Nowadays, we take live dealer games for granted. If you’ve only started playing casino games recently, you wouldn’t remember how far these releases have come. The first titles were little more than recreations of popular table games that struggled with slow internet and hardware limitations.
Understanding the Technology Powering Live Casino Games
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To get around these restrictions, live dealer studios had to get creative. To that end, they’ve taken full advantage of cutting-edge technology to make live casino releases possible. Join us as we explore some of these innovations to learn how live dealer games tick.
Live Casino Studios
When you launch a game, all you see is the host and the game in front of you. Depending on how the studio is structured, you may also see other games going on in the background. However, what you don’t see is the software room.
This is the studio’s nerve centre, which ensures everything operates smoothly. It’s from this room that the video feed from the cameras is streamed to the internet at the highest possible quality. This is done through encoding, which is why games like Crazy Time can look so vibrant and high-definition without eating through all your mobile data.
Game Control Unit (GCU)
Though the software room does all the heavy lifting, it can’t do everything alone. It needs to receive video files and game logic from the table and send the results of RNG decisions back. This is where the Game Control Unit comes into play.
The GCU is present in every live casino game, though don’t feel bad if you’ve never seen one. They’re small and usually placed out of view so players can immerse themselves and focus on the action.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Have you ever wondered why cards in live card games often look a bit too big? Sometimes, it’s a stylistic choice. However, the source of these big cards is live dealer studios using Optical Character Recognition technology.
When the dealer scans a card, OCR is used to read its suit and value. This is how the game knows what cards have been drawn. This data is then kept as game history, allowing you to look back and see the results of previous rounds.
Scanning cards with OCR can also be used to help the software make decisions. For example, Playtech’s Majority Rules Speed Blackjack defaults to Best Strategy mode if not enough players are present to vote on how to play the upcoming hand. Without OCR making the cards readable to the computer, something like this would not be possible.
What Comes Next?
Recent technological advancements have already led to improvements in the live casino space. For example, 5G allows for much more impressive internet speeds, which is why more software providers are offering streaming at 4K quality. However, the most exciting things are still on the horizon.
The Apple Vision Pro and Meta Glasses show a slowly rising appetite for AR and VR. If these headsets prove successful, we could easily see live dealer studios getting in on the action. With these headsets, you’d be transported from your living room to the studio itself. It’d feel like the dealer was right in front of you!
We’re sure there’s much more awaiting us in the future. If you’re excited about what these future games might bring, stick with us. We’ll keep you up to date on all the latest news coming from the industry.
