Live Casino is where players connect with a real dealer at an online casino that uses video streaming to allow players to join a table, place bets and chat with the dealer. This allows players to experience the same gameplay they would find in a bricks and mortar casino and is a great way for players to enjoy the excitement of playing at an online casino without leaving home.
Live casino games are hosted in special studios and designed to be able to broadcast over the internet in fantastic quality. Typically, modern home internet connections (and even some mobile data connections) will be able to stream the game with no problems. However, since everyone’s setup is different it is important to check the game requirements and make sure your computer or mobile device can cope with the demands of a Live Casino before you sign up.
Once you have signed up for a casino, you will be taken to the live games section where you can choose your preferred live casino game. Once you have selected your game the dealer will appear on the screen and you can start betting by clicking buttons to let the dealer know how much to bet or whether you want to hit or stick in a particular hand. In blackjack, this will typically mean telling the dealer if you want to play for more or less than 21. In roulette, it will mean letting the dealer know how many spins you wish to make.
Most live casinos offer a wide range of casino games and these tend to include the most popular games such as blackjack, roulette and poker. They may also offer some more niche options such as baccarat and the Wheel of Fortune. Often, these games will have interesting rule variations and some will use a virtual table while others will use a real one to place bets before the wheel is spun.
In addition to the live dealers and tables, most live casinos will also have a device called a GCU (Game Control Unit) which is a small box that is responsible for encoding the video that is being transmitted. This device is vital to the operation of a live casino and without it, a game wouldn’t be possible. In order to encode the video, the physical transactions of the dealer are translated into data that can be used by the software.
In addition to encoding the video, the GCU will also take care of other functions such as recording and transmitting sound. The audio is filtered so that it doesn’t cause any background noise or distract from the dealer. It is also synchronised with the live dealer so that it can be played on a mobile or PC and the action will always match up. Some live casinos even go as far as to record the dealer’s body language so that you can see how they are doing when they are dealing cards or spinning the roulette wheel.
