In the UK, remote casino, betting, and bingo take a large share of the gambling industry’s gross gambling yield, coming in at 37.1% of the overall market.
Considering online gambling’s becoming more and more accessible, this really isn’t such a huge surprise. The convenience of playing anywhere you have an internet connection is highly alluring to gamblers all around the world.
This is where live casino software providers are coming into play and are connecting players and live dealer games!
Live casinos games are one of the most popular types of games that someone can play online. Many players might not be aware that these games do not actually belong to online casinos but are provided by an external software provider.
What is a live casino provider
A live casino software provider is a company that deals with everything that you see on your screen when you play live casino games. From the studio that the game is getting streamed from, the set-up and decorations, the live dealers, the cameras, the audio, the monitoring of the games and all the other technical aspects. So you could say that the live casino provider is doing all the hard work for the online casinos.
What also has to be noted is that the games are streamed for a large number of online casinos simultaneously. So for example, if you play lightning roulette at William Hill casino and you open the same game at 888 Casino you will see the exact same thing. This is because it is the same game that is streamed to every online casino. The same applies to standard roulette tables, blackjack, baccarat etc.
The only exception are the exclusive live casino tables as these are customised to the online casinos brand and are streamed exclusively for the specific online casino.
Best Live Casino Providers
So, while there are many casino websites that have a live casino section, these games are not developed or produced by the online casino. These are games that are produced and broadcasted by an external software provider.
Online casinos are using the services of these live casino providers to offer these games to their players.
There are a few live casino providers out there but Playtech and Evolution are by far the Leading Live Casino Software Providers. Most live casinos websites in the UK are using these two software providers to offer live dealer games to their players.
Most casinos will use one of these providers (i.e. bet365 live casino uses only Playtech) while some might have both (i.e. William Hill). A few casinos will even use the third one to add a few more tables (like Authentic Gaming or Pragmatic Play).
For example, William Hill Casino has two different sections with live games. On one of these sections, they have Playtech live dealer tables and on the other one, they have Evolution live dealer tables.
However, not every online casino will have the full set of games that are provided by the software operator.
For example, you might find an online casino with Evolution tables but they will only have one or two poker games (for example Casino Hold’em and 3 Card Poker) instead of all 6 that the software provider is offering.
The live casino providers we are listing on this page are considered the best software providers in the gambling industry. There are plenty more but these are the main players in the industry and the ones that most online casinos are using.
Most live casino players have their favourite software provider and they like to play in casinos that have games from the specific provider. Some of these providers have exclusive online casino games that others don’t have but they might also have a different version of the same game.
For example, Dream Catcher and Spin a Win or Lightning Roulette and Quantum Roulette are very similar games but from different game providers.
Let’s have a look now at these top live casino providers in a bit more detail. The first 4 live casino providers that we are listing on this page have a license by the UK Gambling Commission to stream live casino games, therefore are the ones that most UK casinos are using.
Playtech
Playtech is one of the biggest names in the online casino industry. They’ve been around since 1999, which speaks volumes about their knowledge and expertise in online gaming.
Most people in the gambling industry consider Playtech a pioneer.
Playtech offers all the classic casino games with live dealers like Live Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, Poker but has also game shows and some exclusive tables like Hi-Lo and Dice Live. In addition, Playtech is one of the few live casino games providers with European and American Blackjack tables.
You’ll enjoy 24/7 HD streaming live casino games from Playtech. They have live casino studios all over the world with the biggest ones in Europe and Asia, multilanguage interface and live dealers VIP tables, Branded tables and multi game-play.
Check out the best Playtech live casinos and games.
Evolution
Evolution ( former Evolution Gaming) is also another giant in the online gambling industry. Established in 2006 this live casino software provider has the largest selection of live gaming titles around!
For instance, they have over 10 versions of roulette including lightning roulette, so you’re guaranteed to never get bored with that game. In addition, they also have all the classic games with live dealers like poker, live baccarat, blackjack as well as game shows and sic bo games.
Evolution Gaming’s live dealer studios are located in Riga, Latvia but they also have a lot of Dual ROulette tables all over the world like Casino De Spa in Belgium, Grand Casino Bucharest, Tbilisi, Georgia, Rincon de Pepe in Spain, Casino Campione d’Italia in Italy, Dragonara Casino in Malta, Atlantic City, New Jersey, 3 casinos in Atlanta, Georgia, and Vancouver, Canada.
Other special features include 3D and Classic viewing modes, detailed game rules, Roulette with Lapartage and FAvourite bets, native-speaking live dealers for many countries, multi gameplay, VIP and branded tables and PRogressive Jackpots for some live poker games.
Evolution is an exclusive live casino games provider which means that they are dedicated to live casino games. This is why they are coming up with new games and new game variations all the time and also this is why most live casinos have games from Evolution.
Check out the best evolution live casinos.
Pragmatic Play
Pragmatic Play is one of the youngest live casino providers but they are becoming more and more popular.
The company first started off in 2013 with the name Extreme Live Gaming and after becoming part of Novomatic Gaming in 2014 they have now entered the industry with a few but very interesting games.
Their main studio is based in Bucharest, Romania and despite the fact that they offer a few live games at the moment it is expected that they will grow their portfolio in the next few years. At the time of writing Pragmatic Play has games like live Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Sic Bo, Mega Wheel, Andar Bahar and Dragon Tiger. The only game that they are missing is live poker but there is no doubt that they will add this table at some point.
Read more about Pragmatic Play live casino.
Authentic Gaming
Authentic Gaming first arrived on the scene in 2015. They have offices in both Slovakia and Malta and are fully licensed by the GMA (Malta). What makes them different from the other software providers on this list is the fact that they don’t use specific studios for streaming their online games.
Instead, they actually use physical casinos! Because of this, you can experience online table games as if you were actually in a land-based casino. These include Aspers Casino in London, Royal Casino Denmark, Hilton International Casino in Batumi, Georgia, St Vincent Casino in the Italian Alps, and Foxwoods Resort and Casino in the US.
This software provider offers games 24/7, so you can stream HD quality table games so long as your internet connection can support it. Currently, they only offer roulette. However, there are talks of them bringing out blackjack and baccarat in the future. Read more about Authentic Gaming.
Ezugi
Ezugi is relatively new to the gambling industry; they were founded in 2012. However, they’ve quickly risen to the top with their amazing offerings.
The casino games you’ll find at Ezugi include blackjack, roulette, baccarat, lottery, RNG games, and some fun and interesting mini-games.
They also allow for many interactive features, such as simultaneous gameplay, communication between players, and the ability to post on Facebook while playing.
Ezugi’s studios include Brussels, Belgium, Casino Palace in Bucharest, Romania, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Gold Nugget Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey (only residents in the state can play), and Cambodia.
NetEnt
Next up is NetEnt, which was founded in 1996. Their area of expertise is slots, as many consider them as the best slots provider in the world. Every month, they come up with new titles, which keeps slots fans very happy and invested in this game.
Most gamblers are familiar with NetEnt, as they set a historical record of processing 21.4 billion gaming transactions in 2014. NetEnt live dealer games include blackjack and roulette but as competition is getting bigger there might be even more games in the future.
NetEnt is a bit different from all the other providers on this list, as they don’t have multiple locations for their live dealer studios. Instead, they have just one in Malta, which launched in 2013. Seeing as they’re a fresh face on the live dealer scene, this explains why they don’t have many different games either. At the moment NetEnt live casinos are offering blackjack and roulette tables.
Update: NetEnt has been acquired by Evolution.
The above live casino games providers are the ones that are availiable for UK players in various online casinos. However, there are even more that we can find in various casinos like the ones below.
Microgaming
Microgaming is one of the older software providers, seeing as they were founded in 1994. Their claim to fame is being the first developer to make mobile casino software in 2004, which really put them ahead of the game.
They have over 800 casino titles spread across 700 gaming sites, but this wasn’t ambitious enough for Microgaming. They added live dealer games in 2006 and have only grown since then. Microgaming’s main live dealer studios are located in Canada and the Philippines.
The main live dealer casino games you’ll find with this software provider are roulette, blackjack, baccarat, casino hold ’em, and sic bo.
Portomaso/Wirex
Portomaso Casino is a land-based casino in Malta that opened in 2009. They’ve partnered with Wirex, which is a digital payment platform. Together, they’ve developed top-quality live dealer casino games that are broadcast from either Portomaso Casino or Oracle gambling venues in Malta.
Unfortunately, Portomaso/Wirex does not offer 24/7 streaming services all the time. For instance, the blackjack and roulette tables don’t run 24/7, while the Banco baccarat and roulette tables do.
Most Important Features of Live Casino Software Providers
As we have mentioned already, the live casino provider is responsible for all the different aspects of a live dealer game. Let’s have a look at the most important ones:
- The Studios. This is where all the action takes place. The big software providers like Evolution and Playtech have their biggest live casino studios in Latvia. From there they host hundrends of games every day.
- Cameras and Audio. There are High Definition Cameras that are set up around the live dealer tables in order to capture all the action both visually and orally. These cameras are usually mounted on the tables so they are close to the live dealer and most tables have at least 2 cameras in order to capture different angles.
- The Live Dealers. One of the most important aspect of every game is the live dealer. You might think that live casino software providers can handle this one easy but you are wrong. Especially in the big studios where there are a lot of tables and games taking place at the same time it is a difficult task to manage. Everything has to work like a clockwork from shifts to tables swaps and even the live chat monitoring.
- Techincal aspects. This one covers a wide range of things from streaming bandwidth to OCR’s ( Optical Character Readers) and is another very impotant element of the games that the live casino software provider needs to make sure that is working flawlessly.
Try out the Games From These Live Dealer Casino Software Providers
Now that you know some of the leading live casino providers out there, you should have an easier time finding games that are both fun and well made. Transitioning from playing at land-based casinos to online ones definitely comes with its perks and benefits, especially since many offer generous sign-up bonuses, as well as loyalty promotions. This is one of the main reasons why playing live casino games online is so popular!