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Take me to your robot dealer: The future of live casinos

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Will robots soon take the place of live dealers at online and land-based casinos? For now, we can only speculate.


Online slots may be the queen of the casino castle but live dealer games are also a top choice for many punters around the world.

While slot machines had to start with a basic one-armed bandit that dished out treats instead of cash, table games have always held a certain sense of class and mystery.

Whether seated at a table in a brick and mortar casino or logging into your live casino account, testing your skills against the dealer has never been more fun!

The rise of the robot

One of the most appealing factors for playing live dealer casino games and table games is the interaction with the dealer. The human face to a game of luck and skill. Dealing cards, calling rounds, and announcing winners, these dealers have become the friendly faces behind table games for decades.

All of that stands to change in the not-to-distant future if technology evolves any further than it already has.

Robots are quickly becoming a natural addition to life. We deal with them in digital form when chatting to customer service, and we interact with machines on a daily basis when drawing money or purchasing food. While many of these machines may not have faces, they are essentially performing the role of a robot.

Now, robots are set to take over the casino world by claiming their spot at the head of the live dealer table.

Robots: friend or foe?

In 2016, Sophia the robot was unveiled and welcomed to SXSW by Hanson Robotics. Easily the most well-known robot in the world, Sophia was even the first machine to receive citizenship in any country. Smart, able to react with varied ‘emotions’ and even learn based on interactions, Sophia is an extremely sophisticated version of the basic robots we see being released in different markets.

While Sophia may be a Saudi Arabian citizen, there are many who don't trust or understand why robots are necessary.

It is speculated that robots could take over as live dealers at online casinos and land-based casinos alike in the future.

While robots have already replaced human workers in industries such as car manufacturing, it's not a given that human players are keen to interact with a robot at the poker table.

In 2019, at the MGS Entertainment Show, LT Game revealed it's first fully-automated live dealer robot. A basic machine that can deal cards with no other AI functionality (as of yet), the creators of the bot stated that they could help relieve pressure on casino floors.

However, with thousands of people employed to do these jobs, what would happen to flesh and blood workers with the rise of these machines?

LT Game QA engineer, Ross Zhang, commented on the robot saying:

“Local casinos [in Macau] lack manpower so we invented this machine in which we keep the fun of the game while avoiding the lack of manpower with this robot."

When questioned about the limited functionality of the robot, it was clear that LT Game created this robot as a physical form of machine RTP, randomisation needed to ensure fair gameplay.

"If we introduce any AI function into the machine we are raising an issue on whether the AI will influence the probabilities of the game. We just keep it simple, he just gives the cards," said Zhang.

It's hard to say whether or not these robot dealers will be welcomed with open arms or shunned as they 'steal' jobs from their human counterparts, but for now, it's exciting to see the innovation being implemented by those in the iGaming industry.

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