In recent times, when one says casino and casino games, a lot of people think of online casinos first. Online casinos have been gaining popularity and undoubtedly are taking over conventional brick and mortar casinos. Convenience is one of the crucial aspects of online casinos’ appeal to players. You don’t have to leave your home and now online casinos are available as mobile apps as well. Couldn’t get simpler than that! But here we are talking of a special aspect of online casinos- live casinos. This website is fully dedicated to live casinos and here you can read all about live casinos- what games are there, are there any special bonuses for players and which live casinos are the best ones.
The Best Live Games:
- Roulette
- Blackjack
- Baccarat
- Casino Hold‘em
- Three Card Poker
The Appeal of Live Casinos
The emergence of live online casinos definitely attracted a lot of players who were otherwise attached to conventional casinos. The reason is obvious. Online live casinos give you the real, traditional casino experience in the comfort of your own home. You get to see the dealer in real time, then place bets and interact, either directly or indirectly with other players, just like you would in a regular casino. You can hear the words of the croupier or dealer, see the card or the roulette table spin, it just can’t be more realistic.
And if that’s not enough, the casinos just make sure that everything is up to the highest standards by hiring the most best looking, fun and professional dealers who make the whole casino experience for the players.
Another Reason for their Popularity
When the online casinos appeared for the first time, there were doubts among the players, especially when it comes to games such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat, basically almost every casino game. People feared whether the games are fair or not. And regardless of the fact that all reliable and well-known casinos guaranteed the fairness and randomness of each game and this fact was testified by independent testing companies, the doubts persisted among some players. Rest assured, if the online casino has a certificate issued by an independent company and has a valid license, the games are fair and safe by all means.
With the live casino games there are no such worries. You can see the wheel of the roulette spin with your very eyes, you can see the dealer drawing the cards, basically everything is just like it should be and there isn’t even a weak reason to doubt fairness and randomness of each game. In fact, many online casinos offer even better conditions compared to traditional casinos.
What games are available Live?
What sort of casino games may be played live, you may wonder. Well, practically, any game that is played with a live dealer or a croupier in a traditional casino can be played live online as well. As you probably assumed, this excludes the fruities. Most live casinos offer classic games such as blackjack, baccarat and roulette, some even more than one version. Thus, you may find live European and American roulette, Pontoon and Caribbean 21 and many others. Other games like Hold‘em Poker and 3 Card Poker may be also available.
The technical advancements in online casino gaming allows you an amazing experience and you’ll be allowed to bet at more than one table at a time, even play two or more different games at the same time. However, it would be wise to get the hang of it first before you move on to betting at large.
Live Casinos offer immense Opportunities
It wasn’t long before online casino providers saw the growth potential of live casinos. It was clear even for the inexperienced that this would be the future of online casinos and not just when it comes to classic casino games. With the streaming options allowing for players from all over the world participate at the same time and the reduced costs, lottery went online too. Even games like Keno and Bingo are now available live online. Now everybody can enjoy playing their favourite game live online.
Why Live Games of so many Casinos look the same?
This logical question was and will be posed by a lot of players who have already played live casino games at several online casinos or are going to do that in future. Somehow, no matter what online casino are you playing at, the same dealers and croupiers and the same environment appear. Well, there is no secret here and the reason is quite straightforward. Online casinos can’t afford to operate live casino studios. The costs are huge, space needs to be rented, then the salaries of the croupiers/dealers and the camera crew, it would simply cost too much. That’s why there are companies which are dealing with streaming games and then they rent them out to online casinos. This shouldn’t worry you. Even if it is the same game, different casinos may offer different bonuses for certain games. Besides, the number of studios that are being rented out to casinos keeps increasing and the streaming quality is getting better and better.
The Best Four Live Casino Providers
We would like to present the four best live casino providers at the moment. These companies work with the top online casinos and provide the best services. We have also selected two up and coming providers that are expected to get huge in the upcoming period.
Evolution Gaming
Evolution Gaming is currently the market leader in providing live casino services to online casinos worldwide. The company has offices in Latvia, Malta, the United Kingdom and Sweden. and they currently employ more than 1750 people, most of them in Latvia. 83% of their employees work in Gaming operations.
Evolution Gaming currently offers live roulette, live blackjack, live baccarat, live three card poker and live casino hold‘em. The next game to be included in their offer is live Caribbean stud poker. The list of roulette games includes 8 variants, such as Immersive roulette and Immersive Lite, as well classics such as European and French Roulette. There are 5 blackjack variants and two versions of baccarat.
Evolution Gaming has won the EGR Live Casino Software Supplier Of The Year for five years in a row and the team behind all this clearly has no intentions of stopping. Another thing that Evolution Gaming is involved is the Live Casino TV Steam.
Playtech
Playtech, one of the leading companies when it comes to online gaming software in general, has advanced in the live sector as well. Playtech works with leading European and Asian sites, with a live platform that offers a genuinely authentic experience.
The selection of games includes blackjack, roulette and baccarat, and a number of innovative new variants such as Double Screen Roulette and Unlimited Blackjack. One of the top things in Playtech’s offer is the VIP area, also known as The Ruby Room. The Ruby Room is a real mecca for players with a larger payroll.
Microgaming
Microgaming is one of the oldest players in the industry and since 2006 the company launched its first live casino. Microgaming cooperates with Evolution Gaming which is the leading company in this industry. This cooperation can only benefit both companies. Microgaming offers roulette, baccarat, blackjack and casino hold‘em. There’s no need for players to download anything, the games are browser based.
In 2013 Microgaming launched its Playboy Live Casino. Now, this casino includes all the games that have been developed by Microgaming previously, but all the ladies working there are dressed as Playboy bunnies, which made this casino an instant hit, particularly among the male audience.
Net Entertainment
Net Entertainment offers a unique bonus program for its live casino and it can boast that its live casino is perfectly integrated in the Casino module. Common draw blackjack with unlimited sitting is the live casino game which is Net Entertainment’s unique trademark. All the casinos that feature Net Entertainment’s live casino can confirm that the streaming is of top-notch HD quality.
MediaLive Casino – The Maltese rising Star
MediaLive is a company dedicated almost solely to providing live games for casinos worldwide. The company is based in Malta and started working in 2005. In the recent years their live games became quite popular and they now have 27 international customers and are licensed by 6 national regulatory bodies. Currently MediaLive offers live roulette, blackjack and baccarat, but other games such as Texas Hold‘em, Sic Bo and Pai Gow may be developed in the future.
Actual Gaming – the Irish Stream
A Dublin based company, Actual Gaming has truly revolutionised the live casino experience. They too offer live gaming to online casinos, with one difference. Unlike other online casinos which do the streaming from studios that mimic traditional casinos, Actual Gaming provides streaming from actual casinos, hence the name. Despite the fact that they started their more significant operations in 2013, Actual Gaming managed to build a respectable name for themselves fairly quickly and the future surely holds great things in story for this company.
What about Customer Support?
In casinos, online and traditional alike, certain issues may appear, and then the customer, i.e. you may need to seek assistance from the personnel. Live casinos provide a direct chat link between the player and the dealer/croupier. So if you have any game-related issues you may address the dealer right away. If the issue is something that can’t be handled by the dealer directly, the company that provided the service has additional staff that might be able to help you.
We already mentioned that live casinos services are provided by third parties. The people on site are employed by the provider and not by the casino through which you access the live casino. Thus, if you have any issues concerning stuff that are handled by the casino, you would be encouraged to address the casino in question, via their customer support section, either directly by filling in an online form, or by email, phone or Skype.
Live Casino Bonuses
The bonus offers and promotions are one of the most effective ways in which online casinos attract new customers and keep their current customers. The range of bonus offers is really vast. The most common is welcome bonus or a first deposit bonus, and some casinos go a step further and offer both bonuses. But many casinos decide to go further and offer special bonuses for every day of the week, bonuses that are valid for a certain amount of time, or bonuses for particular games. The live games are no exception and you’ll find that many casinos have particular live casinos bonuses that are designed to promote the games.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that some casinos don’t include the live casino games in the list of games that contribute to the wagering requirements. It could be that you have won a £100 no deposit bonus and you have to wager 25 times the bonus amount before you can claim any of the winnings. If games aren’t included on the list of games, then no percentage of the amount wagered on games will be counted against the wagering requirement. Some casinos do include live games, but they usually give them smaller percentages than compared to non-live games.
Live Casino Apps
Getting players to move from traditional casinos to online casinos was the first step. Nowadays a lot of people, especially those of the younger generations, use their portable devices more than they use their PCs. Online casinos saw this and they started offering apps that allow people to play online casino games on their portable devices.
And this, of course, applies to live casino games as well. Most casinos would include at least some of their live games, most notably roulette and blackjack. It should be noted that usually these games are available solely on iOS and Android devices.
Other Functions of Live Casinos
Some critics often say that no matter how realistic online casinos are, even with the live online casino, they can never be as ‘real’ as brick and mortar casinos. After all in traditional casinos one can have a drink, listen to bands playing live and meet and chat with other players. This, they claim, is not the case with online casinos.
You shouldn’t jump to conclusions though. Yes, there are some aspects in which any online casino is clearly different than a traditional casino. But now, many live online casinos give their players an option to chat with each other via a direct chat channel. And this is very convenient, especially for people who are otherwise shy in person.
A short Presentation of the Top Five Live Casinos
And finally, at the end of this article, we present you the top five live online casinos, according to our findings. Here they are:
BetVictor
BetVictor is one of the very few casinos that operate their own live studio. That fact alone testifies to the reputation of BetVictor among the live-gaming community. The company has a long standing tradition and offers a great selection of games and lucrative bonus offers. The company is based in Gibraltar and holds a license issued by the UK authorities.
888Casino
888 is one of the most popular online casinos with a long tradition and a large number of fans. Their live games are of top quality, powered by Evolution Gaming. 888 Casino was established in 1997 and has received a number of prestigious awards over the years, including the 2015 Best Casino Operator, awarded by Gaming Intelligence, the GGA Best Digital Operator Award for 2014 and the 2013 EGR Best Casino Award.
Bet365 Casino
Bet365 is one of the most renowned bookmakers in the UK and beyond, but their online live casino is of high quality as well. Bet365 live casino is powered Playtech and their offer includes not only classics such as roulette and blackjack, but also games like Hi-Lo and Sic Bo. Bet365 has both European and Asian dealers.
Eurogrand Casino
Eurogrand Casino was established in 2006. Their live games are also powered by Playtech, but they don’t have Asian dealers. Their offer of live games includes: poker, roulette, blackjack and baccarat. Eurogrand is part of the William Hill Group.
Lucky Live Casino
Lucky Live, as the name suggests, is dedicated to live games online. The thing that separates Lucky Live from other online casinos is the fact that their games are streamed from an actual casino. The casino in question is the Fitzwilliam Casino, located in Dublin, Ireland.