Live Casino Games

Live Casino Providers 

Today, there are two providers that dominate the live casino market, Playtech and Evolution Gaming. Both offer players extremely high quality experiences with a very similar section of games, and you are sure to have a great time playing at either of their tables. However, there are numerous smaller providers that also offer players an excellent experience.  

Evolution Gaming 

Evolution Gaming was founded in 2006 with the direct aim of dominating and revolutionising live dealer gaming. Today, they operate nine live dealer studios across the world in countries such as Latvia, Malta, Georgia, Romania, Canada, America, and Belgium. They have dealers capable of speaking multiple languages, they run an academy where they train dealers, they have development studios where they work on new games, and they offer operators the option of exclusive branded tables. The company also broadcasts games from a number of the world’s top land casinos such as the Casino de Spa. 

Recently, Evolution Gaming became the first live dealer provider to offer Live Craps. They also offer Live Roulette, Live Blackjack, Live Baccarat, Live Sic Bo, Live Dragon Tiger, Live Poker and a number of gameshows. The games can be found at a huge number of leading casinos, such as 888, Regent Play, mr.play and Play Club.  

Evolution Gaming employs more than 2740 full time employees and have approximately a further 800 on a part time basis. The company holds licenses from many respected gambling authorities including the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, and this allows them to offer their games in numerous jurisdictions. Furthermore, they have won a huge number of awards for their product. In 2019 alone, the company won Service Provider of the Year at the American Gambling Awards in New Jersey, Casino Supplier of the Year at the EGR North America Awards, Online Casino Supplier of the Year at the Global Gaming Awards London, and Casino Content Supplier of the Year at the EGR Nordics Awards. In fact, it has won the Live Casino Supplier of the Year award at the EGR B2B awards an amazing 11 times in a row. 

Playtech 

Playtech is a true leader of the entire online gambling industry. It was founded in 1999 and since then, it has been behind countless innovations, it has built a huge catalogue of games, and its influence can be found in every area of the industry. There is some debate over whether Playtech’s live casino is better than Evolutions’ but the truth is that it doesn’t matter, it offers players a superb experience.  

Playtech is actually the largest live dealer gaming supplier in Europe and Asia. They operate a number of live dealer studios, such as in Romania and Latvia. The Riga studio is particularly impressive and occupies more than 8,500 square metres, which means that it is the biggest in the world. The studio is packed with features that help Playtech deliver players a fantastic gaming experience. It is home to more than 500 dealers and a training school, and there are dealers who speak English, Italian, Spanish, and more languages. The studio also boasts the industry’s largest video wall. It is 25m wide LED curved wall that gives operators the chance to take complete control of visuals and easily change the casino environment.  

Playtech offer a highly impressive selection of live dealer games. They offer various versions of games such as Live Blackjack, Live Roulette, Live Baccarat, Live Poker, Live Sic Bo, Live Dragon Tiger, and gameshows. Thanks to this, many leading online casinos, such as Casino Las Vegas, have adopted Playtech as their live dealer provider.  

The company is always working to improve and it releases new games and environments on a very regular basis. It has ensured that the games are fully mobile compatible, and players can be sure of having an equally good experience whether playing on mobile or desktop devices. Furthermore, thanks to licenses from some of the strictest authorities in the world, such as the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and the Mata Gaming Authority, players in numerous regulated markets are able to enjoy the games. The company has won numerous awards over the years, such as Casino Platform Provider of the Year at the EGR Nordic Awards 2020.  

Pragmatic Play 

Pragmatic Play is a well-known casino game developer, but a newcomer to live dealer gaming. The company was founded in 2015 and spent most of its early years focusing on developing extremely high quality online slots. However, in 2019, it launched its own live dealer studio, and it has instantly been recognised for its excellent quality.   

The studio is based in Bucharest and it has space for 43 gaming tables. They employ highly trained dealers and the video streams are reliable in 4K. Players at Pragmatic Play’s live dealer casino will find Live Roulette, Live Baccarat, Live Blackjack, Live Sic Bo, and gameshows. They are also able to provide operators with branded tables.  

The company holds licenses from many gambling authorities including the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, and the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner. It has also won many awards over the years, such as the Best Slot Game 2018 at the Malta Gaming Awards, the Software Rising Star at the EGR B2B Awards 2017, Innovation in Slot Provision at the EGR B2B Awards 2018, and many more.  

Many More Providers 

There are many more live dealer providers, although the ones above are probably the most popular. Other operators include Ezugi, Authentic Gaming, Opus Gaming, Visionary iGaming, Vivo Gaming, and Portomaso Gaming. Each offers something a little different, for instance, some may specialise in Asian gaming, but none are close to matching the service provided by Playtech and Evolution Gaming. 

Live Casino Games 

As mentioned, there are a huge number of live dealer games available, including all of the casino staples. While the exact offering will vary slightly depending on which provider you choose, many of the basics will remain the same. 

Live Blackjack 

Blackjack is the most popular casino card game in the world and unsurprisingly, the most popular live dealer game. The major providers will have a huge number of Blackjack tables available. Most will follow the same set of rules, but they will have wide-ranging betting limits so that all players can find a table suitable for their budget. Furthermore, while most operators provide standard 7-seat Blackjack tables, they usually offer special features that allow players to bet behind those already seated at the table, so it is possible to join in the action even when the table is full.  

The larger providers also offer a number of Blackjack variants. For example, Playtech offers games such as Live Quantum Blackjack, All Bets Blackjack and Live Majority Rules Blackjack, while Evolution Gaming offers games such as Free Bet Blackjack, Infinite Blackjack and Power Blackjack. Each of these games brings players something a little different, and Blackjack enthusiasts are sure to have a great time exploring them all.  

Live Roulette 

Players in casinos love gathering around the Roulette tables and watching the ball come to a stop, and thanks to high definition video streams and immersive camera work, this is just as exciting when playing Live Roulette. Most casinos will offer live versions of European Roulette, French Roulette and American Roulette. Furthermore, many will offer versions of these games that dispense with the croupier and are played with automated tables, which speeds up the rate of play. No matter which provider’s game you are playing, it is likely to offer features such as statistical analysis and the ability to save favourite bets.  

There are also a number of Live Roulette variants on offer. Evolution Gaming has titles such as Lightning Roulette and Double Ball Roulette, while Playtech offer a number of games, many with progressive jackpots and bonus features, such as Age of the Gods Bonus Roulette and Quantum Roulette. These are all based upon standard European Roulette, but bring players something a little bit different.  

Live Baccarat 

For a long time, Baccarat was considered a game for the gambling elite, players who would come and bet vast sums of money on each hand. However, live dealer gaming has truly opened up Baccarat to everyone, and today it is possible to find tables that accept extremely small bets. There are not many variants of Baccarat to be found, but casinos will usually offer regular Baccarat as well as No Commission Baccarat. Furthermore, in addition to offering a choice of betting limits, many casinos will offer games such as Speed Baccarat, which is a bit faster, and Squeeze Baccarat, which is the opposite, as it features the ritual of the squeeze. The games will usually give players the ability to see a range of roadmap scorecards, and many of them will also offer a selection of side bets such as Player/Banker Pair, and Big and Small.  

Live Casino Poker 

Casino Poker has become very popular with players who wish to practise their card skills while having fun and still give themselves the chance of landing some big payouts. Live Poker games see players take on the dealer directly, rather than challenge other players, and there are many different variants available. It is not uncommon to find games such as Casino Hold’em, Three Card Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, and Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker. In all of these games, the general idea is to beat the dealer by building a better poker hand; however, there are of course rule variations. Furthermore, many of the games offer side bets, while some even give players the chance to win huge progressive jackpots.  

Live Asian Games 

There are not many live Asian casino games on offer, but two are very common. Both Playtech and Evolution Gaming offer live dealer versions of Sic Bo, the dice game that is played with three dice. It has become hugely popular with players, and some of the versions of the game offer bonus features, such as payout multipliers, that give players the chance to win big.  

The other common Asian game is Dragon Tiger. This game is very similar to Baccarat, but the rules are even simpler. There are not many variants around, but at some casinos, it will offer a side bet or two, such as Big/Small or Odd/Even, and these provide the chance of larger payouts.  

Live Gameshows  

Gameshows are a relatively new category of live dealer game, but they have been a massive success. The idea of live gameshows is to give those players who do not play the traditional casino card and table games the chance to enjoy the live dealer experience. The gameshows come in a few different forms, but they are always very simple to learn.  

Playtech have a number of gameshows available, such as Spin a Win, which is based upon a huge fortune wheel, Deal or No Deal The Big Draw, which is essentially a live bingo game, and Adventures Beyond Wonderland, which is also based upon a fortune wheel, and is packed full of bonus games.  

Evolution Gaming also have many such games. They offer Dream Catcher, which is another fortune wheel game, Monopoly Live, which is based upon the board game, Deal or No Deal Live, based upon the television show, and Mega Ball, which is a lottery draw style game. 

Anyone who wants the interaction and immersion offered by live dealer gaming but does not want to play card games or games such as Roulette, should definitely spend some time exploring the gameshow collection at their chosen casino.  

Live Slots 

Live slots are not very common at all, but they are a way of providing slot players with a social experience. The games have a host, who talks to players as the reels spin automatically in the background, while players can also talk to each other in a live chat room. There are not many live slot games available, but Playtech have a few, such as Live God of Storms Slots and Live Buffalo Blitz Slots.