Top Live Casinos

Best Live Casinos for 2021

This live online casino list will show you the top live casinos we recommend for 2021! The best live casino sites are listed.

Live Casinos Guide

This guide is an introduction to the world of online live casinos.

In it, we’ll tell you what live casinos are, what games you can expect to find in them, how to play them safely, and how to get the best out of your live casino experience. We’ll also take a brief look at some of the biggest names in this exciting new part of the online slots and casino world.

Let’s start at the beginning with the history of the live casino world.

Live Casino History

Live casinos are not just live casinos. You can – if you’re not under some sort of lockdown restrictions, and you’re legally entitled, and you can get to one – go to play in a “live casino” any time you want to.

What we mean by “live casinos” are live casino games – and others – played online over an internet connection.

We’ve had online casinos since the 1990s.

The first big breakthrough was the ability to transfer money online. The internet has also played an important role in liberalising gambling laws. For a while, the law effectively did not apply online and this has put pressure on real-world legislation.

While we had money transfers from the mid-1990s, we did not have super-fast, always-on broadband connections. It is high-speed internet that is the last part of the puzzle that makes live casino websites work well enough to make them a super attractive proposition.

The early casinos had few games, and they were very simple. However, once broadband came in it became possible for more sophisticated games to be played, and, crucially for live casinos, to stream video.

The first live online gambling was poker. It’s natural that poker should lead the way. It is by far the most well-known gambling game – ask a non-gambler about gambling of any sort and they’re fairly likely to reach for a poker metaphor.

However, it is a complex game and it is best played between groups of real people rather than against a single dealer or a machine.

Planet Poker paved the way for the live poker rooms that are still with us today.

They did not, though, put in place everything that we see in a current live casino site. These sites are usually multi-game sites and they use the latest HD streaming and TV studios to deliver their games. They are very slick, very sophisticated, and super speedy.

The Modern Live Casino

A modern live casino probably features a large selection of games: it will certainly have the big three games, roulette, blackjack, and baccarat, and almost certainly some poker variants. There may be more too. There is a big, and growing selection, of branded games, many based on TV game shows. You can even play along with slots now. There is also a range of less well-known casino games, including a selection of games that are big in East Asia, like Keno and Sic Bo.

Almost all live casino sites are linked with a slots site from the same brand.

Most sites operate via lobbies, allowing players to browse games by title.

Each type of game, for example, blackjack, can be selected and the player will then be shown a selection of tables at which they can play.

These tables will be divided in a number of ways:

There will be different rule variants. In our example, Blackjack has European and American versions as well as games like Vegas Strip blackjack. In addition, there are numerous proprietary games and site-specific games.

There will also be a range of tables divided by “price”. Price usually comes in the form of a minimum bet level, but may also mean a higher maximum.

And, along with prize, there are often levels of inequality – this is capitalism folks! – related to loyalty (read “spending at the site”). These tables often offer extra services or services and may extend to “high roller” tables or “salon prive” rooms that are intended to attract very high spenders to the tables. You will need to earn your place at these tables by spending a lot of time and money at a casino site.

How a modern live casino site works

How is this all possible?

The internet and economic globalisation are the answer to the mystery of the live casino.

Live casino sites can set up their base anywhere.

A huge number of gambling sites have chosen their homes based on regulatory or tax concerns: it is for these reasons that many gambling companies have their base in Malta, which charges low tax rates to off-shore businesses and has specialised in setting up a good-quality and usable regulatory framework for gambling companies.

That’s where the head office is likely to be. But the filming may well happen somewhere else entirely.

Games are played over an internet connection, so there are very few limits on where the actual tables are. Most are in – and this is where globalisation comes in – relatively low wage economies.

There’s no nice way to explain the economics of this because there is no nice way to operate a capitalist business; all of them are inherently exploitative in some way.

The truth is, the internet and the globalising of the world economy means it has been possible to export a lot of relatively low-cost labour from more highly developed capitalist economies to less highly developed ones. This allows the people who run the businesses that use this labour to either charge less to their customers (which they don’t do) or to make more profit, which is what they do.

So, the likelihood is that players in casino companies are playing games in Latvia or Estonia, and watching it all and making decisions over an internet connection.

Of course, while the work is low-wage (relatively), it isn’t really low skilled, particularly if the staff at the other end of the internet link are running complex games in a second or third language.

A few casino sites run live casino games alongside a real-life casino operation (Grosvenor is just one example).

This makes absolute sense for the casino. They can open up their games to a massive new worldwide audience.

How to Play at a Modern Live Casino

We’ve looked at the basics of the live casino world.

Now let’s look at how to play at a live casino.

In order to play at a live casino you will need:

Money,

A means of transferring money online,

Identity documents,

A device to get you online.

That all seems fairly obvious, but first we’re going to look at the first and most important part of live casino play: staying safe.

Safe live casinos

We divide live casino safety into three parts:

• Finding safe live casino sites,
• Cybersecurity and device safety,
• Personal safety and safe behaviours.

Let’s get started.

Finding safe live casino sites is the most important part of your live casino journey.

The modern online casino world is by no means the Wild West set-up that it once was. However, scams and frauds do exist and a lot of the responsibility for staying safe stays with the player.

The first thing you should do is check out the licensing and regulatory framework in the country where you live – or from which you are playing live casino games.

Licensing is the best way to stay safe. Licensing may not solve every problem in the world but it is the best first step to finding a safe live casino site.

We cannot cover every licensing regime here. Some countries accept licensing from more than one jurisdiction (that’s how off-shore licensing hotspots like Malta, Gibraltar, Curacao, and the Channel Islands got their start), but others do not. You need to know.

Good, responsible sites will block you if you’re not entitled to play at the site. Not all will.

Learn what the laws are where you are and make sure you check that the right virtual paperwork is in place before you start playing.

You should also look for other markers of good quality.

Safe sites are generally good. Legitimate businesses need to attract people to use them.

Scam sites do not need to do any more than putting a big sign over the door promising you something good and to give the forms to fill in that will hand your money over.

If you want to avoid scams it’s a good idea to understand a little bit about how they work and what scammers are trying to do.

Scams might make promises that sound too good to be true – and are. Scam sites may even be quite open about trying to go around some part of the law – this brings the scam victim inside the tent with the scammers and makes them more likely to go along with later suggestions and less likely to go to the authorities.

Scams are unlikely to offer a complete site featuring a full set of games and a loyalty club and so on that, you can look around before you start playing.

Good quality is your friend.

Part of staying safe is that you should also stick by the rules yourself. If some geographical or age-range limit is not to your taste then please don’t try to get around it – that way you are leaving yourself open to scamming.

A few checks you should make on any live casino site you use:

Is the site licensed?

Check that the site has a licence, and click-through or visit the licensing body to be sure that the licence is legitimate and in good order. Make sure addresses and web addresses on all documents tally.

Is the site a member of industry organisations and safety organisations?

Good quality sites are in good standing in the casino industry and they show this by joining industry associations and by showing that their site has been audited. Click through to check anything if you’re not happy with it.

Does the site look the part?

A smell test – visually – goes a long way. If the site is fully functioning and well designed and has good games from good suppliers that is a good plus point. A site with nothing to hide doesn’t hide anything and will allow you to have a good look around before you go inside.

Is the site asking me to break any rules?

Don’t get suckered in by the oldest trick in the book – getting you onside by getting you outside the law. Follow the rules where you are and report sites that don’t follow the rules or that encourage rule-breaking from you or anyone else.

Does the site have policies that I like?

While you’re checking out a site you may as well make a full job of it and see that the company has the security and data protection policies that you should expect. We’ll go further into site quality later on, but a safe site can show that it is secure and honest from the get-go.

Cybersecurity and device safety

To stay safe online you need to keep your device safe.

This isn’t the place – and we don’t have space or time – for a full-on guide to everything you need to know about cybersecurity.

It’s worth your while to do a bit more research on your own time.

The things that you need to check out are:

How to set passwords and to keep them safe.

Passwords are your online safety key and learning about how to use them effectively to effectively keep you safe is a worthwhile study. You can now use apps and websites to use as password stores, but at the very least you should learn how to set strong, unique passwords and you should be sure that you don’t use passwords across websites.

How to keep your device safe.

Most mobiles and tablets and PCs do a lot to keep you safe but there are responsibilities for the device owner too.

You need to keep your device up to date. Updating all the software on your device means that you have the latest version of every software. Sadly, these updates are often released to address security issues in the original software. Make sure that you have these updates.

You should also be aware of using casino sites on insecure Wi-Fi networks and perhaps wait until you get home if you have a choice between an unencrypted network and something that you trust.

Most of us can stay safe most of the time, but all of us can do something to help keep ourselves safe all of the time.

Personal safety and safe behaviours

The biggest area of safe online gambling is your own personal behaviour and the problem of gambling addiction.

Almost all of the coverage of the gambling business at the moment is about this issue.

The news media is no neutral arbiter of truth, but the biggest issue when it comes to online gambling is probably a conflict of interest when it comes to reporting on online gambling, which is a major advertiser to its audiences as well as in other areas that it covers, like sports.

Again, as a general guide to live casinos, this is not the place to give you a completely comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about gambling addiction and how to stay safe online.

However, we’re very happy to get you started.

The first thing that we will say is that this is a serious and complex area and it is one that you should take at least some interest in if you have any intention of gambling for money – whether online or off-.

It is possible to gamble every day and not be addicted. It is also possible to make bad decisions and lose money without being addicted.

Addiction is often controversial because it is both widely understood and widely misrepresented and because it has both popular and medical definitions that can come into conflict with each other.

Almost nothing is “technically” and “medically” defined as an “addiction”. Most things that we all understand to be addictions are described as “use disorders” or just “disorders”.

You don’t need to worry about this conflict overly much, and you can trust your own instincts around addiction.

Perhaps the most useful practical definition of addiction when it comes to a behavioural addiction like gambling addiction is:

Continued use despite negative consequences and sincere efforts to stop.

I’m sure most people are able to accept and understand that definition and work with it in their own minds.

This relies – in most cases – on self-diagnosis. Don’t be overly concerned about this either. Almost every problem that we define as a “mental health” problem is self-diagnosed in some way – to get diagnosed with depression, you will be asked to fill in a form relating how you feel, no one will scan your brain with a machine and spot darkness in your mind.

Self-diagnosis of this sort relies on self-monitoring.

All this is to say that you should take your mental health and safety very seriously if you gamble.

In the UK the industry has settled on a simple slogan: When the fun stop, stop. That’s a decent starting point.

If you’re going to use live casino sites then use them for fun. Accept them as entertainment that you have to pay for. Set a budget for your session and stick to it.

Once you start to focus on winning money then you are in trouble.

If you are already using gambling as a way to deal with difficult emotions of real-life situations that you would rather not face then you are likely to get in trouble.

This blog isn’t going to solve the endemic problems of the young men who are the primary users of live casino sites, however, we can ask anyone who reads us to do some more research and to use the tools available to you.

A couple of personal safety issues relate specifically to live casinos.

They are:

• Social features, and
• Cost.

Most online gambling is a fairly solitary affair. Live casinos put you face to face with a real person. And if you’ve looked at many online live casino sites you’ll know that many of those people are conventionally attractive. And that – especially if they are women – they are dressed in uniforms that are designed to enhance that attractiveness.

You need to make decisions about your gambling based on what is good for you and what is good for your bank account. Don’t make those decisions based on trying to impress a member of casino staff who may be many thousands of miles away.

The cost issue is also staffing related. Staff cost money. It is impossible to play live casino games for free. Or rather very difficult to find free live casino games. That’s because of the staffing costs.

This makes the entry-level costs of live casino games almost always higher.

It also makes it very unusual to find demo versions or free versions of live casino games.

All this makes it all the more important that players read the rules of the games they play and that if you feel that you need to check out a casino game then you should not do it on a live casino site, you should do it at a random number generator site.

Opening a live casino site account

To open an account you will need to find a safe site and hand over some information and probably some money.

Most live casino sites are not stand-alone operations. Most have been spun off from other casino sites that also offer slots, casino game simulators, scratch cards and maybe more – like bingo, sports betting, or other gambling like stock betting or currency trading.

Follow our guide to find a safe site and then open an account.

A good site will be legal so we’ll go through what you should expect to see.

First of all, you’ll need to provide your name, your actual, legal name – no messing around with JeremyCorbyn4Eva here! – you will also need to tell them where you live and tick a box to say that you are of legal age to gamble in the jurisdiction you are playing from.

You will then need to provide your email and date of birth – real and legal again. You may be asked your gender, though this is more for presentational reasons than anything else, as we’re unaware of any jurisdictions that we cover which have differentially gendered laws around gambling.

Then you will need to set up your account details. That means a user name and a password. Now you can have fun with naming yourself – though you will probably be banned from using an openly obscene name. Don’t have fun with your password unless it’s in inventing something incredibly complex.

You may be asked to set up a security question too. We’ve seen these options offered:

City of Birth, mother’s maiden name, first school, pet’s name, favourite sports team.

To verify your identity you will need to provide your home address.

You will be asked to provide a mobile number (the extent to which you wish to do this is up to you as it will be used to market at you), and to choose what currency you would like to use.

And then they want your money, which we’ll now look at!

Funding a live online casino account

In order to use a live casino account, you will need to put some money in your account.

There are five common methods used to do this.

They are:

• Debit cards or traditional bank transfers.
• Credit cards (which are illegal in the UK)
• E-wallets.
• Prepaid vouchers.
• Pay by mobile apps.

Debit cards are easy to understand for most people.

Credit cards cannot be used in the UK as a safety measure and that may apply in other jurisdictions too. You should certainly be careful about gambling on credit if you are allowed to do so.

E-wallets is a broad category for online accounts that allow you to transfer money. The most common is PayPal and it defines what these sites can do – PayPal does pretty much everything a full bank account can do these days. Other popular options in the gambling world are Skrill and Neteller (now owned by the same company), and there are a host of variants, including many localised brands.

Prepaid vouchers. Prepaid vouchers are great for people who do not have access to a bank account or regular internet access. A prepaid voucher can be bought online or in-person at retail outlets. This means that you can transfer cash to the internet using the money you hand over to the retailer.

Pay by mobile apps are new and they are less widely available. We don’t count Apple Pay in this category as it is more like a cross between an e-wallet and a traditional bank account. Things like Pay by Mobile and Boku are what we mean here. These allow players to use their phone account to make payments online. They are designed for smaller payments and because payment is deferred you may find that there is a low limit on how much money you can spend on a pay by phone app.

The best payment method for your live casino site

We suggest that you check out payment methods before you actually sign up at a site.

A good live casino site will allow you to look around and find out a lot before you sign up.

You should check that you are happy with the terms offered. You should find out if you can receive payments to your preferred payment method, how long payments take to be processed, and whether there are any charges for using your preferred payment method. You should also be aware of any payments levied by the payment processor themselves.

Most of the options we have listed are good quality, fast and can be used with a fairly standard set of conditions around the web.

We consider all of them safe.

You can also now use cryptocurrency to set up an online live casino account.

This is great, and will probably be done via an e-wallet rather than directly from a bitcoin wallet. However, you should be aware that cryptocurrencies can fluctuate in value and that you may be charged a conversion fee for using them. You should also be wary of sites that offer only a single crypto coin payment method. This needn’t be a complete red card, but certainly, check out a site that offers the only crypto very thoroughly.

Any of the methods you read here can be used safely. All of them have their pluses and minuses.

Whatever you do make sure you take your online safety seriously and sign up for two-factor authorisation and any other safety stuff that you can find.

There may be a necessity to provide further proof to the live casino sites of who you are before you are paid your winnings – fingers crossed.

This is likely to include providing a copy of some identity documents which may be an ID card, a driver’s licence, or a passport.

Using a live casino site

Live casino sites are usually very easy to use.

Most of them operate via a lobby system.

Lobbies are simply a collection of games.

Most live casino sites will stock a set of games from more than one provider. You will usually be able to browse titles in a number of ways, but almost always by game type, which brings us on to:

The games you can play at a live casino site

Live casino sites are a mixed bag, but almost all of them will feature a large selection of games.

They will always include what we call the Big Three of live casino games: roulette, blackjack, and baccarat.

These games are the big three because they are the most popular. You should expect to see a decent choice of tables at any site you use.

Then you will find a number of other games.

Live Roulette

Roulette is the most popular casino game.

It is also rather typical of casino games in that its history is almost certainly longer than the official version that we have in writing. The game has been codified into a standard version that is both entertaining and popular. The game has a number of long-established variants that exist in the real world and online. And the game has given rise to a number of new variants in the online space only.

Roulette came from France and is available in three classic variants: French, European, and American. French and European games are better valued in general because they have fewer zeroes. The American game is slightly tilted against the player.

The French version has some extra bets and also a rule that allows some lost bets to be returned to players.

You’ll need to read a full guide to live roulette to understand the game properly. It has a huge set of bets that you can pick from and can be played in a number of different ways.

There are also a large number of presentational and aesthetic styles that have come about in the era of the live casino.

Live blackjack

Blackjack is the biggest casino card game online. It is very good value for players, with one of the highest RTPs (theoretical return to player) of any game anywhere in any casino. It is a game where skill may play a tiny role in the outcome and that is one of its attractions.

The aim of the game is to bear the dealer’s hand while keeping the total of your cards at 21 or under.

The game is simple, but there is sophistication to the possibilities that make it worthy of study and respect.

Live baccarat

Baccarat is French in origin and still has many trappings from the French casinos – including much of the terminology. It is a game that is massively popular in East Asian casinos and for that reason is very often presented with an East Asian aesthetic or with branding linked to Macau, one of China’s top gambling destinations.

Baccarat is a relatively simple game based around finding the top hand of two with 9 being the top-scoring hand. However, the game’s trappings and conventions can make it complicated for players and it is worth studying the game before you start playing live games.

There are a number of gameplays and scoring variants and the betting varies between these variants.

Baccarat is sophisticated and often offered as a salon prive game. However, you shouldn’t be scared of it. It’s worth checking the game out as a simulation before you start playing live for real money.

Live poker

Live casino poker is not the same as most poker games in the popular imagination. That poker game is played by players against each other, but casino poker games are usually played against a dealer, with players competing as individuals to beat the dealer’s hand. Players who win will be awarded a pay-out according to a paytable rather than of someone else’s money.

The most common variants are:

Texas Hold’em and Hold’em games. These games open with two face-down cards being dealt to each player. Other cards are then dealt face-up on the table, allowing the players to build the best possible hand from their own cards and the shared cards.

Three-card poker

Three card poker is exactly what it sounds like, a cut-down version of the game, with mini versions of poker hands winning according to a pay table.

Caribbean poker

Caribbean poker is a straight contest between two hands, the player and the dealer. It is one of the simplest and most high-speed poker games.

All of these games come in variants, and many of them have their own side bets and other betting options.

Other live casino games

There are too many live casino games to list in total, but you will also probably find:

Live keno, a Chinese game that is close to a lottery or a bingo game.

Live sic bo, a dice game with complex betting options, also of Chinese origin.

Live craps. Craps is extremely complex and generally a rather noisy table in the casino. It’s also complex – while being great fun.

Live game shows. A huge new market has opened in-game show games, often based around lucky wheel games.

You can also now play live slots in live casino sites.

Live casino software

There are a number of live casino software providers.

The biggest players are:

Evolution Gaming live casino software:

These guys have studios around the world and they produce the largest selection of games.

They are behind a number of innovations including the Lightning Games and now also run a large number of live slots games at live casino sites.

NetEnt Live Casino Software:

NetEnt is now owned by Evolution Gaming. They still exist as a brand, but this change can fairly be seen as a reduction in choice for players – how can a company compete with a company that it owns?

NetEnt games are very sophisticated and often colour coded – black, silver, and so on.

The company is just about the biggest slots provider in the world, with a massive catalogue of hit games, including many of the world’s top titles.

Playtech live casino software

Playtech’s biggest hits are the Quantum games, (outside of their very successful slots catalogue) which are a presentational social set-up. They offer more standard games too, including all of the casino classics.

Ezugi live casino software:

Ezugi are much smaller, with just 16 games, but they make some very good titles and perform very well in some markets, especially those that love baccarat, which is the main focus of their catalogue.

Pragmatic Play live casino software:

Another slot s company, Pragmatic Play has 12 live games on their books at the moment so they have a way to go if they are to match the biggest hitters in this market.

They include blackjack, roulette, sic bo, dragon tiger, and game shows and live slots, featuring the company’s own titles. Perhaps that is the way they will expand.

Live Casinos FAQ

Are Live Casino Sites a Scam?

No. At least not if you pick a safe site that is legal and licensed for you to play at. It is possible to get ripped off online in 2021, of course, it is, but it is much less common than it used to be. Do the research we suggest in this article to find out how sites are regulated, how you can check their regulation, and how you can find good quality sites and you’ll be on the right track.

How do you play at live casinos?

You’ll need to get an account, and you’ll need to get some money into that account. Safety first in everything: so find a licensed site, and make sure you’re legal to play. And check out how to find safe payment methods. But once you’re set up you can just jump in and start playing. PayPal or your own bank can be used to fund your account, but be aware you may need to provide some identity documents to take your money out.

Are live casinos secure to play?

Most of them are. Before you sign up at a site make sure that any site you’re looking at has the correct real address showing in the URL bar and that it is an HTTPS site. Then read up on the sites privacy policies, their data protection, and the encryption they use. Any legitimate site will be proud to show you that it provides these high-quality services.

How do I get help at live casino sites?

Live casino sites all have a customer service option of some sort. You should check out the customer service offering before you sign up at a site. Most of them use live chat as the preferred form of contact, but will also provide an email address. Some players consider the inclusion of a phone number – based on the country they live in – as the gold standard, but this tends to be the province of big companies.

Can I play live casinos on mobile?

Yes, you can. Almost every casino software development company in the world is now a mobile-first company. Live sites don’t always have the same games as desktop sites, but they will all offer a good choice of games and they will all have a very similar experience for mobile players and desktop players.

Do I need a lot of data on my mobile to play live casino games?

Yes. This is video streaming, plus a lot on the side, so you will need a fair amount of data to play live casino games. Wi-Fi is your friend here.

Can I play live casino games for free?

It is hard to play live casino games for free. All of these games require staff to run them, and those staff will (we hope, at least) be paid even if the players aren’t betting real money. That makes running free games not just difficult but a guaranteed losing prospect for casino sites. We recommend that you play live casino games first as RNG games so you can check them out without the pressure of having to handle the live environment and betting in real-time. Always read the rules, and make sure you know what the betting limits are too.

Where are live casino games streamed from?

Somewhere where wagers are lower than where the players are! That’s one version of the truth of this industry. There are now live streaming studios around the world, but the industry has come to be settled in the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) perhaps more than anywhere else. However, there are also studios elsewhere. Games with big East Asian audiences are more often set up in the Far East. There are now studios in the US as well. Some live casino games are streamed from actual live casinos. This allows games to be played by in-person players and remote players over an internet link.

Can live dealers cheat?

We’ve tried to think of a way that live casino games can be fixed and to be honest it’s a matter of trust. As to live dealers cheating on their own account. We find this extremely unlikely. All the money in a live casino is virtual so there’s no real way to make away with it from the actual game floor. Games at licensed and legitimate sites are fair within their own terms and you can trust them within their own terms. It’ll do you good to find what those terms are and to understand them and how to rate games.

What is a live casino RNG?

An RNG game uses a random number generator. This is how games run as simulators are operated. Live casino games use something much more traditional to generate the random events that all gambling games are based on. A pack of cards (if it’s been shuffled) is a random number generator. A dice set is an rng. A roulette reel is also an rng.

Where are the exclusive live casino games?

Most games are produced by a small number of companies that we have listed in this guide. However, because the games are live and exist in numerous simultaneous versions it is possible to get an air of exclusivity into the games relatively easily. It’s not cheap though. So if you want really exclusive games then you will need to find big casino sites as they are more likely to have the funds to stump up for branded games they can use exclusively.

Can I play live casino games in HD?

You can play most sites in HD. Again, data may be an issue for you, but it’s an option in most sites these days – you can enjoy games in as high a quality as you can support on your tech.