What comes to mind when you think of the biggest innovation in gaming over the last twenty years? Is it improvements in graphics, game speed or complexity? You may start thinking about the inclusion of cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse. Yet there is one great leap forward that has gone relatively unnoticed outside of its industry and that is the ability to play live casino games. Below, we discuss live casino gaming and the endless possibilities it presents.
What is a live casino?
Live casino is a relatively new format that may be unfamiliar to those who do not use iGaming platforms. When you join table games through these providers, you enter a game that is a graphic render of a casino table. The outcomes are decided by random number generators, which do a good job of replicating the casino game and its environment.
There are a lot of advantages to this method of play. Mostly, it comes down to the convenience online gaming brings. It can be done from the comfort of the home and can be operated through a mobile device. However, it can also lose a lot of the physical interaction you get from joining a real casino, by talking to dealers and croupiers. You are essentially still playing a simulated computer game.
Live casino gives you the best of both worlds. When you play live casino, you are connected to a dealer or croupier in a studio through streaming technology. They will deal cards and spin roulette wheels, just as they would in a physical location. All this action is viewed by the player, who can make decisions and place wagers using the software provided. This synergy allows people convenience but also provides the interaction of a real casino.
More game choices
Most online casinos will have the main table games available for live play. These include blackjack, roulette and baccarat, amongst others. However, the better casinos will also offer a range of variations, in rules and their provision of side bets. Some will also be grouped by the size of the wagers they allow.
This provision for more choice can only increase in the coming years. As online casinos become more global, a trend has developed where more geographically specific games and options have become available. Titles such as Sic Bo and Andar Bahar have made their way into casinos aimed at Western audiences. In turn, the games have opened up to a wider audience and become more popular. If any trend or possibility can be predicted for live casinos in the coming years, it will be that more games of this kind get live treatment.
New types of games
As well as the provision of well-established games getting the live casino treatment, signs indicate that whole new types of games will soon be available through live formats. This is where the excitement begins, as the possibilities become endless.
Live casino in slot games is one of the biggest indicators of how this will go. In slots, people access the live casino elements through the use of a bonus round. When people manage to land the right pictures on the reel, they are sent to a live-streamed game managed by a presenter. They can then win prizes such as bonuses, multipliers and free spins. How this happens depends on the slot game played.
Developers have become very imaginative with this, so much so that these rounds are now akin to small gameshows. That is where the new, exciting future for live casinos can lie. People become the star contestants in their gameshow, played from the comfort of their homes.
While this is more related to slots, gameshows and casinos have always had a big overlap. Think of Wheel of Fortune’s giant roulette theme, or Play Your Cards Right higher or lower gambling element. Many developers now even have their live casino gameshow lounges, showing the way the industry is headed.
AI Presenters
The key element in a live casino is that is presented by a real person. Once you take that away, it would seem to cease being a live casino. But what if that person was replaced with an AI avatar that seemed so real, you never even knew the difference? If you think AI is not yet that powerful, then brace yourself.
The platform Character AI is rudimentary, but it allows you to create a character and decide on how they interact with others. You don’t even have to create the character but you can even take one that already exists. It could be a celebrity or a historical figure. The AI will then talk and interact with you using the prompts you have given it.
With AI casino, you could create your own burly, short-tempered croupier to oversee your games. You could even have Abraham Lincoln or Elon Musk spinning your roulette wheel. Novelty aside, it would give patrons a chance to choose their type of presenter. It’s a blend of the two formats, but one that is going to come sooner rather than later.
