Live dealer casinos are a relatively new breed of online gambling platforms that guarantee players a more immersive gaming experience. Ideally, a land-based casino operator brings the casino online through live dealer technology, which replicates the environment of land-based casino establishments and takes it directly to players’ screens, ensuring they enjoy the convenience of playing from anywhere.
The technology behind live dealer games is more complex than you may perceive. In this article, we will go over some of the technologies that allow live dealer casinos and studios to simulate the action found in brick-and-mortar establishments and ensure players enjoy the action on their phones or computers in real time.
1. Game Control Unit
The Game Control Unit (GCU) is among the most crucial components of a live dealer casino. Online casino operators rely on it to encode live video data from physical casinos and studios into the customers’ gadgets. These gadgets enable various critical functions of live dealer games, such as data processing, interface integration, and game outcome determinations, giving players a smooth gambling experience.
In most cases, casino operators ensure each table has a GCU to help them manage the live dealer games.
2. Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR technology enables the capturing of critical elements of the gaming environment to ensure they are transmitted to players over video links. With the help of unique algorithms, OCR can scan and extract text from visual sources like photographs and documents.
It usually converts images and texts to allow casino operators to store them in coded texts, which are then displayed on players’ devices.
For instance, in the case of card games, OCR uses specialised cameras to capture card images, including symbols, to help players place their bets.
After capturing an image, it processes it to enhance its quality through functionalities like image cleaning and contrast adjustment. Its core function is to translate every dealer’s move into data, allowing players to witness the game as it unfolds in real time.
3. The Display Monitors
Display monitors serve several purposes in live dealer casinos, but their core function is on the croupier’s side. A display monitor uses a smart card to track every action of the live dealer, ensuring accountability in these online casino games.
The dealer relies on a display monitor to see whatever is displayed on the player’s screen. This way, they can track important steps of the game, such as open bets and players who are online, allowing them to take necessary actions according to game rules and house policies.
Besides, it enables players to have a seamless engagement with the dealers via live chat in real time, ensuring the game runs as smoothly as possible.
4. Random Number Generators (RNG) Technology
In its basic form, RNG technology is a computer program used by live dealer games to generate random outcomes to ensure fairness in the game. This technology mostly relies on complex algorithms called Pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) to produce seemingly random results in live dealer games like blackjack, poker, and roulette. Most live dealer casino operators prefer Pseudo-random Generators since they are less expensive than their True Random number generators (TRNGs).
The main difference between these two lies in how they generate random numbers. TRNGs generate outcomes based on unpredictable physical events in the environment, including atmospheric noise and electronic noise. On the other hand, PRNGs produce numbers based on mathematical algorithms.
5. Wheels with Built-in Sensors
In the case of live dealer roulette games, the wheels have built-in sensors integrated into their structures. These sensors can interact with casino software to help in critical functions such as detecting winning numbers, reports, and diagnostics, ensuring the game remains unbiased.
Sensors can detect the movement of the wheel and the ball, as well as their positions. Some of the relevant data collected by these sensors include speed and velocity, which are then transmitted to the casino’s software to help create the virtual representation of the roulette ball and wheel. This way, the casino software can display the game dynamics on the player’s screen in real-time, enhancing the game’s transparency.
Final Thought
Just as you can tell from the information above, technology has made live dealer casinos a reality, and it doesn’t seem to stop any time soon.
Those are just a few examples of how live dealer casinos are able to offer convenience to gaming enthusiasts. There are others, and more are expected to appear in the next couple of years, especially now that artificial intelligence is here with us.
