GPWA Times - Issue 20 - March 2012

started to really take off. Of course, if you think of what the Internet was like 15 years ago, that shouldn’t be a big surprise. “Going back to the mid-90s, the first on- line casino games of any kind were fairly basic,” says Lorien Pilling, head of re- search at GBGC. “The development of live dealer casinos has been driven by the im- provements in broadband.” As high-speed Internet becomes more widely available across the globe and op- erators are able to increase their avail- able bandwidth, more and more potential customers are trying out live streaming table games at online casino properties. What was once seen as a niche market is becoming more and more mainstream. In response, a number of Euro Partners brands have started to promote the live dealer games more prominently on their home pages. “It was always a feature provided by Playtech,” says Chris Zever, a senior ac- count manager at Euro Partners. “But it’s become much more of a main factor in our advertising in the last two years than it was in the past. Players were looking for more of that live experience, and a lot of affiliates were looking for banners and de- tails about live dealer games.” In addition to having an experience that more closely mirrors a brick-and-mortar casino environment, many players have greater confidence that they aren’t being cheated in a live dealer environment. While most online casinos have fair randomnum- ber generators, there have been online sites where players have been cheated, and see- ing a dealer with physical cards and a video feed of a roulette wheel makes players who may otherwise be doubtful confident that they are only fighting the house edge, and not a stacked deck as well. “Many people, particularly in Asia, have an inherent distrust of electronic gam- ing,” says Pilling. “If you look at the fig- ures from Macau, slot machines are not particularly popular, and part of that is that players don’t trust them. They pre- fer to deal with a dealer over a baccarat table or a roulette wheel. Live dealer on- line casinos help players overcome that lack of trust.” Social aspect of play Beyond the trust factor, there’s also an undeniable social aspect to live dealer gaming. Software providers take varied approaches to the relationship between the player and the dealer. Playtech deal- ers are focused almost exclusively on the game itself, announcing the action and not straying too far from a script. Smart Live Casino dealers, however, are quite conversational. During the last week in February, dealers talked about the Oscar ceremony and Leap Day, filling the time between hands and spins with a good dose of personality. This approach is integral to Smart Live, as it is broadcast on television throughout the U.K. “The dealers talk about their daily life, so it’s kind of a social entertainment aspect,” says Henrik Piski, managing director at Guru Play. “When you play, there’s al- ways a dead time when you have to wait. The betting time is over, the game time is over, so in the meantime, people can be entertained. I think that’s what makes people come back to the same table. They [Live dealer gaming has] become much more of a main factor in our advertising in the last two years than it was in the past. Players were looking for more of that live experience, and a lot of affiliates were looking for banners and details about live dealer games.” – Chris Zever, Euro Partners “ Screenshot courtesy of Lucky Live Casino. 42 Lower margins ? Maybe. Higher rollers ? Definitely.