What Are Live Dealer Slots and Should You Play Them?

1Main functionalities you will encounter when playing live slots

Live dealer slots are equipped with various great features whose primary purpose is to boost the level of interactivity, improve the gameplay, and allow players to customize it based on their personal preferences. Here are the main functionalities you will encounter when playing live slots. Many of them are unique to this subgenre, while others are available in standard slots as well.

2The Bet Limits panel

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

3The Paytable

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

4The Game History panel

The Game History panel shows 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 individual preferences. You usually have the option to hide the chat messages of fellow players and adjust the settings of the video stream, having a choice from low, medium, high, and high-definition quality. Additionally, you can turn off the game effects and studio sounds if you find them distracting.

6The Switch View

The Switch View feature enables you to change the camera view. This function is available in live dealer slots developed by Evolution Gaming where you can choose from the following three options – 3D View, Classic View, and Immersive View.

7The Live Chat box

The Live Chat box is where players can interact with each other as well as with the live presenters hosting the games. The presenters are very chatty and engaging. They gladly respond to comments and are happy to address any questions players might have. In most cases, players must add some funds to their balance to be able to chat, though.

8The Virtual Reality Mode

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

9The Autoplay feature

The Autoplay feature enables live slot players to go through a specific number of rounds without having to do anything. You simply adjust your bet per spin and you are good to go. Players can usually tackle the settings so that the feature deactivates after they trigger the bonus game or free spins.

10The Winners List

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

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 go through 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 as the original Buffalo Blitz slot. Winning combinations must form from left to right, with the matching symbols landing in any position on adjacent reels.

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

2Special Features

Similarly to the original, the live version has several special features to offer, starting with the wild diamond that appears on reels 2 through 6. It substitutes all other symbols except for 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 the number of the triggering scatters. It is possible to trigger more free spins during the feature.

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

3Theoretical Return to Player

Live Buffalo Blitz comes with a theoretical return of 95.96%, which is to say playing the game will cost approximately four cents per every dollar wagered. The return percentage coincides with that of the original version of the slot.

1Rules of Play

The live edition of 9 Pots of Gold is pretty 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 it is hosted by a chatty live presenter. Winning combinations pay from left to right.

2Special Features and Theoretical Return

The pot symbols are scattered and can land on any of the five reels. Three or more pots reward players with cash prizes, with the payouts being multiplied by the winning wager. The amount you can potentially collect depends on the number of scattered pots you 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 special feature.

A wheel appears on the screen and players must spin it to determine the number of their free spins and the value of their win multipliers. Retriggering the feature is possible. 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. The objective of players is to try and 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 will appear on top of the wall.

The prize values fall down, 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 most definitely worth checking out as the maximum payout you can pocket per single round reaches a whopping one million dollars or the currency equivalent. The standard payouts players can pocket depend on the type of stones they 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. With that in mind, the live edition is capable of producing optimal 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 95.97% only.

• 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