The Argument for Avoiding Live Dealer Casino Games

The Argument for Avoiding Live Dealer Casino Games

Tons of players and industry experts love talking about how wonderful live dealer casino games are. However, they often ignore that they aren’t a great fit for every single player. In what follows, we’ll look at some arguments for why some players should avoid these games instead.


Live Dealer Tables Are Not For Everyone

No matter where you turn in the modern online casino industry, you’ll see everyone raving about live dealer tables. This particular sector of the industry has seen a major revival in the past few years. That includes lots of competition when there wasn’t much before.

However, despite the push for everyone to move toward these games, they aren’t for everyone.

This is one of those things that a lot of industry figures don’t want to admit, but it’s the truth. We don’t blame them for wanting to push the industry forward, but not every advancement is an improvement for every player.

In the following, we’re going to break down what live dealer games do well. However, we’ll also look at what they don’t do so well, and we’ll show why some players would prefer the more traditional online casino approach. With that said, we’ll also show how to avoid these issues if you do want live dealer play.

The Fundamental Problem

First off, we want to point out the fundamental problem that affects live dealer games. Ultimately, this is a problem that affects all types of games, even outside of the casino industry:

There is no way to create a game or genre of games that will appeal to all players.

Even within a given sector or genre, there’s no way to appeal to everyone. It’s just not feasible because there is so much variance in what people like.

Because of that, no matter how great the games in the live dealer genre get, not everyone will play. That means that there will never be a full shift over to live games in favor of traditional table games. It also means that software providers need to remember that not everyone cares for the live dealer environment, and we’re going to get into a number of reasons why that is in the following.

The Issues With the Live Dealer Style

Live dealer games have a lot of advantages over their normal counterparts. However, there are some disadvantages as well. The balance of the pros and cons will always depend on the individual player. With that having been said, we will look at some of these cons to see what the issues can be.

Game Speed

On average, live dealer games move along much more slowly than their traditional online counterparts. A variety of reasons exist for this, but the main issue is that you have to wait on other players. Waiting on the human dealer to move cards or dice around is another factor as well. However, it’s the other players that make up a majority of the wait times.

If you’re the type of player who just wants to move the game along as quickly as possible, then this is an issue for obvious reasons. You’ll clearly want things to be as fast as they can be. If the advantages of the live dealer environment don’t appeal to you, then this can be the crux of it. Game speed can really make or break the experience for a lot of players.

With that said, live dealer providers have tried to address this situation. They have gameplay styles and variations that move much faster than the traditional live variants. This shows that developers understand this issue from players and are actively working on solutions.

Social Interaction

Some people really just want to sit down and play without being involved with other people. While that doesn’t appeal to extroverts as much, it’s a simple fact for a large number of players.

One thing that live dealer tables do really well is they add in layers of social interaction. While this is typically seen as a big advancement for the game as a whole, and it is, not everyone feels the same. In the movement to try to capture the social scene of brick and mortar games, some players are forgotten. These are the players who just want to relax, not interact with people and play.

Even if software providers have options to turn off the noise of the chat box, that’s not always enough. The pressure to take part is something that causes anxiety in a lot of people. As a result, they could see the live dealer interface itself as an unnecessary stressor.

Again, live dealer operators have done a pretty decent job of allowing players to opt out of social elements. However, there’s only so much they can do given the format itself.

Level of Stakes

In almost all cases, the available stakes in the live dealer environment will have a higher minimum bet size. In comparison to traditional online games, you might see a difference of tenfold or more.

For a simple example, we looked at a popular online casino we have reviewed that has live dealer games. This site is rated really well, so we used it as a standard for checking this out. In their most popular blackjack games, wagers as low as €0.10 were common per hand. Some were even checking in at the €0.05 level for the minimum.

With that having been said, the lowest minimum wager we could find in any of their live blackjack was €1. That’s on a per-hand basis, so even when you factor in the hands being dealt more slowly, it’s a big difference. This is a level of stakes that is outside of the budget of a significant portion of players. As a result, they don’t really feel like it’s an option for them if they want to play responsibly.

In terms of what providers could do about this, there really isn’t much. These games have a higher overhead cost to operate than traditional games. That’s usually where the higher minimum bets come into play. With that said, we aren’t sure if some type of compromise could be made in this area.

Game Variety

The final issue we want to point out is one that many players will identify with. That is the issue of game variety. Simply put, there are a lot more different styles of table games than what live dealer games offer.

This is an issue of practicality that isn’t really something providers can do anything about. They simply can’t run a live table of every variation of every table game. However, the downside of that is that players don’t have as much variety. This is a big reason why live dealer tables can’t suffice for all players who like all tables.

Something that’s interesting, however, is that many new live dealer games are fresh ideas. They aren’t built on games that already exist in the traditional market. That means that the variety issue has been flipped on its head to some extent. As a result, you’ll have certain games that you can’t get unless you play with a live dealer.

Overview

All kinds of different players who like different things get in on the action online. While the live dealer sector has grown a lot, don’t let anyone pressure you into playing games you don’t like. As long as you’re enjoying yourself with the types of games you prefer, you’re playing what you should be. There’s no reason to sit at live dealer table games if they aren’t what you like, but don’t dismiss them completely either.