If Las Vegas casinos were a true reflection of what we see in movies, everyone would move there permanently. Hollywood portrays sin city as a place where celebration never ends. No one runs out of chips and winning is guaranteed.
Surprisingly, visiting brick and mortar casinos is such as a stressful adventure for some people that they would rather play online. The most dedicated professionals believe live streaming casino games is significantly better than going to Vegas.
Is it? Discover below.
What are Live Casino Games?
Live casino gaming involves playing table games like roulette, blackjack and poker in a real-time setting. You set up your web camera, log into a casino and gamble against dealers or fellow players in real-time.
The benefits are tremendous. You compete against fellow human beings and not computer software. As such, you can chat, share stories and trade jokes. Additionally, you can exploit their weaknesses to win more often.
A standard live casino game consists of these components:
- Cameras
As mentioned, you need a web camera to live stream online blackjack, roulette and poker games. HD and full HD cameras are the preferred options for live streaming. But some high-end gaming sites also support 4K and 8K video camera resolutions.
With that in mind, the gaming rooms where live streaming happens are full of cameras. In a roulette game, you’ll find at least three cameras pointed on the wheel, pay table and the croupier.
- Game Control Unit (GCU)
A Game Control Unit is a small device that encodes and decodes the data transmitted during live streaming. It’s the most important tool in a live casino because without it, a live stream can’t be held.
- Monitors and Tables
Live gaming studio rooms have several monitors used for different reasons. Some resemble Zoom and show players in the game. Others display the gaming table or roulette wheel during major competitions.
Speaking of tables and wheels, online casinos use the same poker tables and roulette wheels used in Las Vegas. They are embellished and branded so that you can easily differentiate a baccarat from a craps table.
- Dealers
Dealers are the icing of live casino table games. They add the human touch to online casinos—something that didn’t exist 15 years ago. That said, online croupiers are professionals. They tend to be warm, gorgeous and stylishly dressed.
Of course, you can talk to dealers. They are trained to be friendly and social with people. In fact, they can be too social. So, watch out not to be distracted by their gleaming beauty and warm smiles.
Live Streaming Vs. Brick and Mortar Casinos
The millionaire dollar question: are live casinos better than brick and mortar casinos? Can you compare the Bellagio to a gaming website? It turns out you can, especially if you focus on the gaming aspect of things.
On one corner, brick and mortar casinos display extravagance in every sense of the word. From the buildings and hotels to gaming floors and walls, it’s hard not to be impressed by the looks of a lavish Las Vegas casino.
On the other corner, gambling websites lack extravagance but offer something more important: convenience. Think about it. If you want to visit a land-based casino, you must do a lot of preparations.
First, you need to book flight tickets and a hotel room. Then you must take care of things at home: water your plants or get someone to take care of your kids and pets. After that, you must learn about casino etiquette so that you dress to the occasion and know how to act around tables.
Moving on, here are more comparisons between live casino games and their land-based counterparts.
Game Variety
This might come as a surprise to some but live casinos offer a lot more games than land-based establishments. That’s because they provide multiple variants of popular gaming positions. Take blackjack as an example.
In many land-based casinos, you’ll find the original variation of the game and a couple more if your lucky. On the flip side, you can play over ten variants of blackjack: Vegas Strip, European, Switch, Pontoon, Atlantic City and Progressive blackjack.
Poker, roulette, baccarat and craps also come with their fair share of variants. Some of these variations have better payout rates, they are more entertaining or faster to play.
Betting Limits
One of the best things about online casino games is that they accommodate everyone. You can gamble with as little as ten cents. Or you can play as much as $100,000. All you need is to join your ideal table.
Some online casinos also award you bonuses so that you increase your bankroll. You could receive $10 or $1000 depending on how much you commit to bet. With these betting credits, you can then take bigger risks or try out new games without spending your own cash.
In many cases, the best table games in Las Vegas are reserved for high rollers. You must have money to get in the exclusive rooms. And if you want comps, you must splurge your cash. In other words, live streaming wins if you want a platform where you can bet judgment free.
Security
There’s no doubt that today’s land-based casinos are highly secure. You can’t walk ten meters without spotting a camera, security guard or both. Again, the days when you had to carry stashes of cash in bags are gone. These days, you can gamble up to one million dollars using credit cards.
On the flip side, online casinos are equally secure. You might not spot security cameras or guards. But they are secured by data encryption, and licenses. Most gaming sites in Canada are licensed in Malta or Britain.
These licenses do more than prove they are genuine businesses. They show that a casino’s owners have been vetted and fulfilled all requirements needed to safeguard players. That includes working with safe payment options and protecting your data.
With that in mind, go ahead and try live casino games. They are immersive, innovative, entertaining and could help you win decent cash.