Do Live Dealers Cheat at Online Casinos?

Are live casino games rigged? How do I know for sure?

The question of online casinos being rigged has circulated for more than two decades. For the last fifteen years or so, it’s been proven that reputable gambling websites do not cheat their players. Software audits and certification bares evidence that computerized, RNG-based games are just as fair as those managed by professional dealers and croupiers.

But RNG-based games and live casino games are quite different. Just like the tables at bricks-and-mortar casinos, they are operated by real, professionally trained dealers. They use real cards and roulette wheels. Every bit of the action mimics that of a land-based casino, minus the physical presence of the players.

Unfortunately, humans are much more likely to err than computer software. Worse, it’s not always an accident. Just as dealers at land-based casinos have been caught cheating in the past, live dealers at online casinos have the same opportunity. So the question is…

Do Live Dealers Cheat at Online Casinos?

As much as I would like to give a flat, 100% ‘No!‘ to that question, I cannot. Live dealers have actually been caught cheating. In February of 2017, a live casino player caught it on video, and it went viral on YouTube within hours. You can see it for yourself here:
Online Live Blackjack Dealer Caught Cheating

It was a sad day when this video released, rocking the live casino industry to its core. The gambling website, BetOnline, was caught up in massive a scandal, because one of the dealers of its chosen live casino provider, Global Gaming Labs (GGL), was caught cheating. For the record, BetOnline immediately dropped GGL from its providers, and GGL subsequently went out of business.

On the bright side, this tragic incident renewed the efforts of upright studios to prove their worthiness to the iGaming masses. Which brings us to…

Are Live Casino Games Rigged, and How do I Know?

The largest live casino studio producers absolutely do not rig their table games. Their dealer’s are professionally trained to play a legitimate game. After all, casinos already have a house edge—they don’t need to cheat to make money.

To prove their upright stature, casinos willingly undergo regular audits to certify their fairness. The results of their live games are monitored and calculated to determine if the actual RTP (return to player) meets the expected RTP. Slight deviations are permitted for proper and lax player decisions, but overall, when the RTPs line up, it’s clear that the live games are kosher.

To know you’re getting a fair deal, all you have to do is play live casino games from studios with a solid reputation. These include companies like Evolution Gaming, Microgaming, NetEnt and PlayTech. They take immense pride in their products, and are subject to the regulation of the strictest gaming authorities in the world.

Suffice to say, if caught cheating, these companies would suffer tremendous penalties, the least of which would be including compensation of victimized players. And as the video above clearly shows, thanks to today’s modern technology and the vigilance of players, cheating is easy to uncover.

There are countless online gamblers who record and/or live stream their game play on video services like YouTube and Twitch. Many of them have thousands of viewers who watch. If any form of cheating were to occur, you can rest assured the player, or one of their many viewers, would catch it. And like the cheating scandal of GGL, it would go viral within hours.

So in answer to the question—Are live casino games rigged?—the dominant answer is no. It is possible, but any smart player can avoid being cheated by choosing their gambling websites wisely. For Canadians like myself, a good rule of thumb here is to avoid online casinos that accept US players.