Quick Answer
A live dealer casino streams a real human dealer, real cards or a real wheel, and a real table to your screen in real time, so you're watching an actual physical outcome instead of a random number generator. You bet through an on-screen interface exactly as you would with chips at a physical table, then watch the dealer deal, spin, or draw live on camera - it's the closest an online casino gets to a real table without leaving home.
A live dealer casino streams a real human dealer dealing cards, spinning a wheel, or running a game show - filmed from a studio and sent to your screen in real time - instead of generating that same outcome with software. You're betting on an actual physical event happening live on camera, watched by everyone at that table at once, rather than trusting a random number generator you can't see.
How a Live Dealer Game Actually Works
Once you join a table, you place bets through an on-screen interface with a countdown timer, exactly as you would with chips at a physical table. The dealer deals, spins, or draws for real, and cameras plus sensors or computer vision read the outcome - a revealed card, a ball landing in a pocket - the instant it happens, feeding the result back into the software automatically to settle every bet at the table.
Live Dealer vs. RNG: What Actually Changes (and What Doesn't)
The house edge doesn't change - a live blackjack table runs the same rules and roughly the same edge as its RNG equivalent, since the underlying game math is identical either way. What genuinely changes is pace: a live table deals through real shuffles, real chip handling, and every other player's decisions each round, so you'll see meaningfully fewer hands or spins per hour than on a software table. That slower pace is exactly why some players prefer live tables (more time to think, more of a real-casino feel) and others prefer RNG (faster action, no waiting on the table to catch up).
What Games Can You Actually Play With a Live Dealer?
The core lineup is live blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, offered by nearly every live studio and by far the most widely available formats. Beyond those, look for live Casino Hold'em and Three Card Poker, plus game-show style titles - wheel spins, dice games, and quiz-style rounds with bonus multipliers - that are hosted rather than dealt in the traditional sense, making them an easy entry point if the classic table games feel intimidating at first.
Table Etiquette: Chat, Tipping, and Playing With Other Players
Most live tables let you chat with the dealer and other players in real time, and many blackjack and baccarat tables also offer "bet behind," letting you back another player's hand if every seat is taken. Tipping the dealer - sometimes called "toking" - is common and optional, usually done as a small side bet placed through the chat or betting panel rather than cash changing hands. Since you're sharing a table with real people in real time, expect the same basic etiquette as a physical casino: keep bets in before the timer ends, and don't expect the dealer or other players to slow down the round for you.
What You Need Before You Sit Down
Live dealer games stream continuous video, so they use noticeably more data than an RNG game - worth knowing if you're playing on mobile data rather than Wi-Fi. There's also no free-play version: since a real dealer, table, and live stream are running whether or not you're watching, every live table requires a funded real-money account rather than a demo mode. Beyond that, a stable connection matters more for staying engaged in the game than for fairness, since a licensed live casino honors any bet placed before a disconnect - the hand plays out as normal and the result applies to your account once you reconnect.
Ready to try a live table yourself? See our Best Online Live Casinos rankings for operators evaluated specifically on live studio quality and table variety.