Live Dealer Studios: Is Bigger Really Better?

Live dealer casinos have become all the rage in the digital gambling world, ever since they first appeared in the early 2000’s. Since then, technology has progresses greatly, and live casinos have grown right along with it.

Playtech, one of the earliest developers of live dealer software, having built it’s first studio in Manila, Philippines in 2003, announced a monumental expansion project earlier this month. The company signed an agreement with Greek gambling monopoly OPAP to build a new live dealer casino in Riga, Latvia.

Riga is one of the most popular hot-spots for live dealer studios, already home to many other brands like Evolution Gaming, Unibet, and others. Playtech has operated a smaller Riga studio since 2009, but is now building a new studio in the city’s Old Town that is destined to become the largest live dealer casino studio in the world, encompassing 8,500 square meters (91,493 square feet).

Live Casinos – Is Bigger Better?

In the grand scheme of things, Playtech’s live dealer platform is a great one, ranked among the top 3 live casino options on the planet. But when you narrow it all down, even with such an esteemed claim-to-fame as being the largest live dealer casino studio, it’s important to see just how well Playtech stacks up to its biggest competition, Evolution Gaming.

Evolution wasn’t even a blip on the radar until 2006, when it launched as a pure play game supplier. Since then, they’ve grown so rapidly that – despite being late to the game – they’ve become the benchmark for what a live dealer platform should represent.

Evolution Live Dealer Casinos

In the last decade, Evolution has opened new studios in Riga, Latvia (of course), Portomaso, Malta, and their latest addition, located within the walls of the famous Grand Casino in Bucharest, Romania. It’s software is indisputably the best in the business, offering superior customization, simultaneous table play, and TV-quality streaming that even works well on slower connection speeds.

Evolution provides its licencees with a wide range of live dealer games, including 20+ variants of blackjack, baccarat, roulette, three card poker, Caribbean stud and casino holdem. Some of their specialty titles include Baccarat Controlled Squeeze, Immersive Roulette and live tables played directly from the Hippodrome in London, Dragonara Casino in Malta, and (as previously mentioned) Grand Casino in Bucharest.

Playtech Live Dealer Studios

Playtech’s live dealer casino has a lot going for it, too. This platform actually has a slightly larger variety of tables, with a similar game selection that also includes live dealer hi-lo and sicbo. Like Evolution, it’s list of jurisdictional licences is impressive, and all games are compatible with desktop and mobile devices.

However, Playtech still has some work to do before it can truly rival Evolution. There are sporadic downtimes in the software; the result of bug issues in the audio and video department both for desktop and mobile versions. This is, perhaps, the only real problem with Playtech’s live casino platform, but it’s a rather big one for players seeking a reliable, streaming service.

Whether the newer, larger studio in Riga will be any better is yet to be seen, but it won’t make a difference for Canadian players. The new studio will only cater to the brand’s European market.