Live gaming is one of online gambling's newer product offerings and as such this past year has seen rapid change and development in the games available to players.
First, a quick crash course on what I am referring to when I say 'live dealer casino' for the uninitiated amongst you.
Imagine a classic casino game (typically blackjack, baccarat or roulette) being conducted by a real human dealer/croupier and the vision from this game being streamed real-time to your computer. Along with the live video stream, you also have a user interface that allows you to play the game as you would in a traditional bricks and mortar casino. Place your initial bet, choose 'hit' and the dealer will deal you another card from a real-card-shoe (in the case of blackjack) and you win or lose your bet in accordance with normal blackjack rules.
These are live dealer casino games. Played by you remotely, conducted live and in person by real dealers.
Now, on to how these games have developed during the 2010 year.
More games: At the beginning of 2010 you would have been hard pressed to find a live game other than blackjack, roulette, baccarat or some variation of one these games. Now games such as Sicbo, Mahjong Paigow, and player versus the house poker variations are offered by many casinos. And a growing range of blackjack, baccarat and roulette variations are also emerging. Choices for players have expanded considerably.
Focus on aesthetics: A year ago when you fired up a live casino game, more often that not the vision you were confronted with consisted of a dealer sitting at a table in front of a bland screen background (blue or tacky casino image). The video was usually pretty granular and the dealer studio looked very much like a studio rather than a casino floor.
Launch a game now, particularly one powered by one of the leading platforms, and you are confronted by high definition video of an expansive casino floor with your chosen dealer/table front and center, and other tables and dealers in the background, replicating a traditional casino floor. Great attention has been directed toward camera positioning, lighting and floor furnishings to enhance the aesthetic appeal of game vision. And delivery of the vision has improved with the video delivered to user-interfaces in full-screen mode rather than as a small video inset.
Bigger studios and dealer teams: Floor space, table and dealer numbers are all expanding. Dealer teams now number in the hundreds rather than the dozens at the bigger platforms. At least three platforms have expanded the size of their studio premises to accommodate the number of tables and dealers they are now using.
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