It was over two decades ago when casinos have made the big leap – they have found their way online thanks to a developer called Microgaming. At first these new online gaming venues had just a handful of games – about 18, according to various sources – but the number of games has grown a lot since then. Slowly at first, but later it exploded, with more and more developers entering the lucrative industry. But something was still amiss. There was something online casinos could not offer their players. And that was interaction with a person.
For a long time there was nothing casinos could do about this. Only in the last few years did the internet gain enough speed and bandwidth, and the video streaming technologies develop enough to lead to the development of a new breed of casino games, that players could play against a live dealer.
But how do they work? Let’s take a look at an example.
Royal Vegas online casino has a long history – it has been founded in 2000, just a few years after online casinos were introduced. It has been a long time Microgaming partner, too. Its game library has slowly grown from just a handful of games in the early 2000s to over 700 today. Among them, you can find live dealer games, too – games of blackjack, roulette and baccarat, that you can play against real people in an environment similar to a land-based casino.
When you engage in a live dealer game, you connect to a server streaming live video from the operator’s studio. Behind the table you will find a real operator handling cards or spinning the wheel (in case of roulette). The live feed covers just a part of the screen, the rest being reserved for information about the outcome of the game (read automatically by an ingenious piece of software) and the one referring to your funds and bets. When a card is placed on the table, or the roulette wheel stops at a number, the software reads the information and makes payouts accordingly. All this happens in real time, so you won’t have to wait for the information to be processed.
Live dealer games at Royal Vegas have an extra spin – or better said two. One of them is that it offers its players the chance to play against dealers dressed in sexy Playboy Bunny suites, heating up the game a little bit more. The other is their Bet Behind feature, allowing players to virtually sit behind active players and place bets on their hands. This way you can use their luck to win even more cash in an already exciting game.
Virtual reality is offering a brand new opportunity for live dealer casinos to develop further. Soon online casino players will have the chance to enter a fully immersive casino experience, offering the perfect illusion of actually being present in a casino.