I’ve been wanting to write an article about live casino (live blackjack in particular) for quite a while now, but I haven’t really been able to find an interesting topic that I could discuss with you, guys. I didn’t just want to do your standard “What is live casino” or “Tips & strategies for live casino”, since literally everyone and their mother is doing that (literally – call your mom right now and ask her what she’s doing, pretty sure the answer will be something along the lines of “I’m writing an article about live casino, by the way, when are you making me grandchildren?”), I wanted to create something different, something that could spark interesting discussion, something unique. And I think I finally discovered a topic that is actually worth exploring!
First, let’s take a moment to talk a little bit about just what live casino is, as well as its history. While the very first online casinos began popping up in the late 90s, it wasn’t until about ten years later when the gap between physical and online casino was finally bridged with the use of a live dealer that would be broadcast over the Internet with the use of a webcam… A single dealer. For blackjack only. For a few hours a day. Broadcast in glorious 240p. Yes, live casino, in its infancy, was nothing more than a cheap gimmick, something to advertise on TV and attract people to try out this relatively new “online casino” thing they may or may not have heard of. This isn’t the first time online casinos experimented with gimmicks – just a few years ago, the push towards mobile casinos was yet another gimmick designed solely to make new gamblers deposit for the very first time. But while mobile casino crashed and burned, people were actually quite interested in live blackjack. Despite its limitations, people actually cared about interacting with a real life human being during their casino gaming! Imagine that!
This prompted online casinos to continue developing and improving, leading to the creation of numerous sites for live blackjack from the UK which feature 1080p video, numerous rooms (some of which are specialized, like, say, with dealers speaking French or German) and other extras that just weren’t feasible 10 years ago. And then the development simply… Stopped. Live casino peaked, and while its quality never exactly dropped significantly, interest in it certainly did. Revenues for live games, and for card games like blackjack and baccarat in general, began to drop, while revenues for luck-based games like roulette and slots shot through the roof. As we entered a new decade, the interests of the gambling public shifted away, and with VR and skill-based slots about to enter the casino world, it appears that even more gimmicks are going to be occupying the public consciousness very, very soon.
So the question remains… Is live blackjack becoming obsolete? Are we actually facing the risk of live casinos closing down? After all, if a regular game (say, a particular online slot) is unsuccessful, there’s literally nothing keeping the online casino from just leaving it there for the occasional fan to enjoy, but live casino requires a constant sunk cost in terms of dealer salaries, equipment maintenance and streaming charges. If it’s unsuccessful and the costs outweigh the profits, then it will certainly be taken down sooner or later. There’s no point in keeping it up if it costs money instead of earning it – that’s, like, business 101. So we have to ask ourselves if this push towards single-player, luck-based games is an early sign that some casinos are planning on decreasing their live casino presence. I personally hope it’s not going to happen, but who knows what the future holds…