In 2006, Evolution Gaming began its journey that would end up revolutionising online casino gaming. Within the next year, they’d launched their first outings into the new live casino space, starting with live roulette and live blackjack streamed around the world from the capital of Latvia, Riga. Having gained traction and industry plaudits by 2010, they kicked on to create an expansive offering.
Classic table games all appeared through live stream games, playing in real time opposite professional croupiers. With competition increasing around Evolution, more and more studios began to innovate. This brought about the rise of live game shows, pioneered by Evolution’s Dream Catcher big wheel game. The section has evolved rapidly, with one of the most recent pivots being a way to immerse the players in the game even further.
Catching the Live Streaming Wave Early
Live streaming, in some form, has been around since the 2000s, but just showcasing how audacious the effort was in 2010 to combine casino gaming and live streaming, Twitch didn’t launch its public beta until mid-2011. Now, in 2024 alone, over 20 billion hours of live-streamed content is enjoyed on platforms like Twitch by viewers worldwide. The big appeal for many is the real-time action, seeing things happen live and discussing them.
Naturally, this element is in full force within any top-tier live casino game. The croupiers run the games well, interact with players, and the live chat feature offers the chance to discuss the rounds with fellow players. Where live-streamed casino games separate themselves from other similar products is in their interactivity. When players watch, they can bet there and then, seeing the results of their bet just as they would at a land-based casino.
Going the Next Step to Greater Immersion
While live casino games are more interactive and give more control to the viewers than a live stream on a platform like Switch, there is an element of authenticity that Twitch boasts over live casino games. Many of its streamers are just everyday people who’ve set up a camera and lighting to connect to an audience. Live casino games, for the most part, operate out of a world-class, dedicated studio specifically made for the experience.
Increasing the authenticity will always result in an increase in the immersion factor, and for live casino gaming, that comes by way of streaming directly from world-class casinos. Take the Hippodrome in London, for example. The world-renowned establishment is now running the Hippodrome online casino as well. Here, players can spin Live Hippodrome Roulette and Live Hippodrome Blackjack directly from the vaunted venue itself.
Some other well-known venues have joined the fray since The Hippodrome began live streaming from its tables, including the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It marks the next step in offering total immersion in the tech-driven form of casino gaming. Next up might well be a dive into the virtual world. After all, companies like Google have been vying for live-streamed, 360-degree videos in VR experiences since at least 2016.
Live streaming has already taken online casino gaming to a new level, but now, providers are working out ways to make live games even more immersive and authentic. As competition continues to grow, it’ll be interesting to see what the next big innovation delivers to the players.
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