Live Casino in lockdown: 'Real dealers,' presenters working from home and RNG
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he COVID-19 pandemic has brought a global lockdown due to safety and health measures, which has changed how, when and where people play and gamble, and has forced the gaming companies to adapt to a whole new landscape where online channels prevail.
One of them is Live Casino, and on the second day of SBC Digital Summit online conference, which ends Friday, that vertical was the focus of the panel “Live Casino in lockdown.”Karolina Pelc, owner of Basic Strategy, moderated the discussion between four gaming executives whose companies are offering the vertical during the ongoing coronavirus health emergency.
Speaking about the first impacts on the sector after the outbreak, Pelc said she has seen Asian operators integrating new suppliers “at a speed that I have never seen before.” She also noted a quick reaction from both Evolution and Playtech, which set as top priorities to provide continuous customer service, taking care of the staff, and find the right balance for that. Key measures included a rigid deep cleaning, social distancing, sanitizing studios, among others.
Richard Atkinson, Head of Live Casino at William Hill, acknowledged it was quite an impact. He said social distancing was implemented at their studios and they lost roughly 45% of their blackjack tables. “There was a concern that potentially all tables would go,” he said.
Napoleon Sports & Casino studios were also hit, and COO Tim de Borle said that in Belgium the impact of the virus, especially in the first phase, was very unclear, and this uncertainty was a key element: “It was even unclear if we were allowed to stay open or not.” When lockdown started they were able to keep operating the studio but at about 40% of the capacity, not due to the moving or closure of the tables, but because the game presenters themselves were in fear, or sick, or following health recommendations. Borle said the range of measures that were in place had an impact on the efficiency of the tables, especially in the blackjack, but after one week and a half they were back in full operation.
The inevitable reduction in blackjack tables was shared by Sam Brown, CCO at Hero Gaming, who said the turnover was approximately halved on that business. “On the positive side, the majority of the Live Casino products, and actually the most profitable products for us, are very scalable, and just making simple changes to the lobbies and CRM and the targeting and marketing we are doing to focus players for scalable products, we were able to more than cover the deficit we experienced with the blackjack tables,” he noted.
Genting Online decided to close the job places when the clubs were shut down for the safety of its employees. The firm’s MD Jeremy Taylor said they lost some of its tables in the studios in Riga, and some of the live streaming through the recently acquired Authentic Gaming as well, though the latter’s studio in Malta remains unaffected. “On the whole, there’ve been significant impacts, but there’s still a decent offering available across our activity for Live Casino for now, which we are going to continue to promote,” he said.
The new landscape also paved the way for innovation and different new strategies to address it, which included the use of RNG technology. Brown said the auto roulettes are well-positioned to cover a lot of the experience, but on the game shows, he is not sure RNG can be a good replacement. In light of the new situation, one of the suppliers came up with a “real dealer,” a hybrid where the game is played via RNG but the displays are presented by a prerecorded live video: “It was certainly a good timing for them.”
A similar concept was highlighted by Atkinson, who said Playtech provided “a great option” with a similar product to the real dealer with an RNG component, but the dealer is actually working from home. “They use the picture screen of the dealer, so that they can continue to do the commentary. So you’re still looking at your familiar tables from games such as baccarat, roulette.”
He also remarked the Live Lobby, where Evolution offers RNG table games and the Live world as well, so via a single botton players can actually go between those two products. He suggested bringing in the animation of the chips into that world, as “the chips’ noise is maybe the thing that’s missing from the land-based.”
Atkinson also echoed Brown’s preference for Live Craps, and he said though that product is not very popular in the UK, it would do very well in the US facing a Live Casino market opening there: “If you bring those people into the game, you create that atmosphere, which is hugely important for the game of craps.”
In terms of innovation, Borle said that besides what Evolution is putting up in the field of game shows and new items in the Live Casino family, he values “the small tweaks they are doing, which are actually creating a big innovation in the classical games.” “For the future of Live Casino I think it's essential that we stick to the winning things that made these games for many years into what they are now, and finding small tweaks in order to uplift the excitement for the players,” he concluded.
