https://www.pexels.com/photo/casino-dealer-hands-on-playing-cards-7594309/
In March 2020 the vast majority of us were asked to limit our social contacts and work from home where possible. Instantly that sparked a debate amongst people as to which professions could work from home and which could not.
Office workers in the main were more than capable of working from home, but what about sales staff? Could they continue selling to customers online or did they need to take advantage of furlough services?
What about casino staff? Surely they couldn’t spin the roulette wheels and cut the blackjack cards from their home offices? Well, some of the best live online casinos on the internet proved that they could do just that.
In this article we explore how 2020 saw more and more casino dealers working from home and whether that could make remote casino dealing a viable career opportunity in the years to come.
What is a Live Casino?
First things first, let’s cover a burning question you might have – what exactly is a Live Casino? Live Casinos use top of the range cameras to live steam action from a dealers table directly to your computer, tablet or mobile phone screen.
Usually how this works is that an online company will rent a warehouse and convert it into a live streaming casino facility where the action from a number of tables is filmed and streamed directly to players.
In some cases, land-based casinos go into partnership with online casinos and agree to stream the action from their public tables to online players.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-camera-recorder-66134/
How Do Players Interact with Dealers?
In a normal casino setting you would interact with the dealer by looking up and speaking to them, but online that’s not so simple. Instead of speaking to the dealer, players have to use the in-game chat facilities.
The dealers have access to a screen which flashes up all of the latest comments and then reply by speaking to the camera, much like Twitch gaming streamers.
Why Warehouses?
It might sound like live streaming the action from a bricks and mortar casino would be the best option for a Live Casino operator, but in reality this isn’t always a great idea. When this happens the experience of the online and in-person player becomes diluted, resulting in a less fun time for all involved.
In addition to that, online operators have to split their profits with land-based providers or invest great sums into establishing their own land-based casino. Warehouse facilities are therefore the best option.
They are spacious and allow companies to have more tables in operation. In order to cut costs even further, most online operators choose to run their Live Casino facilities out of countries in Eastern Europe where there is a high level of English fluency and where labour tends to cost less.
Did Dealers Work Remotely in 2020?
At the beginning of the pandemic in a bid to keep their Live Casino facilities open, many operators allowed a small number of operators to take equipment home and live stream from there. This was a costly outlay and didn’t give the operators as much overview as they would have liked though.
When restrictions began to ease towards the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, many Live Casino operators asked their employers to come back to work and stop working remotely.
Is Remote Working Viable for Live Casino Dealers?
In short, not really. The vast majority of large Live Casino providers prefer their workers to come to work rather than work remotely. This gives them greater control and minimises the cost of transferring expensive equipment to employee’s homes.
Whilst remote working did help to do a job in the middle of 2020 it was never going to be a long-term option. Although there are some exceptions to the rule, especially when it comes to the lower budget start-up companies.
These newer companies who are eager to make a mark on the industry anyway possible do sometimes offer remote working to Live Casino dealers.
How Much Do Live Casino Dealers Make?
The facts and figures surrounding this question aren’t easy to come by so a little imagination will be required on your part. In the UK the average wage for a casino dealer in a land-based venue was £9.45 an hour in 2020.
To put that into context, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak recently announced that the National Living Wage would rise to £9.50 an hour in 2022. Whilst a casino dealer could expect to make a bit of extra money through tips, all in all, it’s not a relatively well paid job.
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