Mobile Live Casino Games Prove Powerful Driver in Ontario
Following an April 2022 launch, Ontario’s iGaming market has had more than enough time to deliver palpable statistics. It’s easy to conclude that players appreciate the local regulation of a competitive market. We can see just how well-received internet gambling is. The consistently rising number of operators, player accounts, and revenue attest to this. But there are more details worth looking at, especially from the player’s perspective.
For example, we might want to know how many of the province’s online casinos have chosen to integrate mobile casino games. Not surprisingly, the answer is all of them. There’s not a single operator that doesn’t cater to today’s tech-savvy crowd. More interestingly, in our opinion, is how many are presenting live casino games on mobile.
Prevalence of Mobile Live Casino Games in Ontario
Fifteen years ago, live casino gambling was virtually unheard of. Only the most avid iGamers with the best computers and fastest internet were accessing them. Even ten years ago, live casinos struggled to draw players. It wasn’t until 2015-2018 that technologies finally came together; the technology to present live table games, and the at-home technology to easily run them.
Now, live casino games are everything. An online casino without live dealers is like a convenience store with gas. They exist, and they do have customers, but their clientele is very limited. Let’s look at some numbers.
76 – To date, there are 74 online gambling sites licensed for legal, regulated operation in Ontario.
61 – Among those, 63 operators provide online casino services.
44 – This is how many iGO-licensees boast a “live casino”.
So, we can conclude that 72% of the province’s online casinos deal in live studio games. Overall, that’s about 58% of the Ontario iGaming market. And, as previously noted, 100% of those support gaming on mobile.
What’s So Great About Live Casinos Anyway?
There’s one very good reason “live” online casinos were introduced back in the early 2000s. Back then, people didn’t trust online casinos to deliver fair games. Seeing the game happen, in physical form and in real time–that’s what they got from a land casino. That’s what they were comfortable with. So, that’s what online gambling companies gave them.
A live casino game is one that takes place on a real table. Its host is a real dealer, shuffling real cards or spinning a real roulette wheel. It’s as real as it gets, from an online perspective. The companies that supply these games go all out, too. They acquire large studio warehouses and decorate them with all the opulence of a Vegas casino. If you weren’t staring at your mobile screen, you might forget you were actually sitting on your couch, or wherever you might be playing from.
In a Flooded Market, Reputation Goes a Long Way
If there’s one downside to Ontario’s fast-growing iGaming market, it’s saturation. We started out with 18 websites on day one. By the end of the year, that number had jumped to 67 and it just keeps climbing. While it presents the competitive market Ontarians crave, it also makes it kind of hard to pick one.
Until you have a firm grasp on what’s out there, the best advice I can give you is to base decisions on reputation. A reputation is built over time. It is a reflection of a brand’s business practices and customer satisfaction rate. This goes for iGaming operators as well as the live studios and software companies that supply their games.
My team and I could spend days reviewing each and every live casino supplier on the market. Heck, chances are, we eventually will do that. But for the moment, I’ll give you a brief list of the top 3 most reputable live casino suppliers, with a brief explanation as to why they deserve such a ranking.
#1 Evolution Gaming
Such a list as this could not exist without the efforts of Evolution Gaming. It was not the first live casino supplier in the industry, but it was the first good one. Launching in 2006, Evolution made live dealer games what they are today. The company used state-of-the-art everything. At launch, their games were the only ones literally anyone with an internet-capable computer could use, without going insane from lag and glitchy behavior.
Evolution’s #1 prowess was highlighted in 2009. That marked the debut of the eGaming Review (eGR) Live Casino Supplier of the Year Award. Evolution won that award. They also won it the next year, and the next year, and the next year – 12 years in a row! Today, Evolution offers the best in live table games, as well as the largest collection of live ‘game show‘ style games. The company is also responsible for the highest RTP live blackjack games in Ontario. Evolution’s Blackjack Party Live has a generous RTP of 99.64%.
#2 Pragmatic Play
This company has made a huge name for itself in the live gaming space. Part of its popularity comes from the sheer number of games on the money. The rest is because, to be honest, they’re following Evolution around like a puppy. But hey, what’s wrong with mimicking the industry’s best?
In some ways, they’ve even taken the ball a bit farther down the field. For example, Pragmatic Play supports 28 languages, nearly double that of Evolution. The company also focuses on a lot of game show-style offerings and is the only company to do so in a manner worthy of rivaling the top dog.
#3 Playtech Live
Playtech was the very first company to launch a live casino back in 2003. It was…. not great. But today, their efforts are much more appreciated. Playtech is a 20+ year-old company with a vast menu of live dealer games. Players enjoy everything from blackjack, baccarat, and roulette, to less common live games like Casino Hold’em and Mini Baccarat.
