Another year has raced past us at warp speed and it's been one full of developments in the live casino gaming space. Some of the more notable changes are set out below.
More tables, bigger studios
Live casino games involve real time video of actual casino games (typically blackjack, roulette and baccarat) being streamed to players' computers to enable remote real-money play. The tables, dealers and gaming equipment are all real. This means that an increase in player demand requires more tables, more dealers and consequently larger premises to accommodate all of the above!
2011 saw a number of the major platform providers forced to up-size their dealer studios so that they could provide enough tables to meet growing demand from players.
Live dealers on tablets and smart phones
Can you imagine a live dealer video squeezed onto the screen of a smart phone? As crazy as this sounds, 2011 heralded the first release of a live dealer game built for and accepted into the Android market and now available for play on various tablets and smart phones. The game comes with the warning that, "using WiFi is highly recommended" - a warning that players would do well to heed as a live video feed will chew through your phone plan's data allowance very quickly indeed.
2011 also saw the release of the first live dealer games developed for play on the iPad, although you will not find them available for download from the App Store.
Regional focus
It was a big year with regards to regulatory developments in Europe, with both Italy and Spain opening their online gambling markets and offering local licenses to online casino operators. As a result, live games tailored to these markets were introduced with Spanish, Italian and German speaking dealers who can deal and chat with players in their native language.
No doubt 2012 will see a continued roll-out of local language friendly dealers to make players from more regions feel a little closer to home as they play.
Full screen
As is to be expected, game delivery (interfaces) got slicker and more user-friendly. The standout change here was a trend away from small video feeds to full screen. Makes sense really, as the ultimate aim of these games is to replicate a traditional in-casino experience and serve to players on the other side of the world, and trust me, a bigger video definitely serves to help achieve this goal!
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