Once upon a time, there were only brick and mortar casinos. The walk-in land-based casinos would invite gamblers to play at a variety of casino games. Today, with the advancement of internet and technology, the land-based casino has evolved into an online casino for gambling, gaming, sports betting, and taking part in other such activities.
One of the most popular activities of an online casino is live casino gaming. It is especially loved by the classic gambling fanatics who seek the glamour of a traditional casino from the comfort of their homes. Live dealer casino game is an automated form of gambling that involves several aspects of a traditional casino. Apart from being interactive, the live dealer gaming session feels as glitzy and sensational as any hot casino of Vegas.
The technology behind a live casino
The live casino consists of a software room, a live studio, and an analyst room equipped with a host of advanced cameras that live stream the gaming data. The reputed and popular live casinos work by hosting live casino games that are driven by the top-tier software providers of the industry like Playtech, Microgaming, and more. However, the reason why gaming at a live casino feels so real and thrilling is that the games are operated in real-time by a real dealer. The dealer interacts with the players via the web-cam and makes the whole set-up feel uncannily similar to traditional casino gaming.
The dealer conducts real-time physical transactions that get translated into meaningful data by the OCR (Optical Character Reader) software. The software enables the players to participate in life-like casino gaming without noticing any difference in the ambiance and action between an online live dealer casino and a traditional walk-in casino. Additionally, the results of the game are decided by the live dealer.
A live casino requires significant investment in technology and workforce. At times, the investment turns too exorbitant. A part of the investment also goes into software testing by experts and institutions. Consequently, it becomes too expensive for the live casino to host any more than a few casino games. Usually, the live dealer games at online casinos include sic bo, roulette, blackjack, and baccarat.
How do live dealer casinos recognize cards?
Every card dealer resorts to technology for tracking, identifying, and converting cards into the digital format. Most of the online live dealer casinos use the three technologies given below for the recognition of cards:
Bar-code scanning
At the online live casinos, the dealer uses special cards that come with unique bar-codes. The dealer scans the bar-code on the card, identifies the data, and then converts that into an electronic format. After scanning, the real-time data gets displayed on the screen for the players to view and play. Bar-code scanning is very simple and reliable.
Computer vision
The technology of computer vision is a tad too complex and highly advanced. The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology records the game statistics and streams the data in real-time through the video links. The liver dealer casino uses OCR software and advanced cameras for the recognition of cards and gaming symbols from the database. Although computer vision is the most expensive, it is fully automated, accurate, and the most user-friendly method.
RFID technology
The method of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) resembles bar-code scanning. However, RFID is more advanced than the simple technology of scanning bar-codes. Every card in the deck is embedded with a computer chip that can be scanned by the RFID device. The dealer scans the cards before dealing them out to the players. The scanner converts the card’s information into digital data and then automatically updates the information on the screen for the players to view.
RFID technology is highly transparent, secure, and reliable, but the equipment requires heavy investment, and special cards require too much maintenance.
Conclusion
Online live dealer casinos have the upper hand now over land-based casinos with gamblers restricted indoors by the worldwide lockdown. But it still remains to be seen whether hosting live dealer games is cost-effective for the online casino website. Technology and equipment are indeed expensive, but there is no denying that live casinos are as enthralling and tempting as brick-and-mortar casinos. Sign up with a live casino today and explore the technologies that drive the gameplay before taking part in the live dealer games.
