One of the most significant developments in gaming technology in recent years has been live dealer games. Improved broadband connections, software and camera hardware have all combined to make live dealer gaming one of the key growth areas for online gambling, with players from around the world regularly checking in with live dealers to play their favorite table games.

A lot of players report that the experience of gambling with a live dealer is preferable to video-style games. There’s the opportunity to chat with the dealer as you play, as well as the chance to communicate with other players in some cases. It’s also nice to feel like you’re playing in a live casino, and a friendly face adds a more human touch to the gaming versus your standard online casino games.

But there is one key advantage for many players, particularly those who like to play more seriously. When you’re playing a live dealer game, you are in the perfect position to see the action unfold.

Rather than trusting software, you can instead use your own eyes to examine the integrity and fairness of the game being played. So to what extent does seeing the action with your own eyes matter, and is this a better guarantee of fairness than just playing with an online casino you already trust?

What You See is What You Get

Until relatively recently, live dealer games simply weren’t possible. You can’t really have a live dealer game that requires buffering or drops connection on a regular basis, so it wasn’t until video streaming became supported across the mainstream with faster broadband connections that these casinos and games started to seriously gain traction.

Before then, there was no choice. Online gamblers could either play online and accept the uncertainty than comes from playing software games, or head to their local casino and have a slice of the visible action there. But with live dealer games came the option to combine the best of both worlds – the physical and the virtual – and players have responded overwhelmingly positively to that.

Imagine you’re playing roulette. In most online casino games, there is only a virtual roulette wheel. In reality, the results are generated by a Random Number Generator script working behind the scenes. But some players have concerns about this type of game.

With legitimate game operators, you know what you’re getting, and it’s highly unlikely that these games are rigged. However, not every casino is perfectly legitimate or values fairness and transparency, and it is easy to skew a random number generator to bias the house more than the player. A simple amendment to the code can make a totally random script weigh more heavily against a player, which in the case of roulette could increase the house edge on every spin of the wheel. And worse, there’s no way of telling if you’re a victim. You have nothing to go on, other than your intuition, that something is afoot. And even then, it’s hard to tell whether the results are less favorable for you than they would be on a verifiably, totally random game.

Contrast that with live dealer roulette. Instead of playing against a random number generator, you can physically watch the ball spin around the roulette wheel and come to rest. It’s not paranoid to consider this an advantage, even if only for your peace of mind. This is especially true if you’re playing for larger amounts of money, although it’s still unlikely to soften the blow when you’re losing.

What About Regulation?

Of course, the reality is that most regulated live casinos with a good reputation are offering you a fair crack with each and every bet you place. Casinos have to be regulated and licensed by a relevant authority, which should provide you with the confidence you need to gamble in any available way with that operator. To back that up, you can read reviews online and glean insight from the experiences of other players to put your mind at rest.

But going one step further, live casinos simply put the matter beyond any doubt. Those niggling concerns at the back of your mind when you’re losing waste away to nothing when you can see the game unfold in front of your own eyes.

Aside from the atmosphere and gameplay benefits of live dealer games, knowing that you’re getting a guaranteed fair spin of the wheel is a key benefit for live gaming players. The same applies to other casino favorites like blackjack; when you can see the cards being dealt to you, there’s no room for doubt that you are playing in a fair, transparent game.

With the advent of live dealer gaming, you no longer have to place your trust in video game equivalents if you don’t want to. While it’s possible to be perfectly content that you’re getting a fair chance of winning, seeing really is believing when you’ve got serious money at stake.