How live dealer casino games work

A live-dealer game streams a real table to your screen. A human dealer runs each round in a studio, cameras film it, and you place bets through an on-screen layout. This is a general explanation and applies to no particular brand. The odds and the house edge are decided by the rules and payouts of the game, not by whether the dealer is live.

Inside a live studio

A live studio is a purpose-built set with a real table, a wheel or a shoe of cards, lighting and several cameras. The dealer or croupier follows the same procedures as in a land-based casino: spinning the wheel, dealing the cards, announcing the result and clearing the table.

Cameras show the table from different angles, and the video is streamed to players with a short delay. A game controller or software layer keeps track of bets, balances and rounds in the background.

In a card game such as baccarat, the cards come from a shoe holding several decks. Eight decks (416 cards) are common, and some tables use six. The dealer burns cards at the start of a shoe, and a cut card marks when the shoe will be reshuffled.

In roulette, a real wheel is spun and a real ball is launched in the opposite direction. The ball lands in a pocket, and no player can influence where.

Capturing results, and live versus random-number games

The result has to reach your screen and your account quickly and correctly. The exact method varies by studio. In many setups a system reads the card or the wheel result, and the dealer or a controller confirms it before bets are paid. We have not verified the method for any specific provider, so treat this as a general description.

In a random-number game, there is no physical equipment. A random number generator picks the result by software. In a reputable setup, the generator is tested, but how and by whom depends on the licence and the operator.

The rules and payouts are normally the same in both versions of a game. Both are random, and the house edge is the same. In roulette, what matters is whether the wheel has one zero or two.

Betting windows

Each round has a betting window, shown as a countdown timer. When it ends, bets are locked. Pace varies by game, and some, such as Dragon Tiger, are among the fastest card games because only two cards are dealt. A faster game means more bets in the same hour, and since every bet has a house edge, the expected loss per hour is higher too.

If your connection drops, how a bet is settled depends on the terms of the provider, so read them first.

18+ only. This article is for information, not advice to gamble. Responsible gambling.