The term online casino is used to describe any type of internet casino game. But there are two big distinctions when it comes to online gambling tables:

Nov 11, 2016  Online casinos are extremely safe to play at as any licenced casino will use a random number generator to ensure fairness. But sometimes players miss the live interaction with the dealer as well as other players.

1. Regular online casino table
2. Live dealer casino table

Knowing the differences between these types of tables is key to making sure you have the best internet gambling experience.

I’m going to discuss all the major differences between regular and live dealer casino tables. But let’s first start with a general description of what constitutes a regular and live dealer table.

What Is a Regular Online Casino Table?

A regular internet casino table is generated completely through software. This means that you don’t interact with the dealer or other players during the game.

Other characteristics of a regular online table include the following:

• Chips and cards appear instantly when you place bets and choose the deal button.
• No dealer. Or at most a computer-generated dealer that doesn’t move.
• Sharp graphics in modern table games to create a more realistic experience.

Regarding the latter point, graphics are constantly improving for regular internet casino tables. But the graphics will never completely recreate land-based casinos.

What Is a Live Dealer Casino Table?

Live dealer casinos were launched in the mid-2000s as a way to give online gamblers a more authentic experience.

These are called live-dealer casinos because the action is being streamed directly from a land based casino to your internet capable device. You also get the pleasure of interacting with a real dealer and chatting with fellow players.

Here are few other characteristics of live dealer gaming:

• Elegant casino atmosphere.
• Cards graphically generated on top of real cards, so you can see them better.
• Chat box function to communicate with dealer and other players.
• Regular game buttons (e.g. deal, bet), just like a normal online casino table.

The key thing here is that live-dealer tables make it feel like you’re actually in a brick and mortar casino. And you can also enjoy the advantage of playing through your smartphone, tablet, or PC.

Main Differences Between Live Dealer & Online Casino Tables

Live Dealer Tables Let You Interact with the Dealer

The best thing about live-dealer casino tables is that you can actually interact with the dealer.

Each of these tables has a chat box, where you can send messages to the dealer. They then have the option to answer your question or comment.

This creates a fun dynamic that you just don’t get with regular internet casino tables.

An added bonus is that you can also see what other players are typing to the dealer. You can then respond to these comments, just like you would with fellow players sitting at a land based casino.

Regular Online Casino Tables Don’t Require Tips

Many gamblers are aware that dealers at brick and mortar casinos rely on tips for part of their salary.

Some live-dealer casinos also include this aspect by giving you the option to tip dealers. You simply select the tip option and enter how much you’d like to give the dealer.

Regular internet casino tables, on the other hand, don’t have this option. The obvious reason is that the software is dealing the game.

Furthermore, an online casino doesn’t need to pay the software a salary. They also don’t need to rely on players helping out with a salary in the form of tips.

Live Dealer Tables Can Turn the Experience into a Party

Some live-dealer casino tables feature two dealers. The reason is so the dealers can have back and forth exchanges and create more overall entertainment.

For example, you may see a male and female dealer having lengthy conversations while the game is happening.

Sure, it’s unnecessary for two people to deal a baccarat or blackjack game. But the value is in creating more talking points so that the players can be entertained and get more involved in the conversation.

This creates a party like atmosphere that’s similar to what you’d see at a land-based casino party pit or poolside blackjack table.

You Control the Game at Regular Online Casino Tables

Live-dealer gaming has many characteristics of regular online casinos, including the game options and how you’re playing through a mobile device or PC. But there’s still a human dealer controlling the action at live casinos.

This means you move at the pace of the dealer and table – not the other way around. In contrast, regular casinos put you in the driver’s seat regarding how fast the game moves.

If you want to pause the gambling action to watch YouTube videos, then this is also a possibility at regular tables.

That said, online multi-taskers should pick regular online tables any time that they’re going to be distracted with other things.

Live Dealer Tables Have a Time Limit on Decisions & Bets

Live-dealer casinos are much like land-based venues in that they try to keep the game moving quickly. More rounds means more profits for the casino.

Most live-dealer tables force you to act within 15 to 20 seconds. These tables will either feature a running clock or traffic lights (green, yellow & red) to indicate how much time you have to place bets and make decisions.

While this is normally a reasonable amount of time, it does pressure you to make decisions on the casino’s terms. In other words, you don’t have much time to post on social media or read online articles in between rounds.

This is why you want to set aside time where you can completely focus on live-dealer sessions. Otherwise, you risk running over the time limit when you try to multitask.

Online Casino Tables Generate Cards & Chips Automatically

Regular online casino tables make full use of their software based games by automatically generating chips and cards.

For example, your cards will instantly appear when you choose the deal option. Or your chips will quickly appear on the roulette table when you select the desired bet section.

This is nice for anybody who wants to cut out wait times involved with the dealer shuffling and dealing cards. You also don’t have to worry about handling your own chips or transporting them around the casino afterward.

A Live Casino Dealer Actually Deals the Game

Some players don’t like the fake feeling of chips and cards appearing instantly out of thin air. This is when live dealer tables are nice because the dealers actually handle the games.

The dealers pull cards out of the shoe and deal them to each player, or spin the roulette ball around the wheel manually. This creates a more authentic experience, like the one you’ll find in brick and mortar casinos.

Of course, live dealer tables create animated cards on top of the real cards that are dealt. But this is only done for the sake of helping you see the card values and suits better.

Stakes are Lower at Regular Online Casino Tables

The nice thing about live-dealer tables is that you can get close to the land based casino experience without making minimum bets worth between $10 and $25.

But you still need to wager at least $5 per hand/turn in order to play at live dealer casinos.

These sites require a reasonable minimum bet because they have to pay dealer salaries, purchase live streaming equipment, and rent/own a large building to house the operation.

If you want to play for the lowest stakes possible, then you need to head for regular online casino tables.

You’ll bet between $1 and $3 per turn at the average regular table. Low rollers can stretch their bankroll quite far at this rate.

Regular internet casino tables can charge cheaper minimum bets because the tables, dealer, and cyber establishment are all computer generated.

This isn’t to say that regular online casinos don’t have expenses. But the cost to run games isn’t nearly as expensive as with live-dealer tables.

Live Dealer Game Selection Is More Limited

Live dealer casinos usually only offer the most popular table games, including baccarat, blackjack, and roulette.

Some live dealer operations have other games like Caribbean stud and PaiGow poker. But the majority only have the classics.

While many players enjoy these games, you don’t get as large of a selection as you will at regular online casinos. Here’s a list of the many options you have with standard casino tables:

• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Caribbean Hold’em
• Caribbean Stud
• Craps
• Let ‘Em Ride
• Pai Gow Poker
• Pirate 21
• Pontoon
• Red Dog
• Spanish 21
• Super 7
• Three-card Poker
• Three-card Rummy
• War
• Zoom Roulette

The reason regular internet casinos can offer so many games is because they don’t have to pay dealers. This means the less popular games like Pontoon and Red Dog can remain empty for hours without having to pay a dealer to run them.

More Online Casinos Have Regular Tables

Almost every online casino has regular table games. These options are cheaper to license and run than live-dealer gaming.

This means that you can always count on your favorite internet casino having standard tables.

More and more online casinos are licensing live dealer gaming. But you’ll still find many internet casinos that don’t have this option.

Casino Atmosphere Is Better at Live Dealer Tables

Online casino software companies have done a good job at improving graphics on regular tables over the years. This makes it feel more like you’re in a regular land-based casino.

But no matter how much software providers improve graphics on regular tables, they’ll never match the brick-and-mortar experience.

Some live-dealer outfits operate inside unique casinos, such as Fitzwilliam Casino & Card Club in Dublin. Others set up studios, which feature nice backgrounds to look at while you’re playing.

Live Dealer Tables Can Have Limited Seats

The average land-based casino table only has seven available seats. The same is true among many live-dealer tables, where seats are limited to seven players.

You can join a waiting list when you see a live dealer table that’s full. You’ll be able to play whenever a seat opens up.

In some cases, live-dealer casinos have unlimited seats, allowing you to get in on the action any time. But you still have to look out for the tables that only allow seven players at once.

Regular online casino tables are different, though, because the same table can potentially be accessed by thousands of gamblers. This means you never have to worry about finding an open seat.

Conclusion

When I first started playing live-dealer casino games in the late 2000s, my initial reaction was that these are way better than regular tables. But I eventually realized that both live-dealer and regular online casino games have their pros and cons.

Live-dealer gaming is great for those who want an authentic experience and the ability to interact with the dealer. It’s also nice to look at a real casino atmosphere when playing.

Regular online casino tables are nice because you can control the game flow. You’ll also have access to more table games and be able to play for cheaper stakes.

Personally, I like to mix my play between both regular and live-dealer tables. But you may find that one style suits you better than the other.

Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional ('brick and mortar') casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of online gambling.

Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are a bit higher than land-based casinos.^{[citation needed]} Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games are established by the rules of the game.

Many online casinos rent or buy their software from companies like CryptoLogic Inc (now Amaya), International Game Technology, Microgaming, Playtech, Golden Race and Realtime Gaming.

• 1Online casino types
• 3Bonuses
• 5Legality

Online casino types

Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Web-based online casinos

Web-based online casinos (also known as flash casinos) are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to their local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plugins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plugins. Also, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plugin. Some online casinos also allow gameplay through a HTML interface. Apple devices such as iPod, iPad and iPhone cannot play Flash games as the technology is not supported.

Download-based online casinos

Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are cached by the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware exists.

Virtual casino games

In a virtual casino game, the outcome of each game is dependent on the data produced by a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). This determines the order of the cards in card games, the outcome of a dice throw, or the results produced by the spinning of a slot machine or roulette wheel. PRNGs use a set of mathematical instructions known as an algorithm to generate a long stream of numbers that give the impression of true randomness. While this is not the same as true random number generation (computers are incapable of this without an external input source), it provides results that satisfy all but the most stringent requirements for true randomness.

When implemented correctly, a PRNG algorithm such as the Mersenne Twister will ensure that the games are both fair and unpredictable. However, usually the player has to trust that the software has not been rigged to increase the house edge, as its inner workings are invisible to the user. Properly regulated online casinos are audited externally by independent regulators to ensure that their win percentages are in line with the stated odds, and this can provide a degree of assurance to the player that the games are fair, assuming the player trusts the regulator.

Live dealer casino games

In a live casino game, a human dealer runs the game in real time from a casino gaming table, which can be seen via a live streaming video link. Players can make betting decisions via a console on their computer screen, and can communicate with the dealer using a text chat function.

The results of the physical transactions by the dealer, such as the outcome of the roulette wheel spin or the dealing of cards, are translated into data that can be utilized by the software by means of optical character recognition (OCR) technology. This enables the player to interact with the game in much the same way as they would with a virtual casino game, except for the fact that the results are determined by real-life actions rather than automated processes.

These games are a lot more expensive for websites to host than virtual games, as they involve a heavier investment in technology and staffing. A live casino studio typically employs one or more cameramen, several croupiers running the various games, an information technology manager to ensure that any technical hitches are dealt with swiftly, and a pit boss that acts as an adjudicator in case of disputes between players and croupiers.

In most cases this requires at least a three-room setup, comprising a live studio, a server/software room, and an analyst’s room. The configuration of these rooms varies from casino to casino, with some having several gaming tables in one room, and some having a single table in each room.

The high running costs involved with operating live dealer games is the reason why online casinos only tend to offer a handful of the most popular games in this format, such as roulette, blackjack, sic bo, and baccarat. In comparison, the running costs associated with virtual games are very low, and it is not uncommon for online casinos to offer hundreds of different virtual casino games to players on their site.

Online casinos vary in their approach to the hosting of live games, with some providing live games via their own television channel, and others offering the games exclusively via their website. In the case of televised games, players can often use their mobile phone or television remote controls to place bets instead of doing so via a computer connected to the internet. The most common live dealer games offered at online casinos are baccarat, blackjack and roulette.

Games offered

A typical selection of gambling games offered at an online casino might include:

Bonuses

Many online casinos offer sign-up bonuses to new players making their first deposit, and often on subsequent play as well. These bonuses are a form of marketing that may incur a cost (potentially justifiable in order to attract a new player who may return and deposit many more times), since the casino is essentially giving away money in return for a commitment from the player to wager a certain minimum amount before they are allowed to withdraw. Since all casino games have a house edge, the wagering requirements ensure that the player cannot simply walk away with the casino's money immediately after claiming the bonus. These wagering requirements are commonly set to be sufficiently high that the player has a negative expectation, exactly as if they had deposited and not claimed a bonus.

Casinos may choose to restrict certain games from fulfilling the wagering requirements, either to restrict players from playing low-edge games or to restrict 'risk-free' play (betting for instance both red and black on roulette), thereby completing the wagering requirement with a guaranteed profit after the bonus is taken into account.

Welcome bonuses

The Welcome bonus is a deposit match bonus on the first deposit ever made in the casino or casino group. Welcome bonuses sometimes come in packages and may be given to match the first two or three deposits (First Deposit Welcome Bonus, Second Deposit Welcome Bonus, etc.). They can also be tied to specific games, such as the Welcome Slots Bonus or the Welcome Table Games Bonus. The casino may also offer Welcome bonuses for high rollers who make an initial deposit above the standard amount limit.

Referral bonuses

There are two types of Referral bonuses: one for the Referee and one for the Referrer. The Referee gets a bonus when he or she registers an account at the casino and mentions the Referrer. The Referrer gets a bonus when the Referee completes all the requirements, such as making the deposit and wagering it a certain number of times.

Cashback or Insurance bonuses

Cashback or Insurance bonuses are offered as a percentage of all losses in the player’s previous gaming activity. Typically, only deposits that were not matched with bonuses count towards this bonus. You can additionally find websites that offer casino cashback payments based on your losses encountered while playing with one or more online casinos. Those type of cashback deals are usually paid back to players by the casino portal that offers those special cashback offers.

No deposit bonuses

The most popular form of bonus is one that can be claimed without the need to deposit any of the player's own money - known as a no deposit bonus. These bonuses are used as acquisition tools by casinos wishing to attract new players. No deposit bonuses don't always take the form of real cash, as exemplified below.

Non-cashable bonuses

Non-cashable bonuses may be called 'sticky' or 'phantom' bonuses. In both cases, the bonus forms a part of the player's balance, but cannot be cashed out. The difference between cash-able and phantom bonuses comes at cashout time. A phantom bonus is deducted from the player's balance at the moment he places his withdrawal request. For example: if you deposited $100, received a $100, played and finished the wagering with $150. If the bonus is sticky, the player will be able to withdraw just $50. If bonus is cash-able, then the whole balance is available for withdrawal.

Comp points

Comps are commonly available at land-based casinos, but also exist online. Comp points can usually be exchanged for cash, prizes, or other comps. The amount of cash given per wager is usually very small and often varies with game selection. A casino might offer three comp points for each $10 wagered on slots and one comp point for each $10 wagered on blackjack. The casino might give $1 for each 100 comp points. This example is equivalent to returning 0.3% of wagers on slots and 0.1% of wagers on blackjack. In addition online casinos may offer comps such as free tickets to online tournaments, free slots online, tickets to other special events, extra bonuses, souvenirs and pay back.

Bonus hunting

Bonus hunting (also known as bonus bagging or bonus whoring) is a type of advantage gambling where turning a profit from casino, sportsbook and poker room bonus situations is mathematically possible. For example, the house edge in blackjack is roughly 0.5%. If a player is offered a $100 cashable bonus requiring $5000 in wagering on blackjack with a house edge of 0.5%, the expected loss is $25. Therefore, the player has an expected gain of $75 after claiming the $100 bonus.

Bonus disputes

A large portion of online casino disputes relate to bonuses. Casinos may label players who win using bonuses as 'bonus abusers.' Both players and casinos may commit fraud. An example of player fraud is creating multiple accounts and using the accounts to claim a sign-up bonus several times. An example of casino fraud is changing terms of a bonus after a player has completed the wagering requirements, then requiring the player to meet the new bonus terms.^{[citation needed]}

Fraudulent online casino operator behaviour

Fraudulent behaviour on the part of online casinos has been documented, almost exclusively by player advocacy websites and forums. The most commonly reported behaviour is a refusal to pay withdrawals to legitimate winners. An online casino with multiple confirmed cases of fraudulent behavior is often called a rogue casino by the online casino player community.

Many casino gambling portals and player forums maintain blacklists of rogue casinos. While some carry more authority than others, all blacklists constitute individual webmaster and player opinions rather than an official list from any type of regulating body.

Casino Live Dealer Online

Often, casinos use buffer sites that offer free play of their casino games but in reality use different means of deceptive strategies to redirect or lure the visitors into signing up to their services via appealing bonus offers or exclusive reward programs. Majority of these deceptive 'free' sites lead to equally deceptive casinos.

Since almost all existing online casinos offer free play of their casino games, recognising whether a casino is deceptive based on whether they offer free gameplay is no longer viable.

Legality

Online gambling legislation often has loopholes that result from the rapid development of the technology underpinning the development of the industry. Some countries, including Belgium, Canada, Finland and Sweden have state gambling monopolies and do not grant licenses to foreign casino operators. According to their law, operators licensed on the territory of these countries can only be considered legal. At the same time, they can't prosecute foreign casino operators and only block their sites. Players in these countries can't be punished and can gamble at any site they can access.

Australia

The Australian Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA)^[1] criminalises the supply of online casino games by an operator anywhere in the world to persons located in Australia. It only targets operators of online gambling sites, resulting in the curious situation that it is not illegal for a player in Australia to access and gamble at an online casino. No operator has even been charged with an offence under the IGA and many online casinos accept Australian customers.^[2] In June 2016, the South Australian Government became the first state or territory in the world to introduce a 15% Place Of Consumption Tax (POCT) modelled on the 2014 UK POCT.^[3]

Belgium

The Belgian Gaming Act^[4] went into effect in January 2011 and allows online gambling, but only under very strict conditions and surveillance.^[5]

Canada

The Canadian criminal code states that only provincial governments and charitable organizations licensed by provincial governments may operate a casino in Canada. It also prohibits residents from participating in any lottery scheme, game of chance, or gambling activity not licensed or operated by a provincial government.^[6] In 2010, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation launched Canada’s first legal online casino, PlayNow, which is available to residents of British Columbia. The province of Quebec also operates a legal online casino through Loto-Québec.

Despite this legislation, the Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec has taken the position that it is a sovereign nation, able to enact its own gambling legislation, and has licensed and hosted nearly 350 gambling websites, without ever being prosecuted.^[7]

Germany

A German state contract about gambling (German: Glücksspielstaatsvertrag [de]) between all 16 German states was ratified in 2008 and has been adapted in 2012. It regulates a restrictive handling of online-gambling, including a basic state monopoly on public gambling with limited exceptions for a few commercial providers. Online gambling, and other forms of public gambling, against these regulations is illegal in Germany. The state contract, its implementation in contrast to the more lenient EU legislation, and possible further changes have been controversially discussed in the public, politics, and courts.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Gambling Bill that was passed into law in 2005 tends to all matters of online gambling, permitting online betting sites to have a Remote Gambling Licence in order to offer online betting to UK citizens. In 2014, the UK government put into law the Gambling Act of 2014 which in addition to the original 2005 law, required offshore online gambling operators catering to UK players to obtain a UK license. The new regulation required operators to pay a 15% Place of Consumption Tax (POCT), something that triggered an exodus of sorts of some operators from the British Isles. However, this exodus did not last long in most cases as the benefits outweighed the stumbling blocks, due to the UK being a major market for online gambling.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019 the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced a series of new measures that apply to online and mobile casinos to reduce underage gambling with the aim of increasing fairness and transparency.^[8] The new measures will require casinos to have users verify their identity and age in order to gamble.^[9]

United States

In the United States, the legality of online gambling is debated and can vary from state to state. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) limits the ability of banks and payment processors to transact with internet gambling sites that are unlawful under any federal or state law. However it does not define the legality or otherwise of an internet based gambling site. It was commonly assumed that the Federal Wire Act prohibited all forms of online gambling. However, in December 2011, the United States Department of Justice released a statement clarifying that the Wire Act applied only to sports betting sites and not to online casinos, poker, or lottery sites,^[10][11] leaving the definition of legality up to individual states. Certain states such as Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey have started the process of legalising and regulating online gambling and it is expected that regulation will continue on a state by state basis.

See also

Online Casinos Nj

Notes

1. ^Interactive Gambling Act 1998 - Australia
2. ^Cowie, Tom. 'Last Bets: around the world in online casinos — first stop, Gibraltar'. Crikey.
3. ^SA to become most expensive place in the world to wage a bet, betting agency says
4. ^Gaming Act
5. ^Platteau, Koen (23 October 2012). 'Online gambling is taking off in Belgium'. Olswang LLP. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012.
6. ^'The Criminal Code of Canada (s.206 and s.207)'. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
7. ^Crowne, Emir; Roy, Sanjay (May 2010). 'Maintaining Provincial Monopolies: The Legality of Online Gambling Sites in Canada'. Canadian Gaming Lawyer Magazine. Vol. 3 no. 1. SSRN1611862.
8. ^Miller, George (2019-02-11). 'UKGC: New rules to make online gambling in Britain fairer and safer'.
9. ^'New rules to make online gambling in Britain fairer and safer'. www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
10. ^Vardi, Nathan. 'Department Of Justice Flip-Flops On Internet Gambling'. Forbes.
11. ^Dunstan, Roger (March 1997). 'II. History of Gambling in the United States II-1'. Gambling in California. California State Library. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18.

External links

What Does Online Casino Dealer Do

• Online Casinos at Curlie