Live Dealer Games

If you are new to online gambling, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices in software, games, and sites at your fingertips on the internet. For those of us who have been around the business since its inception over twenty years ago, we are constantly on the hunt for improvements and enhancements to what can seem a very cold, calculated business.

About ten years ago, one of these innovative changes came to the internet casino world by way of live dealer games. Now, if you are new to internet casinos, you likely have never heard of these, but just being at this site is an excellent start.

Our team of experts reviews all the casinos we can find to present to you the best options for you as a novice player. In many of these reviews, we discuss live casinos, which may be confusing to some of you. This new delivery method for games brings together the best of the land-based and online casino worlds, and this page is going to give all the basics about these games and why they have become so popular over the last decade.

Taking into consideration all of the criteria below, along with many more factors we won’t go into detail about here, we have compiled a list of sites that offer live dealer games that we think are the best for our readers. These sites combine the best of software, promotions, and support in a package we think will make your experience very enjoyable.

What Are Live Dealer Games?

Live dealer casino games are exactly what you might think they are from their name – these are games you can play with human dealers instead of the computer. These games are still played online from the comfort of wherever you access online casinos. However, the games are streamed to you, and you are playing with a dealer on the screen who is dealing cartoonishly large cards so that you can see the values.

Live dealer casino games were first introduced in the mid-2000s. By this time, most people had affordable access to broadband internet connections, and video streaming was clean and far less choppy than in years past.

This wasn’t new for many of these companies, as with many of the other initiatives in the online world, porn sites had been streaming from studios for a couple of years already.

In 2006, a company by the name of Evolution Gaming was one of the first to launch a full suite of table games with live dealers. At first, the industry was skeptical – these games were much slower than the typical random number generator games that had built the industry. However, the early returns were clear, and players loved this new way to play their favorite games. The company started with one studio in Eastern Europe, featuring enough staff that not only could a player choose a game to play but also the dealer they wanted to have at their table! This had never been seen in the online gambling industry before, and very quickly, Evolution started to pick up new clients.

Today, Evolution is one of many software companies that have studios around the world offering these games to operators and players. Evolution is still the leader in the space, and they now have 8 studios around the world, including one in a land-based casino that really gives players the feeling of playing live.

What Games Are Available with a Human Dealer?

As you can imagine, not every game in a casino makes sense to have a real dealer for. However, the live dealer software companies have done their best to provide as many games as possible, and these are the games that you are most likely to find in a live casino:

• Blackjack
• Baccarat
• Casino Hold’em
• Roulette
• Three Card Poker

How to Play Live Dealer Casino Games

Now that you have a little information on the history of these games, it’s time to turn our attention to how the games themselves are played. What you need to think about is how the game is much more like walking into a land-based casino, just from the comfort of your own PC or mobile device.

The first thing you need to do is locate an online casino that offers live dealer games (more on that in the next section). Once you have selected a place to play, you then need to create an account and make a deposit. With all that taken care of, you are ready to get into the game!

Look in the lobby of the casino for a tab that is likely labeled live casino – that is where you will find all the available tables. You may see several different tables for each game, typically separated by stakes level. Once you find the table that fits your betting preferences, you are many times taken to a screen that allows you to pick a dealer. Once you choose your dealer, a new window opens with the table and the dealer you have chosen.

Here is where the fun begins! Now, you cannot speak directly to the dealer, but they can speak to you. You will be prompted to make a bet, which you can do by clicking on the integrated bet buttons in the table window. Depending on the game you have chosen, you may not be the only person at the table, so you will have to wait for everyone to make their bets, and then the dealer will deal the cards or spin the wheel. The game plays out just like it would at a digital or land-based table, and in the case of games like blackjack, you may be prompted by the dealer to act when it is your turn. After the hand is complete, winners are paid, and your balance will reflect the outcome of the hand.

It’s really that simple! Now, as for the rules of the games, they are similar to the games you find in the RNG versions, so here is a good time to remind you that we have a full casino games guide that you can use to learn all about each of the games in a live dealer casino.

What to Look for When Choosing Live Dealer Casino Games

Here is where coming to a site like ours really pays dividends for a new gambler. With hundreds of online casinos open for business, trying to figure out where to play can be overwhelming. The good news for you is that we have already done the majority of the work for you! Our team reviews every casino we can get our hands on, looking at some of the following categories when coming up with our rankings.

Software

First and foremost, we look at what software is being offered by a casino. Not every casino software is the same, so we like to see a mix of great content and a wide array of games. Of course, a site that offers live dealer games is usually at the top of our list.

Promotions

After finding sites that offer the best software choices to our readers, we then take a long look at the promotions that are available to players. Between deposit bonuses, cashback offers, and loyalty programs, there are a lot of ways for players to squeeze every bit of value out of every game played. Reading through our reviews, you can easily spot the sites that offer the best deals to their players.

Support

This category is especially important for our readers who are new to online gambling. You are likely going to have questions about your account, so we review the support departments of all the casinos we research, looking for the best combination of contact options and frequently asked question sections.

Conclusion

Live dealer games are the way of the future for the online casino world. We are sure that once virtual reality is more accessible, these games will be even more popular. We hope that after reading through the information on this page, you are more comfortable with the concept of these games and are now ready to pick your favorite table and dealer and start playing!

Frequently Asked Questions