Live casino is real time but casino games are limited

Every online casino these days has what they call a live casino option but what exactly is that? The traditional thoughts are that a live casino is an actual casino where you can go and play roulette and blackjack with other people and indeed part of the fun is to watch other people play and see how they react when winning or losing. Unfortunately in Ireland we are not over endowed with live casinos in this sense of the word so Irish casino players who want to experience this form of entertainment need to be abroad somewhere. Rightly or wrongly online casinos thought they were missing out on some business and came up with their own form of live casino but the only thing live about it is that it is real time and the dealers are real people rather than a computer. Casino games at all online casinos are run by what is known as an RNG or random number generator which effectively decides on what the next card to be dealt will be or what the next number on the roulette wheel will be in a completely random way. Random number generators have been around for years but the first commercial application that involved the general public was probably the machine that selects the winners of the UK Premium Bonds now as ERNIE which stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment and was started in 1956. These RNGs are built into the casino software and should provide completely random results in much the same way as a shuffled deck of cards or a ball spinning in a roulette wheel.

Good online casinos such as any of those listed here at the casinos.ie site will have their RNGs checked regularly by an external auditor as it is both in the interests of the player and the online casino that they are working correctly. The trouble is of course that it is basically a computer which means that you cannot see what is happening as it simply produces a result. At land based casinos you can see the card being drawn from the top of the deck or the roulette ball bouncing around on the wheel but not so with RNGs. This will inevitably create an element of mistrust when the wished for result is not forthcoming which is one of the major reasons quoted for playing at the live casino option of an online casino. In truth only the more unscrupulous of online casinos would tamper with the RNG as there is no need for them to do so. It will not have escaped the attention of regular Irish casino players that all casino games have what is called a house edge meaning that there is always a margin in the casinos favour. This may be very small such as is the case in roulette where there are 37 numbers but a winning number only pays at 35:1 or in the case of red/black or other even number bets the zero wins for the house. The margin is arguably even smaller at blackjack where the only real advantage is that the dealer plays second. Casino slots have a percentage payout which can be as high as 96/97% but that still leaves a margin for the house. If there are enough people playing over a long enough period of time the house will end up ahead but that does not mean that an individual player cannot win even on a fairly regular basis.

This house edge is present at the live casino option of online casinos in exactly the same way as at land based casinos; there is no difference. Nevertheless many online casinos have decided to set up special rooms, which can be anywhere and are often in Eastern Europe, which have been equipped with roulette and card tables. They call this live casino but it is not a casino as such at all. The additional piece of equipment needed is of course a few cameras so that the proceedings can be transmitted directly to your computer or other device. There are a few online casinos that have elected to have their live casino located at an actual casino and amongst those are All Irish Casino, Fun Casino, No Bonus Casino and Freespins Casino all of which transmit from the Portomaso Casino in Malta. Even then though the live casino is not actually being transmitted from the actual casino floor but is in a separate room attached to the casino. There is no casino in existence that would allow pictures of its players to be transmitted across the world as privacy is part of the ethos of casinos. This means then even though you are playing live casino you will not be able to see anybody else or their bets and nor will they be able to see yours. The cameras will record the dealer and the tables only but at least you can see what is going on. Whether you choose to play the live casino option or stick with the regular RNG controlled online casino your odds of winning are the same but the live casino option does allow a bit of interaction with the dealer by means of chat lines but even that can be limited by language.

The choice is yours but be aware also that minimum stakes can sometimes be more than at the regular online casino and of course the casino games available are limited to those that actually require a dealer or croupier so in addition to roulette and blackjack you may find Baccarat or Caribbean Stud Poker but never dice games such as Craps. Unfortunately for the live casinos the most played casino games are in fact casino slots and live casinos never have casino slots which is probably why the majority of Irish casino players stick to the regular online casino where the choice of casino games is much larger than the live casino. Even land based casinos outside the USA have a very limited selection of casino slots whereas online casinos have hundreds to choose from.