Are you curious about how the live casino industry has evolved? Below, we present a timeline highlighting significant milestones. Discover information about the establishment of key platforms, operators, and regulatory authorities worldwide.
Live casinos exist in a relatively new niche. Although the live casino industry is still in its early stages, the journey has been interesting enough to review.
Here you can play the best live casino games
Live Casino Timeline
Over the years there has been a huge development in the field of Live Casino. It all started with the crazy idea to let people play online, but they would still have the feeling that they were in a real brick and mortar casino. Let’s try to list the facts in chronological order.
1994–2005 In 1994, the first legal online casino appeared on the web.
The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda established a licensing and regulatory framework, becoming the first jurisdiction to grant gambling licenses to online casinos. Following this, multiple countries allow companies to apply for licenses to offer legal online casino games. Over the next 10 years, more online casinos emerge, allowing people worldwide to play 24/7 with an internet connection. The market seems somewhat saturated, but fortunately, there was a change in 2006.
2006 – Microgaming & Evolution Gaming launch live casino platforms
Microgaming began to influence the live casino industry with the launch of live baccarat. Evolution Gaming is founded as a live casino specialist, offering a platform with live dealers from studios in Riga, Latvia. In the following years, Evolution Gaming signed contracts with major names such as 888, Unibet, BetVictor, and William Hill.
Dublinbet claims to be the first online casino platform to stream images from a real ‘brick-and-mortar casino’ to players’ desktops at home. Ladbrokes signed a contract with CWC Gaming to use their live casino platform.
2007 – Smart Live Casino starts broadcasting roulette and blackjack on Sky TV
Smart TV Broadcasting Limited began offering live roulette and live blackjack games on television. Sky Channel dedicates a channel to gambling providers who want to stream their live dealer games through this channel. Not only Smart Live Casino but also Super Casino starts live casino streams via television in the United Kingdom. Additionally, big names like Bet365 and BetFred collaborate with Playtech’s Asian live dealer studio, adding their casino games to the lineup.
2008 – More big companies add live casino games to their offerings
Blue Square launches live casino games powered by Evolution Gaming. NetPlayTV Plc launches its Super Casino on the internet, featuring existing live (for television) roulette products and adding live blackjack to the offering.
Unibet follows with a live casino supported by Evolution Gaming. William Hill, formed as the foundation of the Playtech company (29%) and William Hill (71%), launched their William Hill Casino Club, including live dealer games from Playtech. The casino Viktor Chandler (now BetVictor) launches their live casino (Evolution Gaming software), and Entertasia (now EntwineTech) receives a license to offer RNG-based games from Cryptologic, expanding to offer the live casino games platform with Cryptologic casinos holding a valid license.
2009 – Latvia’s influence on the live casino industry grows
Playtech opened a live casino studio in Europe, located in Riga, Latvia, the same city where Evolution Gaming has its studios. In May 2009, television broadcasters in the United Kingdom started adding gambling to their existing channels for ‘Teleshopping,’ channels specifically designed for people who want to order products from home. Super Casino immediately starts broadcasting their live roulette games on Channel Five.
Ladbrokes, Party Casino, 888, and Paddy Power add Evolution Gaming to their live casino platforms. Evolution Gaming expands with multiple live casino studios and roulette and blackjack tables. In 2009, Unibet was eventually named the winner and awarded “Live Casino Operator of the Year” at the EGR Awards.
2010 – Asian platforms in the Western gambling market
Sportingbet is one of the latest additions in 2010 to the list of Evolution Gaming casinos. Evolution Gaming is named Live Casino Operator of the Year. Microgaming completes its extensive live casino platform and introduces innovation with live dealer blackjack.
EntwineTech collaborates with CTXM to focus on developing games for the Western gambling market. Chartwell Technology Inc. partners with HoGaming to develop Eurocentric live casino products. These casino games were ultimately added to the game library of the giant BetVictor at the end of 2010.
2011 – Localizing live casino games
BetFair adds additional games from Playtech with their European dealer studios. Evolution Gaming is once again named the best operator of the year in the live casino industry. Additionally, the company expands with multiple licenses from Italy (AAMS) to legally offer live casino games in Italy.
The launch of Venezia live roulette makes the Italian gambling market more popular, as it offers Italian live dealers. Ventuno live blackjack is also an exciting addition for Italian enthusiasts of online gambling from home. In the same year, EntwineTech launched live casino games for iPad.
2012 – Introduction of live casino studios and mobile live games
Three big names, namely William Hill, Unibet & PartyCasino, launch their ‘.it’ extensions with an Italian online casino, featuring Evolution Gaming software in the live casino. Unibet is the first operator to receive a personal live casino space from Evolution Gaming, followed quickly by William Hill. In November 2012, Grosvenor & Blue Square Casinos launched Live roulette for iPad from Evolution Gaming.
2013 – Live streams from European mainland casinos
Developments in the iPad/Android live casino industry grow rapidly, creating space for developers to introduce new products. 2013 was a crucial year for mobile casinos online, partly because live casino games became immensely popular from that time onwards. Over 90% of Dutch casino players own a smartphone, and more than 60% of them gamble via their mobile devices in the live casino today.
In 2013, Playtech introduced live roulette games for iPad and offers live dealer applications in the Apple App Store for players in the United Kingdom. Net Entertainment launched its first live casino platform and entered this billion-dollar industry.
Furthermore, they announced plans to stream live casino games from Casino Gran Madrid in Spain. However, Evolution Gaming fulfills this promise with its launch of the Spanish physical casino ‘Casino Rincon de Pepe.’
2014 – Bitcoin appears in the market
The online casino company Vera & John, based in Malta, became the first company to accept Bitcoin in 2014. Players can now deposit money quickly, safely, and completely anonymously, and play live casino games. Evolution Gaming and Playtech launch games this year that are compatible with multiple devices. Moreover, Evolution Gaming is named Live Casino Developer of the Year for the fifth consecutive year.
2015 – Operators demand multiple exclusive studios
The demand for more exclusive studios continues to grow. William Hill introduces three different spaces this year, including the Macau & Vegas casino studios. These spaces allow players to play casino games against live dealers in physical locations around the world from the comfort of their homes.
Mobile casinos also experience significant growth, forcing casinos to come up with a fully mobile casino. Evolution Gaming has started expanding with more studios and live dealers to give players more choice.
Additionally, Evolution Gaming’s Immersive Live Roulette, which has been around for some time, is awarded Live Casino Game of the Year due to its high-quality images and excellent sound effects.
2016 – Live dealers licensed in the United States
The Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City (United States) has launched a large number of live dealer tables on its website. These tables are accessible only to American (New Jersey) players. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Evolution Gaming received nearly 50% of its revenue from players gambling on their mobile devices.
2017 – Larger live casino studios, more casinos & Virtual Reality glasses
In 2017, Playtech spent a lot of time establishing the world’s largest live dealer platform in its new Riga studio. Live casino tables in physical casinos are one of the latest developments, allowing players to visit a ‘brick-and-mortar casino’ from their desktop or mobile. These casinos are located in Romania, England, Gibraltar, and Denmark.
Casino games with a faster pace are introduced (Live Speed Roulette), allowing players to play in the live casino 24 hours a day without a live croupier through an automated roulette wheel. Lastly, there is talk of live dealers via Virtual Reality Glasses for 3D images. Virtual Reality Casinos may be the innovation that the live casino is missing.
2018 – Live casino streams from the United States for European players
In July 2018, Authentic Gaming & Foxwoods Casino launched their first live casino studio for European players. Evolution Gaming makes several new revelations this year, including the popular game Live Lightning Roulette. The previous year, an exciting game, Live Dream Catcher, based on the popular Money Wheel (Wheel of Fortune), was developed.
New studios are established in Atlantic City, including Ocean Resort Casino, Resorts Casino Hotel, and Hard Rock Casino. Before the end of 2018, Resorts Casino Hotel launched Dual Play Roulette, allowing European players to play live casino games at William Hill.
2019 – Extensive list of innovative live casino games
The list of new casino games in the live casino is enormous this year. At the ICE exhibition in London, Evolution Gaming reveals 10 games led by live dealers & croupiers. One of the new games is Live Lightning Dice, an exciting dice game including RNG software.
John de Mol, a Dutch media mogul, collaborates with Evolution Gaming and introduces Live Deal or No Deal. The well-known suitcase game can now be played in the live casino! Live Monopoly (based on Live Dream Catcher) offers a unique bonus game where you enter the board game of Monopoly and have a chance to win high payouts with multipliers.
2020 – Explosive growth of live casino games
The popularity of live casino games prompts many providers to develop in this area, resulting in a massive growth in the offering of live casino games. It quickly becomes apparent that most providers don’t go beyond live roulette, live blackjack, and live baccarat. However, Evolution Gaming quickly demonstrates how it should be done.
To be taken more seriously, they changed their name to Evolution, marking the start of launching the most incredible live casino game shows. Their absolute top game is Crazy Time, but games like XXXTREME Lightning Roulette and Funky Time Live also have the wow factor. These games are played by thousands of players simultaneously every day, and the whole world is enthusiastic about them.
The Future of Live Casino
We are super excited about the rapid development the Live Casino is undergoing, and we can only speculate about what the future will bring. We see many providers trying to combine an RNG slot machine with a live game show. For now, Evolution seems to have the best cards here again. Their latest game, Crazy Pachinko, looks promising.
We hope that many more new challenging and exciting games will be created, and we are already looking forward to the future.
