A live dealer game puts a real person at a real table — dealing cards, spinning a wheel or hosting a game show — and streams the action to players who bet through an on-screen interface. It combines the trust and atmosphere of a land-based casino with the convenience and scale of online play. Live casino has become one of the largest and most profitable verticals in iGaming, and its providers are among the most valuable companies in the supply chain.
How it works
Games run from dedicated studios, often in Latvia, Malta, Romania or the Philippines, each table filmed by several cameras. Physical outcomes are captured digitally: cards carry barcodes read as they are dealt, roulette wheels have sensors that register the winning number, and optical character recognition confirms results. A game control unit encodes the video, attaches the outcome data and streams it with a delay of a second or two to every player at the table.
The player's bets are placed on a digital layer over the video and settled by the provider's game server, which talks to the operator's wallet in the same way an RNG slot does. Dealers see player chat and bets on monitors; hundreds of players can sit at one blackjack table through side-bet mechanics or "infinite" variants where everyone plays the same hand.
Providers sell tables in tiers: shared generic tables, dedicated tables branded for one operator, and native-language tables for specific markets.
Why it matters for operators and suppliers
For operators, live casino attracts higher-value players, longer sessions and better retention than most RNG content, and it is hard to replicate — the studio, staff and licensing are a large fixed investment, so operators buy rather than build. Live game shows, which blend a host, a wheel and multipliers, have widened the audience beyond traditional table-game players.
For suppliers, live casino is a scale business with high barriers to entry. Costs are people and studios; margins come from filling tables across many operators. Certification requirements, studio licensing in each jurisdiction and streaming infrastructure define who can compete.
Example
A European operator adds a dedicated, branded blackjack table with a native-language dealer for its Nordic market. The table costs a fixed monthly fee on top of the standard revenue share. Within a quarter, live casino GGR from that market rises by a third and average session length among live players is nearly double that of slot players, justifying a second dedicated table.
Frequently asked questions
Outcomes are physical and visible on camera, and studios are licensed and audited like land-based casinos. Card and wheel results are captured by sensors and OCR, and the video and the settled result must match.
RNG games decide outcomes with certified software; live games use physical equipment and a human dealer streamed in real time. RNG games are faster and cheaper to run; live games earn more per player.
Yes. Providers offer dedicated tables branded and staffed for one operator, usually for a fixed monthly fee plus revenue share, and some large operators run their own studios.
Providers to compare
From Live Casino Provider in the supplier directory.
- Queen BeeQueen Bee 🐝is the world’s leading B2B supplier of innovative visual studio products for Live dealer content creators in broadcast and enter…
- Allbet GamingAllbet Gaming: Premier Live Dealer Supplier for iGaming Operators Allbet Gaming is a prominent live dealer supplier and iGaming platform pro…
- Amber StudiosAmber Studios is a leading live dealer studio provider delivering dedicated and shared live casino solutions for iGaming operators. With ove…
- American Gaming SystemsAmerican Gaming Systems (AGS), operating as PlayAGS, Inc., is a prominent Las Vegas-based provider of B2B gaming solutions. Since its foundi…
- AWAGERAWAGER: Live Physical Slots & ETG Streaming for B2B Casino Solutions Awager enhances the iGaming experience by livestreaming real physical s…
- BetConstructBetConstruct is a global iGaming technology provider offering a comprehensive ecosystem of platforms, tools, and solutions for operators wor…
More terminology
- NGR (Net Gaming Revenue)Net gaming revenue (NGR) is GGR minus bonuses, gaming taxes and agreed fees such as payment costs — the figure affiliates and many partners are paid on.
- Progressive JackpotA progressive jackpot is a prize that grows with every bet on a game or network of games, fed by a small slice of each stake, until one player wins it.
- Provably FairProvably fair is a cryptographic method, common in crypto casinos, that lets players verify after each round that the outcome was fixed before they bet.
- Revenue Share (RevShare)Revenue share pays an affiliate or partner a percentage of the net revenue from the players they refer, for as long as those players stay active.
- RTP (Return to Player)RTP (return to player) is the share of all money wagered on a game that it pays back to players over the long run, expressed as a percentage such as 96%.
- Turnover (Handle)Turnover, or handle, is the total value of all bets placed over a period, before any winnings are paid out — the measure of betting volume, not revenue.