While online casinos have become hugely popular over the last couple of decades, until recently, they still had one major stumbling block: how do you create an online casino that matches the immersive and interactive experience of playing games at a land-based casino? Despite their popularity, online casinos that provide software games know watching a virtual roulette wheel being spun or a deck of cards being shuffled on-screen is not as engaging as the real thing. With the advent of online live casinos, those issues have been overcome.
How do live casinos work?
At an online live casino, you can play classic table games like poker, roulette, and blackjack live in real-time with real dealers. The dealers are located in a studio, and they spin the wheel and deal the cards in exactly the same way as at a land-based casino. Furthermore, the dealers are just as highly-trained as those at brick-and-mortar casinos and you can interact with them while you are playing a game. So, live casinos help to bring about a more authentic casino experience that is not far from playing games in the flesh at an actual casino establishment. While the human element has helped to make live casinos so popular, the casinos would not be anything without their use of innovative technology. Here are four innovative technologies that live casinos are using today.
OCR Software
OCR software is used in many sectors for many purposes. For instance, police forces and traffic control use the technology for reading vehicle license plates. Optical Character Recognition software, which basically turns an image or text into readable data, is widely used in live casinos. Without it, the live experience just would not be viable. OCR tech is used by online live casinos to track the numbers on roulette wheels, the symbols and numbers of playing cards, and so on. OCR technology also enables the live casino to be streamed via a video link.
Studio Monitors
While monitors are not exactly anything new, the high-definition and other qualities of modern monitors are becoming more refined all the time; and monitors are a crucial part of the technology used at online live casinos. Monitors allow the dealer to keep an eye on everything that is going on: from the bets that are placed and closed to the messages coming in from players.
Powerful Cameras
Cameras and lenses have become incredibly powerful, and the innovations in this field are being used to full effect by live casinos. Multiple powerful cameras can capture the games being played in the studio in all their glory by providing players with various different perspectives on the action. For instance, a roulette table will typically be fitted with around three separate cameras to provide shots of the table, the wheel, and the croupier.
Game Control Unit
Without a Game Control Unit, live casinos would not be able to function. The innovative technology ties the whole process of the live casino experience together. The GCU takes care of the encoding process, which makes sure the live stream is delivered with optimum clarity and without any delays; both of which are crucial for players to enjoy the experience of playing live games. Every table at a live casino has a GCU attached to ensure smooth streaming.
Final Thoughts
Technology is becoming more enhanced and powerful all the time. That means live casinos are sure to evolve even more in the coming years. Two major technologies that are likely to change the way online live casinos operate are artificial intelligence and virtual reality. In the not too distant future, you could be visiting an online casino, via a VR headset, that is located on the moon and features interactive AI-designed croupiers.
