The technology behind live casinos

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Online gambling has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years, as technology has developed and casino games have now better graphics, are faster and overall offer a much better experience to the players. The gambling sector that saw the most significant improvement in the last few years was live casino games. Let’s have a look at the technology behind live casino games and what is required for a live casino game to be streamed live from a studio to your computer screens.

The tech behind live casino games is more complicated than slot games or any other RNG games. For slot games or any other RNG card or table game, what is primarily required is the game software and the Random Number Generator which is integrated into that software.

But this is not the case when it comes to live casino games as there are many more elements involved and a lot more high tech is required to operate a live dealer studio with a lot of different games that all run in real-time.

Let’s not forget that most live casino games can host a large number of players at the same time.

Live Casino Technology Components

Live casinos utilise cutting-edge streaming technologies that have been specially designed to provide the best authentic player experience.

Let’s look at the main tech components that are required for a smooth live casino game operation.

• OCR software. Optical character recognition is a very crucial component of live casino technology that is used to track the number and symbols on the cards, the numbers on the roulette wheel etc.
• HD cameras. The best live casino games have multiple High Definition cameras that give you different angles on the action
• Game Control Unit. Each live dealer table has a Game Control Unit, which takes care of the encoding process and makes sure that the live stream is delivered without any delays. 
• Studio monitor. This is where the live dealer can see the messages on the live chat from other players and interact with them.

Now let’s have a look at these main live casino technology components in a bit more detail.

Optical Camera Recognition Technology

Optical Camera Recognition Technology (OCR) is a very crucial element for any live casino game.

Without this piece of tech, live dealer games would be slower and there would have been a lot of room for error. OCR records every detail of the game and transmits the information through a video link to players.

Details like the number and symbols of cards, roulette numbers and colours as well as information about activities in the game like card shuffling, wheel spinning, the announcement of the winners and losers etc. Imagine how much longer it would take to process all this information manually.

High Definition Cameras

Ok this is something that we all think comes as a default for live casino games but this was not the case until a few years ago. The cameras that were used in the first few years of the life of live casinos were much simpler and there was only one camera and one angle for each table.

The quality of the cameras that record the games in a live casino studio has increased massively in the last few years. Today these cameras are smaller compared to their size in the past but they are High Definition cameras that can cover multiple angles and that are using the latest High Tech.

Game Control Unit (GCU)

The Game Control Unit is the technology that ties everything else together in a live casino game. Every table in the live casino studio has a Game Control Unit which encodes the video so that it be delivered to the online players in a way that they will understand.

For example, in roulette, the GCU helps to define the winning number and the players whose bets just won. and this is why it is just an irreplaceable component when it comes to live casino technology.

Studio Monitor or Dealer’s Monitor

If you are playing live casino games then you know that there is a chat facility where players can interact with the live dealers or even with other players. The Studio monitor or the live dealer’s monitor is what the live dealer uses to see all the live chats that are taking place, answer any questions that players have and in general, interact with them.

In addition, the dealer can see there other kinds of information like the number of players that are placing bets and of course their nicknames.

The most important component of live casino games that is not based on technology

While this article is about live casino games technology, there is a component of every live casino game that is not based on technology but it is as important (if not more) as all the rest:

The Live Dealers!

Without the real human live dealers, live casino games can’t exist, even for some Live Casino Game Shows that the dealer is there just there to present the results and interact with the players. What makes these games stand out from the rest is the human interaction that the dealers offer to the game.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Tech behind Live Casino Games