How Live Casinos Operate

Live casinos are one of the latest improvements in the online gaming industry, giving players the chance to enjoy a life-like gambling experience from the comfort of their surroundings. All the action is streamed in real-timeis, ensuring a truly unique experience for online gambling buffs. Live games facilitate interaction, allowing you to socialize with the dealers and other players just like you would normally do in a real landbased casino.

Those of you who are new to live gaming may find the following article by SuperCasinoSites useful. We explain how live casinos operate, giving readers a glimpse inside the live dealer studio and the technology behind it. Also covered extensively are many of the key features readers will find in live casino games along with a detailed description of the gaming interface.

How Live Casinos Operate in a Nutshell

Live CasinosA live dealer casino can be described as a hybrid between conventional online casinos (i.e. those that run on Random Number Generators) and traditional brick-and-mortar casinos. It borrows several tangible aspects of landbased gaming venues, such as the professionally trained human dealers and standard table equipment including card decks, plastic cut cards, card shufflers, roulette wheels, balls, and dice.

The difference here lies in the delivery mechanism. High-end streaming technology and web cameras are utilized to remotely deliver the live action to the screens of players’ smartphones or desktop computers.

The concept behind live games is rather simple – a professionally trained dealer is sitting somewhere in a dedicated gaming studio or an actual landbased casino, dealing or hosting the games in front of a state-of-the-art video camera.

Said camera (or shall we say cameras as many of those are typically used) streams all that is happening at the table to a linked interface that enables the player to observe the action and post wagers accordingly.

Gaming platform providers develop, distribute and license their live software to third-party licensee casinos where players can register and fund their accounts to gain access to the live-dealer tables. Some of these platform providers specialize exclusively in the development of live casino software while others create both RNG and live games.

The Live Casino Interface

1Main Video Stream

The main video stream gives players a real-time glimpse into the live games as they are being conducted. It occupies most of the screen space, showing how the dealers shuffle the decks, deal the cards, and spin the roulette wheels.

The main gaming controls are usually positioned under the video screen allowing you to post bets and indicate your playing decisions. The quality of the video stream is often automatically adjusted although players normally have the option to manually customize it according to their individual system and connectivity specifications.

2Betting Timer

The betting timer is important because, in lived-streamed games, you usually have a limited time to post your bets before the next round of play commences. Some live tables like Playtech’s Speed Roulette have incredibly short betting times, with players having only 11 seconds before the next round starts.

The betting timer informs you about the current status of a given game round by showing you when bets are accepted, how much time you have left, and when the table is no longer open for wagering.

3Bet Limits Panel

The Bet Limits panel indicates the minimum and maximum amounts players are permitted to bet at each table. This is important because often the same type of game is available with different table limits to accommodate a broader range of player budgets.

Note that in some games like live roulette, for example, the allowed minimums and maximums also differ between the different categories of supported wagers. You need to hover your cursor over the table limits to reveal all minimums and maximums for the respective table. In some cases, you have the option to pin this information on top of the main video screen.

4Virtual Table Layout

The virtual table layout is where you post the chips for your wagers. In card games like live blackjack, the layout is usually rather clean as it only features the betting spots where chips are posted along with the current totals of your hands. Live games like roulette, on the other hand, have more cluttered virtual layouts because they contain the table layouts for inside and outside wagers along with a racetrack for the call bets.

5Virtual Chip Display

The virtual chip display enables players to select the value of the chips they want to wager on the layout. Your current balance and the value of your total bet(s) are displayed in the screen’s corner. Some platforms, like the one created by Evolution Gaming, only display chip denominations covered by your current balance. If you presently only have $250 in your real-money balance, the $500 and $1,000 chips will be deactivated until you refund your account.

The Technology behind Live Dealer Games

Live casino games are more technologically challenging, not to mention costlier than their RNG-based counterparts. Operational costs are significantly higher which explains why such games are rarely available for free play.

This is understandable considering everything, from the lightning and the environment to the functionality, has to be pitch-perfect to ensure a highly authentic gaming experience. Now, let’s see what technology makes live casinos tick.

High-End Cameras
Game Control Unit (GCU) and Dealer Monitors
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology
Servers and Security Systems
Table Equipment
Types of Live Casino Streams

Key Live Casino Features

Live dealer games are packed with additional features that aim at further increasing the authenticity of the gameplay. Some of these extra functionalities facilitate interaction while others enable players to better track their results or tailor the gameplay to their preferences.

Chat Facility
Table Customization
History
Favorite Bets
Autoplay
Statistics Panel
Multi-Tabling
Tipping The Dealers
Mobile Play

Live Casino Gameplay

1Choosing a Table

Choosing a table in the lobby is the first step you must go through. Your choice should be based on your bankroll and the bet sizing you feel comfortable with. The last thing you should do is overbet your live casino bankroll as this could quickly leave you with a depleted balance.

The good news is table limits are usually flexible enough to accommodate all budgets. The table limits are displayed in the thumbnail of each game. Once you make a pick, click on your chosen game’s thumbnail and then on the “Sit Here” button to take a seat. Your preferred screen name will appear directly beneath your seat. Games like live roulette can accommodate an unlimited number of players.

2Adjusting The Video Quality

Adjusting the video quality may be necessary if your Internet connection is not on par with the platform’s recommended requirements. As a rule of thumb, any connection under 500 kbps will cause you to experience lags or interruptions. The stream’s quality is often adjusted automatically but you have the option to change it yourself if you happen to experience any lags. In the main, you have a choice from low, medium, and HD quality.

3Adjusting Your Bet Size

The next step is adjusting your bet size. You can choose from different chip values and combine them to adjust your wager. The most commonly available denominations include 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, and 1,000 units in the respective supported currency. Keep in mind larger denominations are disabled when your balance is insufficient and cannot cover them.

4Posting Bets

Posting bets is made easy thanks to the intuitive interface most live casino platforms offer. Click on your preferred denomination to select it and then post your chips in your corresponding betting box on the virtual layout. Click repeatedly to increase your bet by the value of your selected chip denomination.

For example, if you use the $5 denomination, you can wager $15 with three clicks. Remember you have a limited time to post your wagers in between rounds. Keep track of the timer that shows you how much time you have left until the table closes for betting.

5Doubling Your Bets

Doubling your bets becomes available after you have posted at least one wager previously. It usually reads “2x” so it is easy to spot. It works to the advantage of progressive bettors as it automatically doubles their last wager. Each consecutive click or tap doubles all wagers on the table up to the maximum limit. Of course, you need to have a sufficient real-money balance for this purpose.

6Repeat the Bet

Willing to repeat the bet you made during the previous round? You can do it without stacking your chips in the betting box manually. The Repeat Bet button allows you to do just that and is particularly useful whenever you have posted multiple wagers during the last round, as commonly occurs in games like Sic Bo and roulette. This function gets deactivated if you place a chip manually, though. It is very handy from the perspective of flat bettors and system players.

7Bet Settling

Bet settling is performed automatically by the live casino software after the end of each round. Of course, the dealer would verbally announce the result and congratulate the winners. The software would automatically deduct the sum you have lost from your balance or credit your winnings if the round was successful for you.


Ask a Question. Get an Answer.

Have a question about this topic? Ask an expert at info@supercasinosites.com

Find the answers of questions people asked so far:

Dan Debra

Do Live Casino table games also have pit bosses and what is their function?

Asked by: Debra | Asked on: 2023-06-18
Answered by: Dan | Answered on: 2023-06-18

You may be surprised to know that live-dealer casino games also have pit bosses. The reason why you may not know about their existence is that they cannot be seen as they usually stay outside the area where players can see the dealer and the table’s layout. The pit boss can be called whenever there is an issue with the live-dealer game. Players can also ask for the pit boss but there are specific instances when this is possible, and being unlucky is not one of them. If the dealer makes a mistake, he/she will call out the pit boss immediately, but if players are quicker to spot a mistake they can also request the pit boss’ intervenience. The pit boss is also the one to call when you are experiencing technical issues such as being unable to sit on a table, placing a bet, or being timed out of a game while you were actively playing.

Dan Michael

If my betting choices on Live Casino games are made independently from other players’ decisions, how do games correctly show the result for my particular bet?

Asked by: Michael | Asked on: 2023-08-06
Answered by: Dan | Answered on: 2023-08-07

Live Casino studios use various technologies that allow them to make the gaming experience for every player unique and personal. While you play live roulette, live baccarat, live game show, or any other type of live-dealer game with other fellow players, you will see only the result that corresponds to your personal betting choice.

For instance, if you play live roulette, the dealer will spin the wheel and the ball will eventually fall into a socket, with the result of the game being the same for all players who have joined the live roulette session. However, whether this result will be a win or loss for you depends on the bet that you have placed before the dealer spun the wheel. Thanks to RFID sensors, the ball’s movement is recorded and the data is saved in a database. The result is then cross-referenced with your choice of bets and any payout or loss is distributed accordingly.

If you play live slots you may often see that while a bonus feature may be triggered, you will play the bonus round only if you have made the correct choice, which has triggered the bonus game. Often, you may need to wait for free spins or other bonus rounds to be complete until you can play the live slot again.

It is not unusual that the host of the live game show knows there has been a multiplier bonus game activated but he/she does not see the exact number of the multiplier as it may be different for every player who has joined the game. That said, thanks to the technology used in the game, what you see on the screen will correspond to your bets. Even if this sounds confusing, as soon as you start playing live games and shows, you will notice how easy it is to keep track of your wins and losses.

Dan Bruce

Are all live games of the same software provider streamed from the same Live Casino Studio?

Asked by: Bruce | Asked on: 2023-09-27
Answered by: Dan | Answered on: 2023-09-28

Not necessarily. Some smaller software providers may have fewer Live Casino Studios which are used for the streaming of their live-dealer solutions. However, major providers have multiple studios across the globe. That means they can cater to more markets, reaching players residing in different parts of the world. Take for example Evolution Gaming, which hosts a large number of studios located across several countries in Europe, as well as in Canada and a few states in the US.

With so many different Live Casino studios, big companies can offer numerous table games, game shows, live slots, and various exciting live games. What is more, certain studios have tables dedicated to foreigners, with dealers speaking different languages to contribute to a smooth gaming experience for various players. In addition to multiple Live Casino Studios, some providers also stream their games from real land-based casinos, broadcasting roulette, blackjack, and other table games from popular casino floors.