One of the most exciting aspects of online gambling at the moment is live dealer gaming. Jenni Shuttleworth talks to CWC Gaming, Entertasia and Evolution Gaming about why it has become so popular and how this is likely to affect land-based casinos in the future.
One of the most exciting aspects of online gambling at the moment is live dealer gaming. Jenni Shuttleworth talks to CWC Gaming, Entertasia and Evolution Gaming about why it has become so popular and how this is likely to affect land-based casinos in the future.
LIVE dealers offer everything that random number generated (RNG) games cannot; customer interaction with croupiers, the benefits of transparency and most of all, a quality real-life casino experience. Increasingly, the thrill of the live casino is the popular choice for online players, high rollers in particular. In response to customer demand for live casino games, there has been an increase in the number of live dealer gaming companies finding their way into the industry.
In operation since 2003, CWC Gaming has a vast range of dealers and tables and is the oldest live dealer company that is currently operating. It was founded to merge television and gaming using the internet and initially supported operators in Asia. It now works with operators in both Europe and Asia with games like an Asian and European version of baccarat and common table games such as blackjack and roulette.
Although the European market is growing quickly and showing massive potential, Asia is still the company’s biggest market. Speaking to iNTERGAMINGi, chairman Chris Piche said: "Historically, in Asia the operator brand games have not been as strong as compared to Europe. In Europe, where you’ve got a company like Ladbrokes for example (of course there are others), although they are new to online gaming, they have an extremely long history. You don’t have that so much in Asia so the opportunity for live dealers to enhance trust is greater there than compared to Europe."
Because trust levels among Asian players are lower than in other markets, live dealers are now ubiquitous in Asia but they are also becoming more common in Europe and are emerging in Latin America, according to Piche. Naturally, as gaming companies become more established in Asia, the trust among players will increase. As that happens, over time the emphasis for live dealers will most likely be more on entertainment value and social interaction and less on trust.
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Sales and marketing director at Entertasia, Celia Ho, told iNTERGAMINGi: "Asian players are very fond of the idea that seeing is believing. The chances of a sign up and a successful player deposit with a gaming site that has a live casino is much higher than a site without." Based in Macau, a place that has become synonomous with gambling, Entertasia originated from a company called G Master Technology, which was established in 2000.
"RNG is viewed by Asian players as computer generated games where results are predetermined and winning edge to the house is fixed. This conflicts with the Asian player’s mindset. Asian players prefer to challenge a human as opposed to a computer. For example, when an Asian player first walks into a casino, the first thing they look for is an unlucky dealer and they want to play against her," said Ho.
This superstitious mindset is similar to charting or mapping results, where players believe that betting results can give them a pattern and can predict the next result; this can only be done with a live dealer experience. A number of major markets still prefer RNG games due to the pace of the game, the security, the graphics, the regulatory system and the game flow, but as technology improves - wider international bandwidth availability - and a more comprehensive online live gaming regulation, the live gaming offering will be able to overcome these hurdles and its presence will grow even more.
Live gaming has improved significantly over the past few years in terms of system stability, security and player experience. It is expected that it will only get better over time with technology evolvement and real-time streaming signal improvements. The experience of betting online with a live dealer is getting increasingly closer to that of betting inside a land-based casino.
"In 2005, there were around 10 sites that carried live casinos and brands of providers were limited to about four or five. Today, we see roughly 300 sites with live casinos and over 20 different system providers. We believe by 2012, providers will consolidate into a smaller figure but vendors will expand to double or even triple as new markets open," said Ho.
In response to customer demand for live casino games, Unibet and Sky Betting and Gaming decided to introduce live gaming to its offering and signed a deal with Evolution Gaming last year to bring the experience to their sites. The deal has meant that Sky Betting and Gaming can offer its customers interactive live blackjack, baccarat and roulette, with live dealers using real cards and tables.
Just a few months after introducing the live offering, Unibet had doubled the number of dedicated tables it was offering to its customers. "The deals we have signed with over 20 operators including PartyGaming, 888.com, William Hill, Victor Chandler, Expekt and Sportingbet demonstrate the rapidly growing level of demand for live casino gaming," Fredrik Osterberg, sales and marketing director of Evolution Gaming, told iNTERGAMINGi.
"Live gaming is the fastest growing segment of egaming and some industry experts are predicting live gaming will produce 50 per cent of all online casino revenues within five years. We are already seeing the numbers of high rollers heading for live casinos and know that those who are not already offering a live product, need to take steps or risk getting left behind," said Osterberg.
"The European market has been steadily growing over the past 12 months. We have either signed or are in discussions with all premium European operators," said Osterberg. "A little over a year ago, clients who launched our platform did so in a soft manner, dipping their toes in the water with little marketing support. Gradually these operators have seen live command 15 per cent of their casino revenues," he continued. Osterberg believes that although live gaming first emerged in Asia, it is Europe that is now undoubtedly the hub.
"Hardware, software and bandwidth are all evolving at a fast pace, meaning that live will soon be able to more than match RNG in terms of up-time and quality," he said. So that Evolution Gaming can offer a life-like casino experience to its players, the company upped its production values to that of a small television station, with casino sets that mimic that of a real casino.
"We built the world’s first live flash CDN to be sure that the video would be delivered reliably and in high quality. Next, the software was written to leave behind the three discrete elements and combine them into one full screen immersive experience. The game window was done away with and all game information was relayed by being superimposed on the broadcast stream. To achieve this, the broadcast stream itself was increased enough so that if the game was maximised to full screen, the game would look and feel like a highly interactive television experience. Rather than looking at a video window and placing your chips on the small game window next to it and then watching the latter to see if you have won, suddenly the user was at the table. The player can now pick up a virtual chip and place it on the real table in front of them," explained Osterberg.
For CWC Gaming, having a high level of customer service and a wide range of dealers, games, tables and betting limits are factors that contribute to making a live dealer site successful. "In a way, having the live dealers is increasing the level of customer service of the games themselves and so to take full advantage of that, the operator has high levels of customer service in other parts of their business, for example in payment processing, payouts and so forth," said Piche.
Ho from Entertasia told iNTERGAMINGi that she believes a player’s experience is what is most important in a live gaming system. "From the moment a player enters a live dealer casino, to choosing a table, to sitting down and placing a bet, then to leaving, we try to mimic 100 per cent of the flow of walking into a land-based casino."
How will the growth of live gaming sites ultimately affect land-based casinos though? CWC Gaming’s Piche told iNTERGAMINGi: "There are already some land casinos that are experimenting with playing online via live dealers. It’s an add-on feature for them, an opportunity for them to on the one hand serve their existing customers in a greater way, but also it’s an opportunity for them to leverage their brand and expertise in the online markets. From the player’s perspective, the advantage of having the land casinos doing online or having live dealers online, is that it gives them an opportunity to continue to use the casino of their choice but with the added comfort and convenience."
Evolution Gaming is currently in discussions with land-based casinos that are considering the introduction of an online live offering. "More and more land-based casinos are realising that live is a relatively simple step to provide fully branded tables, which will enable your existing customer base to enjoy your casino from anywhere in the world at any time, day or night, as well as target new audiences," said Osterberg.
Ho from Entertasia believes that live gaming will never replace land-based casinos and would only have a minimal affect on venues. "Gamblers go to a casino for the services, environment and other facilities that they can’t enjoy at home. However, more land-based casinos are beginning to think about adding their own online brand for players to take away. The only difference is that venues would use their own casino as a background and partner with an existing software provider for their system. It is only a matter of time before this happens."
According to Piche from CWC Gaming, live dealers will continue to increase the size of the online gaming market and the igaming market wouldn’t be the size that it currently is in Asia if it weren’t for the appeal and value of live dealer games. Piche continued: "I think that igaming will actually help to bring land-based operators online and I think that in some parts of the igaming market that are not as strongly regulated, live dealers will continue to help to develop those markets by increasing the levels of trust."
