Offering convenience, variety, and 24/7 access to favorite games, the online casino world has exploded in popularity over the past decade. However, for some players, something was missing, namely the real-life thrill of playing games with human dealers. This is where live dealer casino games come in. These hybrid games deliver the excitement of a real gaming venue with the convenience of playing from home.
Whether you’re an experienced player or a curious newcomer, live dealer games offer a fresh, immersive experience. Here, we take a look at how these games work, why they’re so popular, what you need to know before playing, and the most popular games, including Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat.
What are Live Dealer Casino Games?
Live dealer games are online casino games hosted by real human dealers in a studio or physical casino environment. The games at sites such as Lucky Creek casino are streamed in real time, allowing you to interact with the dealer and sometimes other players via chat functions.
You place your bets with a click or tap on your computer or phone, but the game itself is played out physically on a real table with real cards, wheels, or dice. The combination of high-definition video, multiple camera angles, and live audio gives you an authentic casino experience – without you ever having to leave your house.
How Live Dealer Games Work
Game developers have brought different technologies together to create live dealer casino games online. These technologies include:
- Streaming technology: The dealer plays the games in a studio equipped with professional lighting, cameras, and microphones. Multiple camera angles provide immersive coverage, such as close-ups for card dealing, wide shots of the table, and panoramic views of the room.
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR): OCR technology reads the cards or the wheel results and instantly translates them into digital data so your online interface can reflect the outcomes in real time.
- Game Control Unit (GCU): Each game table is fitted with a GCU that helps encode the video stream and ensures the game runs smoothly.
- User interface: On your computer or phone screen, you’ll see the table, dealer, betting options, and live chat. You place bets using the digital interface, while everything else is handled by the dealer.
Why Live Dealer Games Are So Popular
Players enjoy playing live dealer games for various reasons. Here are some of the biggest and best of them:
Realism and Atmosphere
Live dealer games bring the social and visual appeal of a brick-and-mortar casino to your screen. Seeing the dealer shuffle cards or spinning the wheel in real time makes the experience feel more authentic and exciting.
Trust and Transparency
Despite the reassurances offered by regular testing, some players are skeptical of standard Random Number Generator (RNG) games, where algorithms produce the results. With live dealer games online, there’s visual proof that the game is being played fairly.
Social Interaction
The best live dealer games have chat features that you can use to interact with the dealer and other players at the table. This adds a human element that isn’t found in traditional online casino games.
Variety and Innovation
Live dealer games now go beyond traditional options such as Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Poker, and dice games. Developers such as Evolution have introduced game show-style experiences such as Dream Catcher, Crazy Time, and Monopoly Live, which blend entertainment with gambling.
The Most Popular Live Dealer Games
Let’s quickly unpack the most popular live dealer casino games online. These include Live Blackjack, Live Roulette, and Live Baccarat.
Live Blackjack
Mentioned by the name of ‘21’ by Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes in his 17th century short story Rinconete y Cortadillo, Blackjack is one of the basic offerings of any casino. The online live dealer version offers an almost identical experience to sitting at a physical table. Most versions of Live Blackjack follow the standard seven-seat format, although some versions allow unlimited players. The dealer deals real cards from a shoe, and players make decisions such as hit, stand, split, or double using on-screen buttons.
Our tips for beginners include learning basic strategies to potentially improve your chances of winning and looking for tables with early payout or side bets for added entertainment. It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on the timer, as live tables move at a faster pace than RNG versions.
Live Roulette
An iconic casino game that dates back to the blah, Roulette is all about the thrill of the spin. Live dealer Roulette makes the game more immersive than in brick-and-mortar venues. In live dealer versions, a real dealer spins a physical wheel and drops the ball, while multiple cameras zoom in on the wheel to provide dramatic views. You place bets digitally before the dealer closes the table.
The most popular editions include European Roulette with a single zero and lower house edge, French Roulette with advanced bets and special player-friendly rules, and Lightning Roulette, which adds RNG multipliers to certain numbers for bigger payouts.
Our tips for beginners include starting with outside bets such as red/black or odd/even for better odds and knowing the table limits before joining. You should also be aware of faster-paced formats such as Speed Roulette.
Live Baccarat
Baccarat has been a favorite among high rollers for centuries, and its simplicity makes it ideal for live streaming. When playing Live Baccarat, the dealer deals two hands, namely the Player and the Banker. You bet on which hand will win or if the result will be a tie. Card values are added, and the hand closest to nine points wins.
Our tips for beginners include always being aware of commission fees, which is usually 5% on Banker wins, and avoiding the Tie bet, which offers big payouts but poor odds. It’s also helpful to track your bets and your bankroll, which is something you should do when enjoying any type of crash games or gambling.
Excitement and Comfort Combine in Live Dealer Games
Live dealer casino games online offer the perfect balance between the thrill of real-life gaming and the comfort and convenience of online play. Whether you’re aiming for 21 in Blackjack, watching the Roulette wheel spin, or hoping to see the Banker win in Baccarat, these games offer a level of engagement that traditional options online can’t match.
With the right strategy, some practice, and a reliable internet connection, you can enjoy an immersive, fair, and social gaming experience without ever leaving your sofa.
