Live Casino Games

If you haven’t tried your hand in a live casino before you might think it’s impossible to play alongside other players, in real time, with live dealers. Indeed, there was a time where you could never dream of getting this experience from your own living room, but as technology advances and improves, we have more opportunity than ever to experience the impossible. Not sure about live casino sites, or what is available within them? No problem! We’ve put together this guide, so you know exactly what to expect, the selection of games available, and what to look for when searching for an online casino site with a live casino.

Top Sites for Live Casino Games

Finding a casino with a bustling live casino doesn’t mean you have to compromise elsewhere. It is possible to find a casino with a superb selection of slots, fantastic support, fast payouts (even instant payouts), and a live casino packed with choices. We know, it seems too good to be true, but it’s really not. We have a selection of live casino sites hand-picked, having been tested by us, and to make things even better, they are all licenced and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission – or the Malta Gaming Authority, if you’re outside of the UK.

So, what makes a live casino site one of the best? Exactly what we mentioned above – it offers more than just a good live casino. You want to find a live casino site that rewards you in every possible way, not just in their selection of live casino games. Don’t worry if things seem overwhelming, we’re going to help you learn exactly what to look for in a live casino site – for now, here are our Top 5.

Top Live Casino Games

There are a number of live casino games to choose from, but the most popular will probably never change – Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, and Poker. Finding the perfect live casino game for you means understanding each live casino game on offer, and we’re here to help you do this. Keep reading this guide to make sure you understanding everything there is to know about live casino games and choose the right one for you.

Roulette

First up, it’s roulette. Named after the French word meaning ‘little wheel’, roulette is one of the easiest live casino games to understand – and probably the best for beginners, as it doesn’t involve any skill. That’s right – it’s all random, and it’s down to luck who wins and who loses. Of course, if you’re here for a live casino game that involves a certain amount of skill, you might not be interested in what UK roulette sites have to offer, but as we said – it’s the perfect jumping off point into the world of live casino games.

In roulette, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction. At the same time, a small ball is spun in the opposite direction, around a track on the outside of the wheel. When the ball loses momentum, it drops onto the wheel. The wheel is separated into 37 spaces, numbered 0-36 (there are other versions of roulette that have 38 or 39 spaces, with double or triple zeroes, respectively). There are separators between the numbers, creating a pocket at each number for the ball to fall in to. Whichever number pocket the ball falls into is the winning number.

You don’t have to just pick one number on roulette – you can bet on every number, or just a few of your favourites. The wheel is separated into four areas – Tier, Zero, Orphelins, and Voisins, so you can also use this separation to bet on certain numbers and their ‘neighbours’, which basically means the numbers either side of the number you have chosen on the wheel – not necessarily the next number in sequence.

💡 Roulette is the one of the easiest live casino games to understand.

Bets on roulette are separated into inside bets and outside bets.

Inside Bets:

• Straight – bet on a single number.
• Split – bet on two vertically or horizontally adjacent numbers.
• Street – bet on three consecutive numbers in a horizontal line.
• Corner – bet on four numbers that meet at one corner.
• Six Line – bet on six consecutive numbers that form two horizontal lines.
• Trio – bet on zero, and two other numbers.
• First Four – bet on 0-1-2-3.
• Basket – bet on 0-00-1-2-3.

Outside Bets:

• Low or High – bet on 1-18, or 19-36.
• Red or Black – bet for the ball to land on any red number, or any black number.
• Even or Odd – bet for the ball to land on any even number, or any odd number.
• Dozen Bet – bet for the ball to land in the first dozen (1-12), the second dozen (13-24), or the third dozen (25-36).
• Column Bet – bet for the ball to land in a chosen vertical column of 12 numbers.
• Snake Bet – a bet that covers certain numbers, that when traced out form a snakelike pattern. This bet is not available in every casino.

Outside bets tend to have smaller returns than inside bets. You’ll also notice above that 0 isn’t included in any outside bet – however, in some casinos (mainly UK), some outside bets only result in players losing half of their bet if the ball lands in zero. Roulette returns range from 35 to 1 for a single number, to 1 to 1 for a red/black bet.

Lightning Roulette

Indeed, roulette has proven to be such a successful live casino game that many providers and new casinos have released their own twist on it. The most popular example of this is definitely Lightning Roulette, by Evolution Gaming. In Lightning Roulette, between 1-5 ‘Lucky Numbers’ are chosen randomly at the beginning of each spin (after all bets have been placed), and they are awarded increased payout values, between 50 and 500x bet. Increased payout values can be50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 400x, or 500x. Additionally, on the more recent XXXTreme Lightning Roulette, players can see payout values as high as 2,000x bet – now that’s exciting!

All other numbers on Lightning Roulette pay out at 30 to 1 for straight bets, but if you do manage to land a Lightning Number, you could see some huge wins – up to 500x bet. All other bets like Splits pay the same as standard roulette.

Lucky Numbers are chosen by Random Number Generators, so you know everything is fair when you play Lightning Roulette – phew!

Blackjack

Blackjack is the most popular live casino game in the world, and it has earned this title for a reason. Taking place at a table with 5-9 seats, players don’t compete against each other when they play blackjack – they compete against the dealer. Each player is dealt two cards, including the dealer, although you can only see one of the dealer’s cards. Cards are dealt from a standard 52 card deck, although there can be anywhere between 1 and 8 decks in play.

💡 Aces are worth 1 or 11 in Blackjack.

The goal of blackjack is for the value of your cards to add up to 21, or as close to it as possible. Each number card has the value of the number on it, whilst jack, queen, and king cards hold a value of 10. Ace cards can be high or low – meaning they can be worth 1, or 11. Each player around the table will be given an opportunity in turn to add more cards to their hand, to get closer to 21. You can make any of the following choices:

• Hit – Take a card (you can do this as many times as you’d like, until your cards surpass 21).
• Stand – End your turn, and not take any more cards.
• Split – If both cards have the same value, you can separate them to have two hands).
• Double – Double the amount you have bet, take one card, and end your turn.

If the sum of the total of your cards goes beyond 21, you ‘bust’, and lose. Once everyone around the table has had their turn, the dealer must turn their second card over, and must continue taking more cards until the value of their cards reaches 17, or they bust. Once the dealer has bust, all players are awarded their win. If the dealer does not bust, only players with a value higher than the dealer will win. If the dealer and a player hold the same value, the bet is returned – this is what is known as a push.

A winning hand of blackjack pays at 1 to 1, which means you will double your bet if you win a hand. A player ‘blackjack’ pays higher, usually around 3 to 2. A player blackjack occurs when you achieve a value of 21 through a 10, jack, queen, or king, and an ace.

Lightning Blackjack

Evolution have now added their Lightning concept to the wildly popular game of blackjack. In Lightning Blackjack, players that win will be generated a random multiplier between 2x and 25x. Available multipliers are 2x, 5x, 8x, 10x, 15x, 20x, and 25x. If a player wins a game round, this multiplier is then applied to the new game round, with the payout increased by this multiplier if the player wins the next game round.

If you don’t get a chance to play with your multiplier, it’s okay – the multiplier will be saved and available to you for up to 180 days!

Alongside roulette and blackjack, the following are some of the most popular live casino games:

• Baccarat
• Poker
• Craps

Live Casino Games – Fast Payout Sites

So, you’ve decided you’d like to give a live casino game a go, and now it’s time to find a casino site that offers the right selection of live casino games for you. If you’re successful, you could be enjoying yourself in no time, and if you get lucky, you could be making a withdrawal. When the time comes to make the withdrawal, the last thing you want is to be faced with a 5-7 day wait to receive your money.

Thankfully, there are plenty of casinos that offer a superb selection of live casino games with fast payouts – and even instant payouts. There’s no need to sacrifice in your expectation of payments at a live casino games site, because you really can find the perfect place to play – giving you the customer service you require. 

Live Casino Game Sites – What to Look For

It can be overwhelming to find a new online casino, and we're here to help. If you're looking for somewhere to play online casino games, you need to know what to look for – that's where we come in. We want to make sure you get the level of customer service you deserve at an online casino site. Keep reading to see our top recommendations to be on the lookout for.

📝 Make a list of the things most important to you, to be sure you can begin to enjoy live casino games in the right place.

Licence

Before you even consider playing a live casino game, you'll have to find somewhere to play it. The most important thing to consider when choosing where the play is the Licence that the sites holds. Okay, we know – it's not the most exciting subject, but is truly is important. The most reputable regulatory body worldwide is the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) – and this isn't just our opinion, it's a widely held opinion. But do you know what the UKGC actually do? Do you know how much they protect players?

First of all, the UKGC ensure casino put checks in place to make sure players are safe. These checks also ensure players are playing within their limits. This can include verification – making sure players are who they say they are, and making sure they are playing with their own money. Additionally, they make sure games are performing as they should – meeting their RTP expectations, so you know you are playing somewhere fair, safe, and secure.

ℹ️ Every casino we recommend with live casino games is licenced and regulated the UKGC and MGA.

Alongside this, the UKGC make sure that your money is held in a safe place. If you signed up to a casino to play live casino games, and the casino were to close, the UKGC help to ensure you would have your money returned to you. Furthermore, the UKGC are there to stop a casino refusing to pay you out without a valid reason. If you have a disagreement over payment with a casino, the UKGC provide an Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (ADR), creating an unbiased third party to help resolve the situation.

When you're looking for somewhere to play live casino games, look for somewhere with a United Kingdom Gambling Commission Licence. If you're outside of the UK, look for a casino licenced and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority.

All of our recommended live casino game sites on Hideous Slots are licenced and regulated by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission for UK players, or the Malta Gaming Authority for non-UK players.

Live Casino Game Selection

The most obvious! Of course, there are a number of things you want to find when you're choosing a casino, but if you're reading this guide then the most important thing for you is to find somewhere with a superb selection of live casino games. Ideally, you want to find a casino that offers a great selection of all games, not just live casino games. In this guide we will be prioritising live casino games, but you should always look for the best slot site, with a bit of everything – like live casino game shows.

The best casino will offer multiple versions of roulette and blackjack, for a start. Although it might be easy to think if you've found one roulette or blackjack game, you've found them all, this actually isn't true. As you can see above, Lightning Roulette and Lightning Blackjack are perfect examples of this. Many providers and casinos release their own version of roulette and blackjack, amongst other live casino games – and this more often than not includes extra features to make things more exciting. You always want to be sure you have more than enough options for things like the stake you want to bet.

Alongside roulette and blackjack, you want to look for a casino that offers poker, craps, and baccarat – the three most popular live casino games after roulette and blackjack. Again, look for sites that offer a selection of these, so you can always find the right one for you. Also – in live casino games like blackjack, there are only so many seats around a live dealer table, so you want to find a casino that will always have a seat for you. No one wants to join a queue to play their favourite game.

Support

It's simple – we all hope we won't run into any problems when we're playing live casino games, but the bottom line is that we might, and if we do, it's important that we know there is someone there to help when necessary. For that reason, when you're looking for a new site to play live casino games, always look for a casino that offers customer support – for peace of mind, more than anything else.

The best support you will find is a live chat. Even better again is to find a live casino game site with a 24/7 live chat, so you know, day or night, there's someone there to help. When we do run into trouble, there's something really reassuring about having a human to talk to, and this is what makes a live chat the best possible option. Of course, if you're not the sort of person to play live casino games late at night, you won't need a 24/7 live chat – most that do not operate every hour will operate between certain hours, normally 8am-10pm, so they're still available to help during peak hours.

Payment Methods and Withdrawals

We already mentioned this above, but one of the worst things to happen is when you sign up somewhere new, make a deposit, play your favourite live casino games, win (okay, this part is fun), and then go to make a withdrawal, only to find out you have to wait days upon days on it. It's that old thought process – ‘you can take my money instantly, why can't you refund it instantly?'. I think it every time I have to ask for a refund anywhere, even Tesco! It's true, though – but we have great news. The best payout casinos are now bringing in fast payouts, and some are even offering instant payouts now.

💡 Look for a live casino game site offering fast – or instant – payouts.

So, finding somewhere to play live casino games with a great selection of payment methods is imperative. You want to have a good selection, so you can choose the one that will be the quickest. Some of the most popular payment methods are eWallet methods, and these are also traditionally the fastest for withdrawals – so this is likely why they are the most popular! eWallet methods include PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller (to name the 3 most common), and they work like online wallets – somewhere to store money, and make deposits and withdrawals from. You'll still need to top your eWallet account up – this is usually done by making a transfer from your regular, everyday bank account, and is instant. eWallets are great for people looking for an extra level of privacy, and withdrawals to these methods are usually processed and arrive within 24 hours.

The second most popular payment method is a Visa Debit card, and in years gone by, this would have been considerably slower than an eWallet method for withdrawals. Good news though, and a bit surprising – at many live casino game sites, Visa Debit cards are now the fastest withdrawal method, and are even instant at some sites. This is thanks to Visa Fast Funds – if your bank (and the live casino game site you choose) works with Visa Fast Funds, you can see your Visa Debit card withdrawal arrive to your bank account in less than 2 hours – incredible! The following banks are working with Visa Fast Funds:

• Barclays
• NatWest
• Lloyds
• HSBC
• Bank of Scotland
• AIB Group
• Allied Irish Bank
• Bank of Ireland
• Ulster Bank

If your bank isn't in the list, you can contact them regarding this – it isn't the live casino game site that decides if your card is eligible – it is your bank that decides this. Alternatively, if you're not too bothered about waiting for your withdrawal, work away – and you might get a nice surprise in the cashier that your withdrawal is on its way much, much sooner than expected – always exciting for a player to see.

Welcome Offers

When you sign up to a site in order to play live casino games, you're signing up for a service where you will spend money, and there will be times when you lose money. Casinos should value their customers, and it is for this reason that pretty much every live casino games site out there offers a welcome bonus. A welcome bonus is just the sites way of saying ‘thanks for signing up' – and trying to convince you to choose their brand over another. It's a bit like when you go to buy a new car and there are two dealerships on the same road – they will often compete in their large, billboard advertisements. Online casinos are the same – except they are offering remote services, so they are always in competition with each other, and that's where welcome offers come in.

ℹ️ Welcome Offers are a casinos way of rewarding you for signing up.

There are plenty of potential welcome offers you might see, which we'll explain soon – but if you're reading this guide, you have an interest in live casino games, so we know the perfect bonus for you. Many live casino game sites will offer a ‘Live Casino Welcome Bonus', which is a bonus specifically designed for use when playing live casino games – so much so it will often not be possible to use this bonus elsewhere on the site. These bonuses will often come in the form of a percentage match bonus, and although it can seem confusing, it's quite simple – 100% up to £100 means the live casino games site will match 100% (or all) of your deposit, up to £100. This means if you deposit £100, they'll top it up by giving you another £100 to play live casino games with, whilst your £100 can be spent anywhere. To cover the basics:

• Welcome Offers will come with wagering requirements – you can find out more about these in our Best Casino Bonus Guide.
• Welcome Offers in the UK are always non-sticky, meaning if you win when playing with your money first, you can withdraw without completing wagering.
• Welcome Offers must be used on your first deposit.
• You must deposit a minimum amount to claim a Welcome Offer (usually £10 or £20).
• Welcome Offers are for new players only.
• You must be 18+ to claim a Welcome Offer.

Alongside a Live Casino Welcome Offer, there are a number of other offers you may find at a live casino game site:

• Cash welcome offers (these can often be used on live casino games, albeit with smaller wagering contributions as bets are usually bigger).
• Free spin welcome offers.
• No deposit welcome offers.
• No wagering welcome offers.
• Loyalty point welcome offers (these can often be exchanged for cash when enough points have been collected, and usually accompany a cash offer).

How Do Hideous Slots Review Live Casino Game Sites?

Recommending sites for live casino games is not something we take lightly – it's a serious responsibility, and for this reason we scour the internet looking for the best options for you. There are hundreds of casinos available up there, and we try to source the best options, offering something for every player. Look, not everyone is going to prioritise the same thing, and we see this first hand. Where one player wants an instant withdrawal, another might be prepared to wait a few days for their withdrawal if it means they get access to their favourite payment method, or maybe a few extra live casino games.

That said, as time goes on, players are having to make fewer ‘choices' with regards to their favourite brand, and fewer sacrifices. It is entirely possible now to find somewhere that offers a huge selection of live casino games, with 24/7 support, and fast – or even instant – payouts. Really! But how do we choose the brands that we recommend to you? Well, it's quite a simple process.

First of all, we take a look at the licence – we keep repeating ourselves, but we really won't recommend a casino if it doesn't have the appropriate licence. For us, the appropriate licence is a United Kingdom Gambling Commission Licence for UK players, and a Malta Gaming Authority Licence for players outside of the United Kingdom. In fact, for UK players, it isn't a choice to require a UKGC licence – sites cannot offer services to players in the UK without this licence, so if you're in the United Kingdom and you want to play live casino games, you'll have to find a site with a UKGC licence. Every site we recommend has this licence.

❗️ Sites can only offer services to UK players if they have a UKGC Licence.

Next, we look at the welcome bonus on offer. We want to be sure players are adequately rewarded for signing up to a casino to play live casino games. Many sites actually offer live casino welcome bonuses – specifically designed for those players who intend to play live casino games. When we consider the welcome bonus, we also consider eligibility requirements, and wagering requirements, as well as anything like a conversion cap. We also pay close attention to no deposit bonuses and no wagering bonuses – the best kind of rewards.

After the welcome bonus, we look at support, game providers, payment methods, withdrawal times, verification, and ongoing perks and loyalty schemes – we really do cover everything. We do this work so you don't have to, but we don't just expect you to take our word for it – we offer in-depth reviews on every live casino game site we recommend. Our reviews are always transparent, so you can read everything above, and decide for yourself if it's the right choice for you. We think everyone can make their own decision about what matters to them, we're just here to help.

Ongoing Perks at Live Casino Game Sites

Sure, Welcome Offers are great, but do we really want to stop being rewarded as soon as we've signed up? The best live casino game sites offer ongoing perks and rewards, to keep us excited, and to reward us for our continued custom. Some perks you could expect to see include:

• Cash back – this can come in a number of forms – it may be a percentage of your deposits, a percentage of your bets, or a percentage of your wins. Either way, we love to see it, and it's a great perk to have.
• Match Bonuses – many casinos will offer frequent match bonuses to regular players, with some live casino game sites even operating a schedule, like Wednesday match bonuses, Thursday free spins, and Sunday rewards reels.
• Free Spins – free spins are one of the best perks to receive, because they really are completely free, and as we know – it only takes one spin!
• Refer a Friend – you may receive cash, free spins, or a match bonus for referring a friend to the live casino game site you are playing on.
• Loyalty Schemes – many of our recommended live casino game sites offer loyalty schemes, where players can progress through levels and unlock rewards like free spins, match bonuses, faster withdrawals, or cash in exchange for points.

Be sure to opt in to marketing at your live casino game site, and never miss an offer.