Ed Andrewes on Live Dealer for Betting Business

24th Jul 2013 – To compete in the congested world of online casinos it is essential to offer customers a full-suite of products – be it for desktop users or those on tablet and mobile.

For some time now Live Dealer has been an important cog in that wheel when it comes to the desktop, to the point where it is fast becoming an increasingly popular way of playing table games.

Not only does the product guarantee the integrity of the chosen game – the reason it was developed in the first place – it is also the best way to recreate that actual casino experience that certain players seek.

The very same applies to mobile and tablet, yet some operators have been slow to realise the benefits it can bring to these devices.

It seems that many have fought shy of integrating Live Dealer believing it to be too complicated or expensive to upgrade software or accommodate its live streaming into the limited space within the interface.

There is also a perception that mobile and tablet owners are more interested in playing freemium products and are unlikely to convert to real money gambling.

But given that Live Dealer is not available on any of these freemium models because the business model does not allow, its user-friendly simplicity is a unique opportunity to talk newcomers through the process.

As we’ve found via tablet at Jack Gold, consequently, the product brings in new players who enjoy Live Dealer on the move as much – if not more so – than they did sitting at their desktops.

And with our provider, Evolution, making the technology available to mobile phone users as well in September those numbers are only likely to increase as we head into 2014.

Live Dealer on mobile and tablet can be as beneficial to affiliates as well as operators.

Many of the former have understandably been put off by mobile to date, given the problems with tracking customers via Apps bought from the Apple App store.

Yet given that Jack Gold is a web app, it allows affiliates full-tracking and the all-important credit for the traffic they direct to the Live Dealer tables into the casino.

With advantages for players, operators and affiliates therefore, it is hard not to see Live Dealer as being an important part of the product mix for tablet and casino over the next few years.