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Live Dealer Games vs RNG Games: What’s the better choice?

live dealer vs rng

Introduction To Live Dealer Games vs RNG Games

Roulette and Blackjack, as well as many other casino games, exist both as live dealer and RNG games.

The games are very similar but the experience is entirely different, so let’s examine the pros and cons of each version before I suggest a casino where you can start playing your preferred version – live or RNG.

Players who play casino games online have an important choice to make.

Do you play an automated game that relies on a random number generator (RNG) or play a game that uses a human dealer, also known as live dealer casino games?

Here are the pros and cons in a nutshell.

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Pros and Cons of Live and RNG Casino Games

Pros of RNG Games

  • Demo play is available
  • There is a long history of RNG table games
  • A wide variety of games are available.
  • They have the lowest and highest stakes available
  • Bonuses are plentiful
  • Speed of play controlled by the player

Cons of RNG Games

  • They are generally played as a one-player game.
  • No interaction with other players
  • Computer-generated results – although they are random.
  • Little innovation on existing games.

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Pros of Live Games

  • Innovative games released often
  • Real casino look and feel
  • lifelike randomness
  • win multipliers and other perks
  • ability to speak with other players and the dealers
  • realtime streaming
  • real equipment is used – no fake games.

Cons of Live Games

  • Demo Play is not available
  • Bonuses are rare

Are Live or RNG Games more Profitable?

This is the perennial question.

A game that has a “tell” or becomes predictable in some way is likely to make you more money than one where it’s completely random every time. If you can spot these when playing, it’s possible to exploit them to give yourself an extra edge.

Do you remember how Phil Ivey used edge sorting to win more than $10 million?

However these days it’s become increasingly difficult to find these faults in games. They do not exist in RNG games, and in live games, the monitoring is so sophisticated you’re unlikely to spot them before the systems do.

So here are some of the additional things you should look for when choosing a casino game to play.

  • House edge.
  • Degree of randomness.
  • The lowest bet and highest bet amounts.
  • The chances to get lucky and win big.
  • Perks such as win multipliers – increase the payouts above normal.
  • Overall playability of the game.
  • Bonuses and promotions that reduce the house edge further.

Why play live dealer games online?

Live dealer games seem to have fewer pros and more cons than their RNG counterparts, so why play live dealer games in the first place, you ask?

Well, as a lot of experienced players, including myself, will tell you, live dealer games simply feel better and they are indeed better.

The two most popular games out there, Roulette and Blackjack, are both better as live dealer games, as I’ll explain further down in this article. The same goes for many other games such as Baccarat.

Playing live dealer games online is very similar to visiting a traditional brick-and-mortar casino, as you’ll be immersed in the experience before you know it. It will feel as if you’re right there at the casino.

But, land-based casinos can only offer a limited number of games and tables. This is always a problem as you can only play the game that the casino has, with the set of rules imposed by the casino. It may also be difficult to get a seat.

However, when online you’ll be spoiled for choice as any game you want to indulge in is available at the click of a button, and there’s a fantastic variety of options.

Best Live Software

There are 20+ live casino game developers, so if you’d like to compare all of them, visit my live casino software article.

The vast majority of players will agree that Evolution is the best live casino game developer. Others that come close are Playtech, Pragmatic Play and, specifically for roulette, Authentic Gaming.

Which live casino games are available?

All traditional casino games are available as live casino versions, and then some.

Roulette and Blackjack are the golden standards, with a lot more games available, including new ones being released almost every month.

Click one of the names below to visit the respective article that explains that live game in detail, as well as places where you can play.

If we look at specific games, Evolution Crazy Time, Lightning Roulette, Adventures Beyond Wonderland, Quantum Roulette, Monopoly Live Dream Catcher Edition, Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt Live seem to be the most popular ones.

Live Roulette vs RNG Roulette

Let’s take a look at which is better, Live Roulette or RNG Roulette.

RNG roulette is a truly random game. The outcome of each spin is independent of past spins as each “result” is triggered by a random number generator, which throws out a random number. The calculation is performed as soon as the player hits the spin button, allowing the animation to play the sequence that shows that particular result.

In live roulette, the experience is exactly the same as in brick-and-mortar casinos, as real ball and wheel are used, with a human dealer initiating the spin.

There is no predetermination of the result. The result is produced by the ball skipping around the real pockets in the roulette wheel, coming to settle where it likes. True randomness.

To ensure true randomness is maintained, the Live dealer roulette is constantly being audited by software and on a regular basis independent 3rd parties. In this way, you can be certain the wheel hasn’t been rigged in any way.

Faster speed of play is indeed an advantage of RNG roulette, but some live roulette versions do focus on offering more spins per hour.

The fastest live roulette games are Speed Auto Roulette and Speed Roulette, and hybrid games that use compressed air to launch the ball such as Slingshot Auto Roulette can even match the speed of play of RNG roulette games.

RNG roulette generally has the lowest minimum bets, from 1p per spin – as well as free demo play, which allows you to test out strategies for playing. There are plenty of live low stakes tables (from 10p) to choose from. There are also live high stakes roulette tables that allow even-money bets up to £20,000.

The best live roulette games, are, in my opinion, Evolution VIP Auto Roulette, Evolution French Roulette and Evolution Immersive Roulette. You’ll find all three versions at LeoVegas and Unibet.

Live Blackjack vs RNG Blackjack

Do you prefer your cards dealt from a real deck that reduces in size with each hand, or a fresh deck for each new hand?

That’s basically the choice you’ll be making between playing Live Blackjack or RNG Blackjack.

The randomly generated card draws just don’t fit the game of blackjack very well.  Players expect to see a real deck getting shuffled, and we expect the traditional card game randomness, not computer-generated draws.

In live dealer blackjack, we get what we need. It’s that same traditional game that’s played with real cards, shuffled in front of your eyes, the only difference to playing in a brick-and-mortar casino is you’re watching the action on screen.

On certain high stakes tables, a player can even ask for a re-shuffle!

Compare that to RNG blackjack where the deck is shuffled after every hand, making any kind of card counting impossible. In live blackjack, you at least get 50% shoe penetration before the re-shuffle.

Most live blackjack games use 8 decks and the same rules.

Some games like Playtech Live Quantum Blackjack Plus are more interesting as they add multipliers.

Evolution Infinite Blackjack will be best for purists who just want a traditional game with a low house edge and never have to wait for a seat.

You’ll find Quantum Blackjack at Dafabet Casino and Infinite Blackjack at LeoVegas.

The other good thing about live blackjack is the variety of games. Originally you were restricted to a seven seat game with a few side bets. Now you can play every version of Blackjack, including Power, Speed, FreeBet, Blackjack Switch to name a few.

There is no need to play RNG Blackjack – there is a live game out there for everyone.

Live Baccarat vs RNG Baccarat

The Live VS Rng argument for Baccarat is essentially the same as we’ve discussed with Blackjack

Unlike Blackjack, Baccarat is a game where you can play one of two hands dealt. You’re betting that one hand will beat the other.

An 8 deck shoe is normally used, which is changed when about one deck is left.

Unlike other random games – the past hand results are very important to players of Baccarat, as a fundamental part of the game is the use of Baccarat Roadmaps, to help players determine what future results may be.

Now we know this isn’t quite true, but it’s part of the tradition of the game.

The RNG version just doesn’t present this very well, as each new hand uses a freshly shuffled deck, unlike the live version which penetrates 8 decks.

Also with the live game, you get to see the dealer squeeze the cards and in some versions, the player can perform this exercise. In RNG it’s not quite the same as how the real game is played, you lose the ritual of the way it should be.

Live dealer Baccarat is, therefore, the superior choice, especially as there are some exciting versions available.

You can read more about Baccarat on my Live Baccarat page.

Live Sic Bo vs RNG Sic Bo

When it comes to Sic Bo, I have to declare that it’s a game that should be played with real dice. I’m not even going to explain why RNG Sic Bo is a viable alternative because quite frankly it isn’t.

The live dealer version of Sic Bo is superior in every way. There is the traditional game which is played with three dice and has a standard payout table. You’ll find this at Playtech Live Casinos.

Then there are the enhanced Sic Bo’s. Super Sic Bo, Sic Bo Deluxe, Ultimate Sic Bo and Mega Sic Bo. What all these have in common are win multipliers.

The base payout table is reduced slightly on some of the payouts, but there is the opportunity to win up to 1000x on these games.

You can play Playtech Sic Bo at Dafabet Casino.

You can play Evolution Super Sic Bo at LeoVegas.

Demo Play

Demo Play for RNG and Live Games is like chalk and cheese.

On the whole, online casinos do not offer demo play on Live Casino games. It is possible, and the software providers can enable this functionality, but they generally don’t – well not to players.

There are some games, like blackjack where a demo player could impact the outcome of the game – which is not something a provider or casino would want to encourage. So on the whole this functionality is disabled.

In contrast, RNG games let you try them before you actually place a bet. This is one of the biggest advantages of RNG games over live dealer games, but saving money by not placing a bet shouldn’t be your main criterion when choosing which casino game to play!

There are live games with low minimum bets, so they can be good candidates for testing things out.

You might want to take a look at low limit blackjack and low limit roulette articles for more information.

Betting limits

Live dealer games tend to have higher barriers to entry, which is, the minimum bet.

The limits tend to reflect the limits of playing in a land-based casino.

This has been true for a long time, but the limits have been reducing and now there is plenty of low limit roulette and blackjack tables to choose from.

Players who are looking for high betting limits should definitely play live dealer games, as the limits are much higher than their RNG counterparts.

High stakes roulette tables allow bets up to £250,000 per spin, while high stakes blackjack tables allow bets up to £50,000 per hand.

Speed of play

Speed of play is a major advantage of RNG games.

Players who simply want to test a roulette strategy, for example, are prone to choosing RNG roulette as they can play more hands per hour and therefore gather more return information for their strategy per unit of time.

Again, live software developers have chosen to offer Speed games to fill this niche with their products, so now we have games such as Evolution Speed Auto Roulette and Evolution Speed Blackjack which are faster versions of the base games.

Bonuses and Promotions

Bonuses are one area in which RNG games are better, simply because casinos are reluctant to offer any kind of bonuses for their live games. This tells me that RNG games are perhaps not as random as we’d like to believe!

This could be the best possible signal that live games are indeed better!

These are practically the only casino games for which casinos are very shy with bonuses.

That being said, I dug deep and managed to compile a list of best live casino bonuses.

There are welcome bonuses, game-specific bonuses as well as other promotions you can claim.

Conclusion

There is really no dilemma when it comes to choosing between live and RNG games.

Live games are better in almost all aspects.

The way to gamble online if you’re into table games is to play live dealer games.

I hope this article helped you learn more about them!

Live vs RNG Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between casinos and live casinos?

Most online casinos make a distinction between their automated RNG games and live dealer games. They put the live dealer games in a separate section of the website usually called Live Casino.

Do online casinos use RNG?

Yes, online casinos use random number generators (RNG) for their automated games. Live dealer casino games that don’t use RNG are also available at most online casinos.

Is RNG random?

Yes, RNG is completely and utterly random. Each new outcome is independent of all outcomes that came before that and no pattern can be used to predict the next outcome.

What does RNG mean in gambling?

RNG stands for Random Number Generator. It is a computer program that comes up with random results every time it’s triggered. It’s a bit more complex than that, as each of the possible outcomes in the game has a certain probability attached to it. RNG comes up with a random number that will belong to one of the groups, and this will determine if the outcome for the player is positive or not.

Why is RNG in casino games bad?

Casino games that rely on the outcome of random number generators (RNG) aren’t necessarily bad, but they are truly random as each outcome is independent of all previous ones. Most players prefer the lifelike randomness of live dealer games.

Can RNG be rigged?

Since random number generators (RNGs) are computer programs, in theory they can be rigged to produce less desirable results than stated. However, online casino games are developed by big software development companies and their products undergo rigorous auditing for fairness. So, in practice, RNG casino games are provably fair if you play games by reputable developers, at reputable online casinos you see on this website.

BEST FOR LIVE CASINO GAMES

  • 5 Live Casino Suppliers.
  • The Best Mobile Live Casino.
  • Dedicated Tables.
  • Crazy Time/Monopoly/Lightning Roulette.

5 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

Up to €300 in Live Casino Welcome Bonus Offers

Terms and Conditions Apply.

BEST PLAYTECH LIVE CASINO

  • Dedicated BJ & Roulette Tables.
  • Spin A Win and Quantum Blackjack.
  • Quantum Roulette with Multipliers.
  • Adventures Beyond Wonderland

4 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

For Welcome Bonus Information Click Here.

BEST LIVE CASINO FOR NEW PLAYERS

  • 20 Live Casino Games.
  • Evolution, Authentic, Pragmatic Play and Playtech Live Games.
  • Dedicated Tables. Player Points.
  • Cashback on every bet – win or lose!

4 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

Get 50 Free Spins on Your 1st Deposit

First deposit only. 50 Free Spins. Minimum deposit 10. Each Free Spin valued at 0.10. No minimum withdrawals. T&Cs, Rewards and Game Play Policy applies.

BEST FOR EXPERIENCED PLAYERS

  • 3 Live Casino providers.
  • Loads of Dedicated Tables.
  • Crazy Time/Lightning Roulette/Monopoly
  • Blackjack, Roulette, Dice & Poker Games.

4 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

100% Deposit Match up to €100

Claim your Welcome Bonus! Up to €100 when joining Mr Green Live Casino. T&C apply.

BEST FOR CASHBACK

  • 10% Cashback on Losses.
  • Paid the next day
  • Evolution & Pragmatic Live Casino Games.

4 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

10% Cashback on Losses – Paid Every Day.

Min Deposit of $€25 Required, No wagering, no max cash-out, gameplay will be reviewed, Not Swedish Players, T&Cs apply. 18+ gamble responsibly.

BEST FOR LIVE CASINO GAMES

  • 20 Suppliers inc Evolution Live Games.
  • Great Mobile Interface.
  • Dedicated VBET Tables.
  • Crazy Time

5 / 5 Stars

GO TO CASINO

Welcome Package up to €500 and 300 Free Spins

18+ www.begambleaware.org