The world of online gambling and iGaming wouldn’t exist without the power of modern technology. The face of the entire gambling industry is undergoing enormous change, with technological advancements in live casinos seeing an increasing number of players shift to the online sphere.
The latest streaming and communicative tech have been accelerating advancements in live casinos, and these hyper-realistic, immersive gambling experiences are fast becoming one of the most popular forms of online gambling. Let’s take a closer look at the role of technology and iGaming and discuss the innovations driving advancements in live casinos.
The First Live Casinos
The first live casinos were launched in the late 1990s. However, internet technology at the time was rudimentary and didn’t offer anything near the power required to support a fully functional and comprehensive live dealer casino experience.
As technology improved, we saw advancements in live casinos throughout the 2000s, but the format still struggled to maintain long-term popularity and remained in the shadow of purely digital recreations of slots and table games.
Live Casinos Today
Since these early iterations, advancements in live casinos have developed rapidly. Modern streaming and internet technology mean that operators can now provide players with engaging and highly immersive live dealer games, emulating the traditional casino experience with increasing degrees of realism and accuracy.
How exactly do these live casinos work? Let’s take a look at the innovation and tech that are driving advancements in live casinos.
Broadcast and Streaming Technology
Live casinos stream a real-life dealer, croupier, or number caller to a remote audience of players. Modern advancements in live casinos are the result of sophisticated broadcasting technology that can deliver a clear and uninterrupted stream to players.
First, live casinos use a number of different cameras to record the dealer and the table from various angles. Players can select different camera angles to watch during the game, such as a top-down view of a spinning roulette wheel or the dealer’s hands as they deal cards in live blackjack. This is vital as it gives the players a comprehensive view of the game as it plays out and can assure them that the game is fair and legitimate.
Game controller units are used to encode the footage captured by these cameras and deliver it to players in real-time, with minimal latency, and in the highest possible quality. Video streams must have no distortion, imperfections, or lag, as this will break the sense of immersion and impact the player experience.
One of the most important advancements in live casinos has been the integration with optical character recognition (OCR) technology. These systems can read game data, such as the cards on the table or the position of a ball on a roulette wheel and display this onscreen to give players information about the game as it happens.
Chat Options
Internet chatrooms are nothing new, but their integration with iGaming has proved to be one of the most important advancements in live casinos. The first digital recreations of casino table games might have perfectly emulated rules and mechanics, but they lacked something crucial – the human element.
By including chatroom options with live casinos, players can interact with one another during the game, making for a far more sociable and engaging experience, akin to spending time in a physical casino location.
Humans are social creatures and crave interaction with one another, with studies indicating that social interaction is as fundamental a human requirement as food and water.
Chat options have proved to be one of the most crucial advancements in live casinos and work to further blur the lines between online and in-person gambling.
What does the Future Hold?
Online gambling has progressed significantly in a relatively short space of time. As technology continues to improve, what other advancements in live casinos can we expect in the future?
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are two of the hottest topics in tech today and look set to revolutionise a range of different industries. Online gambling is no exception, these sophisticated systems have been hailed as the future of advancements in live casinos.
When discussing future innovation and advancements in live casinos, it’s impossible to overlook the potential of AI and machine learning. These systems can be used to improve the player experience to an incredible degree. Player behaviour can be tracked and analysed in-depth, with the resultant information used to tailor personalised deals, offers, and loyalty rewards, as well as identify and flag signs of problem gambling.
Conclusion
Technology is the driving force behind iGaming. Without the latest tech developments, we wouldn’t see nearly the same scope and scale of advancements in live casinos today.
