If you enjoy playing casino games at home on your computer or mobile device, then you can imagine how enthralling it would be to sit at a real table in a brick-and-mortar casino and watch the live dealer spin the roulette wheel or deal cards. That’s the idea behind Live Casino, which is available from most online casinos and allows players to interact with a live dealer in real-time via video streaming.
The technology that drives these live casino experiences is called optical character recognition (OCR), and it translates physical transactions into data that can be read by the player’s screen. It’s a very useful tool because the dealer in front of your monitor determines the outcome of the game, unlike traditional online games, where results are determined by a random number generator (RNG).
Most live casinos offer classic table games like blackjack and roulette, but they can also feature other types of games such as poker or even wheel of fortune. The gaming portfolio may differ from one provider to another, but there’s usually a “golden trio” of tables that are available at every live casino: blackjack, roulette and baccarat.
The technology behind live games is not inexpensive, and it requires a special studio with at least three rooms. The first one is designed as a live studio, while the second room houses an information manager and a croupier who deals with the cards. The third room is a control center where engineers work to make the studio and software perform at their best.