plays exactly like the original Buffalo Blitz slot. Winning combinations must form from left to right, with matching symbols landing in any position on adjacent reels.

The buffalo the game is named after is the top-paying symbol, awarding 300x your bet for six of a kind. The other high-paying symbols you will encounter include the grizzly bear, moose, cougar, and raccoon. The low payers are represented by playing cards 9 through ace.

2Special Features

Similarly to the original, the live version has several special features, starting with the wild diamond that appears on reels 2 through 6. It substitutes for all other symbols except the scatter.

Two or more scatters landing simultaneously on the reels award a round of free spins initiated by the presenter. The number of bonus rounds depends on how many scatters trigger the feature. You can win additional free spins during the bonus.

During the bonus feature, the wild diamond can double, triple, or quintuple your winnings with randomly awarded multipliers.

3Theoretical Return to Player

Live Buffalo Blitz has a theoretical return of 95.96%, meaning that, over time, the game costs approximately four cents per dollar wagered. This return percentage matches that of the original slot.

1Rules of Play

The live edition of 9 Pots of Gold is straightforward in terms of gameplay and rules. You start by adjusting the number of spins you wish to play in a row and selecting a bet amount per single spin.

Your objective is to form winning symbol combinations on one or more of the twenty fixed paylines. The game uses a standard grid with five reels and three rows, the only difference being that it is hosted by a chatty live presenter. Winning combinations pay from left to right.

2Special Features and Theoretical Return

The pot symbols are scatters and can land on any of the five reels. Three or more pots reward players with cash prizes, with payouts multiplied by the stake. The amount you can collect depends on how many scattered pots land simultaneously.

A second scatter is included in the game to trigger the bonus free-spin wheel. The free spins scatter must appear concurrently on the second, third, and fourth reels to unlock the feature.

A wheel appears on the screen, and players must spin it to determine the number of free spins and the value of the win multipliers. The feature can be retriggered. A wild mushroom symbol is also featured in the live edition of the slot, which has an overall theoretical return of 96.24%.

1Rules of Play

Evolution Gaming has deviated from the original Gonzo slot, as the live host-led version features a giant wall containing seventy stones. Players aim to guess which stones on the wall contain hidden treasures.

Each person can select up to twenty picks per round. Six different types of stones are incorporated into the game, with payout values of 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 20x, and 65x. Stones of greater value are less likely to show up.

2Prize Drop and Re-Drop Features

The software shuffles the seventy stones on the wall, but prize values remain hidden. Players must select stones before the built-in timer runs out and can make as many picks as they have originally selected. The animated Gonzo then turns a key to trigger the Prize Drop feature, whereby bonus prize values ranging from 3 to 100 appear on top of the wall.

The prize values fall, stopping at random stones and increasing the prizes hidden under them. Multipliers can further boost the potential winnings two to ten times. Additionally, there is a Re-Drop symbol that can activate a new Prize Drop, making it possible for the same stone to receive multiple bonus prizes and multipliers.

The stones’ values are revealed at the end of the round so that all players can see the results of the treasure hunt. The bonus values are then added to the standard payouts of the stones and another round commences. A single stone may receive a maximum boost of 20,000x during the Prize Drop phase of the game.

3Payouts and Theoretical Return

The live adaptation of NetEnt’s classic slot is definitely worth checking out, as the maximum payout you can pocket in a single round reaches a whopping one million dollars or the currency equivalent. The standard payouts depend on the types of stones you have decided to bet on. The rarer a stone is, the more it pays, as you can see in the paytable below.

The theoretical return percentages vary depending on the stone type you decide to hunt for, as you can see below. When played optimally, the live edition can produce a theoretical return of up to 96.56%. It is safe to say the live version outperforms the original in terms of long-term winning potential since the standard slot yields an RTP of only 95.97%.

• Gray Stone (1x) – 96.42% RTP
• Yellow Stone (2x) – 96.51% RTP
• Purple Stone (4x) – 96.35% RTP
• Green Stone (8x) – 96.56% RTP
• Blue Stone (20x) – 96.55% RTP
• Red Stone (65x) – 96.52% RTP