The History of Live Games of Chance
Casinos have evolved over the years frombrick-and-mortar locations to online casinos and more recently, to livecasinos. As we continue to shift into a world where more and more is doneonline (such as shopping, meetings, and working), online and live casinos havecontinued to grow in popularity every year. Technology trends also allow forbetter quality service, which players constantly demand, and operators activelyadopt. Although online casinos have achieved a high standard of quality overthe years, players look for new experiences. So how did we come from thetraditional casino and shift to live casino, and for what reasons?
Casino differences
First, what is the difference between a standardcasino, an online casino, and a live casino? Standard casinos usually require aspecific dress code, the customer is expected to play available games (poker,blackjack, roulette, etc.) in person. There are dealers at every table. Anonline casino offers the customer the ability to play most typical casino gamesvia the web, on any device, from anywhere, with a live dealer. Live casinos arelike online casinos in most aspects, however, with live casino games playersare also able to communicate and interact with other game players.
The origins of live casinos
How did live casinos come about? Originally, the firstonline casino appeared in 1995 and games could not be played with realcurrency. At this point, cryptocurrency had not yet been invented and there wasnot a secure way to send and receive money securely through the internet. In1996, a secure way to transfer funds via CryptoLogic was invented and after that, onlinecasino games increased from one game to 15 games to 15-20 games per casino formost casinos.
At this point, technology speed was proving to be a largehurdle. Technology at that time was not advanced enough for online casinos tohave a good user experience. The internet speed was so slow that online casinogames had very blurry graphics. Once broadband was invented in the late 1990s,the first live casino game (Poker) was created. From there, live casinos haveadvanced to the level they are at today. Live casino games can now be playedsmootly, with high definition video transmission.
Why is the number of live casino users increasing?
Two major reasons are accessibility and convenience.Players no longer have to drive hours away to their nearest casino. Live casinogames (as mentioned above) can be accessed from anywhere including the comfortof their homes. If a customer is awake in the middle of the night and wants toplay a few rounds of blackjack, they can. Whereas most physical casinos closeat least a few hours during the day for upkeep tasks (like cleaning thebuilding).
Another reason more players are shiftingto online and live casino games is the promotions/incentives that areoffered during the sign-up process or the player’s continued patronage. Bothregular and online/live casino games offer incentives. However, the types ofincentives that are offered are different. Land casinos typically offerincentives such as food vouchers or discounts, free hotel stays, and free showtickets.
Live and online casinos offer sign-up bonuses whichare usually in the form of credits or money. This can be helpful for newercasino players as it can provide extra credits/money to play with and thereforeless money is spent out of pocket as the player gains experience and skills.While the online/live casino games can seem more tempting, there are usuallyterms and conditions that apply to the rewards such as a minimum spend amount.These terms and conditions should be kept in mind while playing to maintain themost positive experience possible.
Live casino games offer the best of both worlds –players have the accessibility and convenience they crave, incentives to getthem started, with the socialization aspect that a traditional casino has. Livecasino popularity will continue to grow for these reasons.
