The live online casino option is a great idea but not for everyone

Ever since the big bookmakers decided to add a few casino games to their online sports gambling sites, we have not only seen the number of games increase dramatically, we have also seen many more specialist online casino sites come on stream. We have no idea whether those early online gambling site operators knew that they were effectively creating a whole new online gambling sector with that decision, but that was certainly what happened as a result of that decision. During the early days of the development of online casinos our regular reviews of the available online casino sites here at onlinecasino.ie were confined to less than half a dozen sites because they were the only sites accessible in Ireland at the time. Nowadays our recommended list of online casinos is much bigger and the range and variety of casino games we can play online has also consequently expanded massively as more and more sites have become accessible. The growth in popularity of playing casino games online has not been totally without difficulties however, but the online casino site operators and the specialist casino software companies they employ have generally been able to respond to customer concerns and come up with acceptable solutions, the most notable of which is the live online casino option. When the online sports gambling site operators first began to add a few games to their sites they clearly targeted existing gaming enthusiasts, including those people who regularly enjoyed a night one of our real casinos. That meant offering an online version of one of the most popular traditional casino games, the game of roulette. Unfortunately, whereas most of the traditional casino games were relatively easy to transfer to an internet platform, the graphics necessary to illustrate the game of roulette online proved far more difficult. The problem was that almost every online casino game relies on a Random Number Generator or RNG for short to determine the winning number or winning combination, and using this approach clearly requires the absolute trust of the players that the result is fair. Most of us who now enjoy playing casino games at an online casino have become used to the fact that an RNG will determine whether we win or lose and never think to question whether it is fair and above board, but that was not necessarily true during those early days. The problem for many casino fans who were used to playing roulette in a real casino was the inability of the computer graphics to satisfactorily illustrate the movement of the ball on the roulette wheel as it tried to reach the RNG defined winning number, and this led to doubts in their minds. The online casino site operators knew that they had to dispel those doubts as quickly as possible, and their solution was what we now call the live online casino option. In principle it was probably the most obvious solution, but still required new casino software to make it happen.

The live online casino option entailed setting up a remote studio, often somewhere in Eastern Europe, and employing real dealers to control the game using a real roulette wheel. The game was then streamed live to our computer screens so that online roulette players could choose whether to play the game using normal computer graphics, or opt for the live casino mode. Almost every online casino now offers the live online casino option on the game of roulette, and most nowadays also enable their customers to play blackjack and even baccarat with real dealers in the live casino mode. This studio approach to satisfying the concerns of some of their customers has not however proved universally popular, and every online casino on our recommended list also enables their customers to play all these games with the normal graphics. The biggest reason why many people do not like playing casino games in the live online casino mode, is that it often means that the minimum table stakes are higher because of the increased costs of employing real dealers. For many regular online casino games players it is the fact that they can play most games for very small stakes that has been the main appeal of playing at an online casino, so any increase in those stakes puts pressure on their budgets. The other problem with playing casino games in the live online casino mode is the timing of the games. Once again there are many new online casino games players for whom the opportunity to play games such as roulette at their own pace, with no restrictions on how long they take to place their bets is one of the most appealing features of playing those games online as opposed to playing at a real casino. Unfortunately when the games are being controlled from a remote studio the dealers cannot see the players and therefore have to run the games to a fixed schedule which is often too quick for some players. Nevertheless the live online casino option operated through a remote studio has proved successful for the online casino operators, and is popular among players who started playing casino games such as roulette at a real casino.

As we have often seen during the development of the online casino sector, the studio based version of the live casino option has now been joined by an alternative approach at some new online casinos. The All Irish casino for instance now offers their players the opportunity to play roulette, blackjack and baccarat in the company of other casino games enthusiasts with the games streamed live from a real casino based in Malta. Anyone looking to experience the atmosphere of a real casino while playing casino games on their computer at home should definitely have a go at this form of live casino. Most of the disadvantages of the live online casino experience are of course still there, but there is nothing better than experiencing the thrill of gambling on casino games in the company of other like-minded people.