Live dealer gaming has soared in popularity at online casinos, combining the excitement of playing against a real person with the convenience of playing from home. But what about the pokies? Will the pokies ever offer the same interactive experience live dealer games do? We discuss live dealer gaming and why the concept of live dealer pokies isn’t logistically possible.
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What is live dealer gaming?
Live dealer games are ideal for those who are wary about RNG (random number generator) technology, or those who want to play at home but miss the atmosphere and social elements of gambling in a brick and mortar casino. Some live dealer games allow you to interact with the dealer and chat with other players, so you get the feel of sitting around a real casino table while enjoying the comfort of being able to play in your daggiest, comfiest clothes without having to leave the house.
What live dealer games are available?
The live dealer games on offer at online casinos are the same table games you’d expect to find in any land based casino, although you’ll find many more game variants online than you would in an Australian casino. The live dealer games you’ll find at the top online casinos include:
- Live dealer roulette (American, European and French variants)
- Live dealer blackjack
- Live dealer baccarat
- Live dealer keno
- Live dealer lotto
- Live dealer Casino Hold’em
- Live dealer Caribbean Stud
- Live dealer Three Card Stud
- Playboy live dealer series
Just like the pokies, live dealer games can be played directly over your Web browser with no downloads required. However, unlike the pokies which can be sampled for free in practice mode, real money bets are required to access these advanced live dealer casino games.
Why live dealer pokies would fail
The only thing pokies and live dealer game have in common is they both offer the chance to win real money, but the similarities end there.
With the pokies, it doesn’t matter whether you play in a land based casino or an online casino, as the format is basically the same. Both depend on computerised technology. Random number generators (RNG) are used to spin symbols randomly across three or five reels until the symbols come to a stop to form either a winning or non-winning combination based on pre-determined pay lines. A live dealer could not be used for the pokies, because a person is not needed to produce the results of a spin, regardless of where you’re playing.
In a mad world, technically it would be possible for a casino operator to construct physical reels, similar to the spinning shapes you often find in children’s playgrounds. A real person could stand to the side of the reels to manually spin the symbols around until they naturally come to a stop, but this just doesn’t make any logistic sense, and it would be incredibly time consuming. It’s hard to imagine a single player who would prefer this option over the fast paced and visually pleasing format of RNG video pokies.