Live casino is an online phenomenon that’s a bit like televised poker except it uses real dealers rather than digital software. These games are streamed in HD and you can interact with the dealer or croupier using the chat feature, just as you would at a regular online casino. But the differences between the two types of games are much more significant than that.
Live casinos have been around for a few years now, but they’re still fairly new and exciting. Their goal is to make playing casino games online as similar to the experience of visiting a bricks and mortar casino as possible. To that end they have to employ a variety of technologies in order to get the job done. They use cameras to capture the action, optical character recognition to translate handwriting into digital format, and a specialist piece of hardware called a Game Control Unit (GCU) that interfaces between the digital technology and the live action at the table.
GCUs are the heart of any live casino and every table has one attached. These little devices are no bigger than a shoebox and are responsible for encoding the video broadcast. Without them live casinos just wouldn’t be able to operate. Depending on the type of game there may also be a wheel that requires its own sensor and that can be interfaced with the same GCU as a table.
In the case of blackjack players will click a button on their screen to communicate to the dealer what they want to do with their cards. These buttons then trigger the appropriate action to be taken with real casino equipment, such as a real deck of cards or a real roulette wheel. All the while a studio monitor displays your messages to the dealer for them to see and reply to, just as they might on a night out in Vegas!
It is a highly specialised field, which means that most live casino games are offered by a small number of top casinos. These sites work with the best providers of this type of software to ensure they can offer a high quality service to their customers. This includes ensuring that the betting limits are a good fit for most people and that they can make bets that are in line with the laws of their state.
Those that are above the legal gambling age for their states will be able to enjoy all of the games that a live casino has to offer. They can even play with a croupier or dealer that is live, but they will still have to be of legal age to gamble. This is important because gambling is a heavily regulated industry and it’s crucial to keep it that way. The highest level of security is used to protect player’s financial details and a number of different authentication measures are in place to prevent fraud. This helps to create a trustworthy environment that encourages the right kind of behaviour and makes it easier for winning players to receive their jackpots.