Online casinos have come an awfully long way since their first tentative steps in the 1990s.
The reasons for this are several – the legal status of gaming is gradually settling down, the Eurozone has grown though not without serious problems, social media has spread awareness and the industry regulates itself much better than was earlier the case…
But perhaps the biggest single factor is the very one which gave rise to the sector as distinct from traditional gaming - in other words the exponential leaps and bounds that have been made in the technological sphere.
Here at Casino Daily News we’re accustomed to bringing you all the best offers from the online casino world.
Whereas the early online casinos of the mid-1990s were pretty simple affairs, with primarily table games, the online gaming sector moved with the times seeing sophisticated slots, poker rooms and the like, followed by the rise of mobile gaming, as the smartphone and tablet revolution continued apace.
Whilst that onwards and upwards curve looks set to continue, this is not the place for making predictions - instead let’s focus on one particular niche which the advance of technology has facilitated – namely live casinos.
Really what we mean by that is live dealer casinos, which as their name suggest are not only played in real time but also boast a human being behind it all, or rather, in front of the camera.
Yes, in case you didn’t know, an online live casino is exactly that – if you prefer some human interaction or even if your location or situation prevents you from making it to a land based betting house, most of the major reputable players in the game will provide a section on their site where you can play with a live dealer.
A couple of things we need to clarify: casino games live are wholly based around those table games where you could expect to have a live dealer.
In other words, slots will not have a live dealer, at least not with the current state of play – we can’t promise that when you come to play live casino online in the future, there won’t be a kind of live dealer slots game available, that’s part of what keeps this industry exciting!
But are there any details I need to know about the live online casino as it is now, so I can be forearmed, so to speak?
Live casino games require a lot of bleeding edge technology to be any good. As noted about this is partly why they didn’t emerge until relatively recently. The cameras have to be good, clear and in real time, offering you confidence in the sound and visual aspects to provide an experience as close to the ‘real thing’ as possible without needing to leave the comfort of your home (or wherever you are when playing!).
All of this technology costs of course, which is why a live dealer casino will normally be aimed at ‘high rollers’, ie. the stakes will be higher to justify the cost. No 20 cent minimum stakes here!
That’s why the table games at a live online casino will be games that traditionally attract high rollers, like Roulette and Baccarat, plus the fact that these games would normally have a dealer in the face-to-face version as well, of course.
This brings us on to another added cost with live dealer casinos – since the dealers themselves are real human beings, they obviously are unlikely to ply their trade for free and since it’s harder to tip a dealer in the way that etiquette dictates you should in the real-world casino, it seems likely that their pay rates should be competitive with those of a regular dealer.
Certainly the dealers you will ‘meet’ in the world of live casino online will be experienced in their craft.
There are other associated personnel too: pit bosses (essentially managers of the dealers who are on hand to ensure everything is carried out correctly and to quickly solve and arbitrate in the case of any disputes) and technical and administrative personnel also need to be paid, adding to the larger investment that a live dealer section entails.
Please note that another subsection of live dealer casinos is the live Poker room that many online gambling sites will offer. This is slightly different from the above in that you are playing against other players and not just the house, and with the added complication here, live Poker rooms are somewhat less common than the live dealer components for table games against the house.
So that’s your introduction to the live casino online – do bear in mind it might not be the best introduction for the newcomer for the reasons noted as regards stakes, but once you have gained experience in the lower stakes table games and/or need a break from slots, why not head over to one of the many live dealer sections of the sites we recommend!
