The online casino industry is a multi-billion dollar business and operators have spared no expense to make it as close as possible to the experience of playing in so-called bricks and mortar casinos. One of the ways they have achieved this is by providing live dealer gaming. The games are streamed in high definition and players can chat with the croupier or dealer as they play. It’s a very exciting addition to online gambling and provides that real-life experience many gamers crave.
Most live dealers are trained in a similar way to their counterparts found at traditional casinos. A minimum of two years of experience is required in order to qualify to work as a live dealer and the training is rigorous. A good deal of time is also spent learning the nuances of each game and dealing with the customers in order to provide a positive and professional experience. A good online casino will have multiple cameras and a special device called a Game Control Unit (GCU) which is responsible for encoding the video feed. This device isn’t any bigger than a shoebox and is located in the same room as the croupier or dealer.
Once the player has logged in to their casino of choice, they can select the game they wish to play and begin placing bets. Bets will be processed until a ‘no more bets’ announcement is made. This prevents players from clicking the betting buttons while a spin of the roulette wheel, for example, is in progress and the results will be displayed to the player in a matter of seconds.
There are numerous games to choose from and each site has different offerings, based on the software providers that power their studios. Some software developers offer the option to license their games to online casinos who then tailor them further. Others own and operate their own live casino studios. Those studios can be found in countries such as Malta, Spain, Latvia, Costa Rica and the Philippines.
All live casino games are broadcast in HD and players can interact with the croupier or dealer as the game plays out. There are several options that can be selected depending on the game, and players can even use a microphone to communicate with the dealer and other players. Some games are played with the dealer sitting directly in front of the player while others are dealt from a separate table.
While some live casino games are suited to desktop computers, most can be accessed on mobile devices too. It is important to do some research on the games available on a particular live casino website and which ones are the most suitable for mobile devices. This will naturally depend on a number of factors, but a good place to start is by looking at the site’s reputation and the number of games they have available. Once this has been done, it should be fairly straightforward to find a mobile friendly live casino that offers all the features you need.