One thing that has revolutionised the way in which the online casino industry is viewed is live dealer games.
More importantly for operators and providers in this space, live dealer games are very popular, and also very profitable.
30-Second Summary
- Live dealer games are traditional casino table games like blackjack and roulette, led by real dealers and video-streamed to players to bet in real-time
- They have grown significantly in the 2000s and now command over 30% of all casino revenues worldwide, thanks to their popularity and significantly higher player stakes
- Advancements in video streaming definition and reliability, internet and bandwidth availability, and user-interface and experience capabilities have driven the sector on
- The 2020s have seen a boom in formats like gameshows, with gamification and personalisation being possible through greenscreen technology, AR, VR and AI
- LuckyStreak have been a leader in the live casino industry since 2014, providing world class games and experiences to platforms and operators worldwide
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Hang On, What Are Live Casinos?
By combining the classical live gameplay of traditional casino games with the convenience of online real-time play, and adding in more immersive and interactive elements, live casino studios create a more authentic experience for players.
In this latest edition, we delve into how live dealer games came about and the current state of this immensely popular format. And give insights into what the future may hold.
A Brief History Of Live Dealer Games
In The Beginning
Live casino games were introduced in the late 1990s, with these initially being innovative solutions that bridged the gap between physical casino gameplay and the online space.
The games were basic in nature, broadcast from small studios at first, and usually facing challenges of limited interactivity, slow streaming speeds and limited user bandwidth and connectivity. Not good for hi-spec streamed games!
The New Century Beckons
However, as the 2000s came around, a myriad of technological advancements helped improve these live dealer games drastically, such as internet bandwidth making streaming more feasible and seamless to wider audiences.
Some of the first live dealer studios were established in places like Latvia and the Philippines in the mid-2000s, offering professional dealers and multiple camera angles that cover various aspects of a game, and more elaborate studio setups.
Into The Twenty-Teens
Now the mobile gaming world began to expand rapidly – and globally – alongside further advancements in quality video and streaming technology.
In turn, live dealer games saw an explosion in popularity, with game developers now beginning to build their very own state-of-the-art studios across the world, in places like Malta, Costa Rica, the UK and other eastern European nations.
Now in the 2020s, the genre of live dealer games continued to expand and branch off in different ways, with TV game show style titles first coming to fruition the latter part of the decade.
The Current State Of Live Dealer Games
What’s The Situation Now?
In more recent years, live casino games have become essential components of the online casino experience enabling them to:
- Broaden their gaming content offer
- And extend their appeal to new and land-based audiences
- Who want a truly authentic gaming experience
- Delivered in a high-quality way
- In a particularly engaging “real-people” format
- For players who want the level of “transparency” and trust that live games have
- With increasingly hi-spec, high definition and highly reliable streaming
- Built for mobile-first play
- For a global audience driven by broadband reach
- Generating a significantly higher staking, higher volume and ARPU audience
Thanks to technology, the streaming quality has now reached full high definition, with most games streaming at 1080p HD or higher.
In addition, mobile compatibility has drastically improved. Studios are now able to cater to audiences globally, too, with live dealers often speaking multiple languages, and some games even being situated in real casino settings to create even more authenticity, like LuckyStreak’s Dual-Play Roulette.
A Flourishing Sector
Thanks to such things, the market of live dealer games has seen tremendous growth, with annual rates of increase in excess of 10%. This is clear to see in the number of live dealer providers currently active, and new studios launching, whether stand-alone or divisions of existing iGaming businesses.
As for the revenue in the sector, this is estimated to be approximately $2.5 billion as of 2023, with strong growth projected for the remaining decade. This significant number mirrors the continued demand for authentic and interactive gaming experiences, with this genre of games now contributing significant portions of revenue for many casino platforms.
Today’s Trends In Experience
Casino players are beginning to prefer games with social elements and gamification even more as time goes on.
Our recent newsletter on gamification and personalisation discussed their increasing use in casino games experiences.
Thanks to chat features and being able to interact with dealers and other players in the process, games like live blackjack and live baccarat have been propelled to new heights of player engagement and interaction.
So too has the development of new formats and variants such as unlimited blackjack with no limit on seats at the table – to create entirely new gameplay experiences serving wider player needs: live game show games have grown in popularity.
These faster-paced, presenter-led formats are major audio-visual experiences, akin to TV shows and have developed a strong following. Being people-led and completely live they fall within the “live casino” sector however they appeal to a different audience, perhaps at the softer end of the market, a more shorter session and entertainment-seeking player.
And Technology
Another major advance is in the ability to customise the gameplay experience. The use of greenscreen or chroma-key technology enables providers to customise the games to the requirements of the operator or even the player in the form of graphical or video backdrops.
Additionally, graphical overlays allow for branding and messaging, as well as adaptations of the game elements including table, chips, the user-interface and even the dealer!
What To Expect From Live Dealer Games In The Future
With the ongoing rollout of 5G across the globe, we can expect even more improvements in streaming quality and video definition. With this, lag will be minimal across these ultra-fast streams, with 4k and 8k likely to become the norm.
What’s more, with casino customisation software becoming more predominant, aspects like customisable tables and other more interactive features are likely to become more conventional, with this making player experiences even more immersive.
Another area is in VR and AR, both likely to be integrated into live dealer games going forward. With this online casino software, players could actually sit at tables constructed in 3D environments, with dealers and players interacting with one another virtually as if they were actually present.
As with all other industries and sectors, AI will also likely become a cornerstone of live dealer games. With things such as algorithmic learning, experiences will be able to become highly personalised, with tailored recommendations and dynamic table settings all being able to adjust automatically based on a player’s preferences, which integrated AI identifies.
LuckyStreak Live Casino Games
LuckyStreak has been producing and streaming world-class live dealer online casino software since 2014.
Launched and led by Co-founders Ady Totah, CEO, and Erez Cywier, CTO, LuckyStreak has focussed on continually improving the most popular live casino games for a global customer-base of iGaming platforms and casino operators, to the very highest levels of entertainment, video quality and reliability.
In addition to exceptional live casino games like Blackjack, Baccarat, European Roulette and Auto-Roulette, LuckyStreak has developed a jackpot promotional toolbox enabling operators to challenge, motivate and reward their platters with prize money tournaments.
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