The Best Live Dealer Casinos in Ontario

July 27, 2023

The online gambling market is still young in Ontario, so you can be forgiven for still trying to find your way around. In this article, we're looking at the best online live dealer casinos. To that end, we are giving you easy-to-follow explanations of what a live dealer casino is and how to play live dealer games. Above all, we'll explain where to find the best live dealer casinos Ontario has to offer.

Online casino gambling became legal and regulated in Ontario back on April 4, 2022. Since then, plenty of online casinos have entered the market, and many offer legal live dealer games for you to enjoy.

Read on to learn more about live dealer online casino games.

What is a Live Dealer Casino?

A live dealer casino is any online casino that offers live dealer games. A live dealer game is a version of an online casino game where the digital random number generator has been ditched in favor of a traditional analog deck of cards, a physical roulette wheel, or solid six-sided dice.

The player interacts with the game (including placement of bets) through the online casino software. However, the cards are dealt, the wheel is spun, and dice are rolled by a real person. This person is livestreamed to the online casino software so that players can follow along in real-time.

This combines the feel of traditional games with the convenience of online casinos. It can also help fans of brick-and-mortar casinos feel more at home online and is a fun way for digital gamblers to add a bit of visual variety to their favorite games.

How to choose a Live Dealer Casino — Our Tips?

With something in the region of 60 online casinos now operating in Ontario — many of which supply live dealer games, there's a ton of choice for players.

While the best online live dealer casino for you will depend on your personal taste and needs, there are a few things that everyone should consider when choosing where to play. These are some of out top tips:

• First and foremost, make sure the site is licensed by iGaming Ontario. This is the province's regulator. For a site to be licensed, it must demonstrate that it is safe, fair, and secure. It can also be hard to get redress if you play on an unlicensed site and something goes wrong. Don't risk it.
• Pick sites based on which games they offer, and how they meet your gaming requirements. If you're a blackjack fiend, then it doesn't matter much to you if a site offers 20 kinds of roulette. On the other hand, if you like to play a variety of games, it won't matter how good the blackjack is, if blackjack is the only live dealer game the casino offers.
• Check the range of stakes each site offers. Match the stakes to your bankroll requirements.
• Make sure the games are supplied by reputable companies. Online casinos rarely run their own games directly. Instead, their live dealer games are usually operated by a third party. Always check what that third party is.

What Casino Games can I play at a Live Dealer Casino?

Most traditional casino games make an appearance as live dealer casino games somewhere. The classics like roulette and blackjack are easy to find. However, with a little searching, you can find craps, baccarat, keno, and various versions of casino poker (e.g. Caribbean stud, pai gow poker, three-card poker).

Live Dealer Roulette

When you open a live dealer roulette table, you will see a live stream of a physical roulette wheel. You can then place your bets on a digital roulette table layout. Whether your bets win or lose is then based on the next spin of the livestreamed table.

Play Live Dealer Roulette in Ontario

One of the best sites for live dealer roulette in Ontario is PokerStars Casino Ontario, where you can find around twenty different live dealer roulette games. These include straightforward American and European variations; two-ball roulette; themed variants based around things like soccer; and offerings in Italian or Greek.

Live Dealer Blackjack

As with roulette, live dealer blackjack allows you to place your bets on an internet blackjack table while watching a real person deal the hands on a video stream. Because blackjack offers the player choices after the cards are dealt — i.e. the choice to hit or stick — there are two main types of live dealer blackjack.

"Unlimited" live dealer blackjack has everyone in the software playing the same hand. The software will log when you stick, but the dealer will continue to deal cards until the hand busts or everyone has passed. Then the bets are resolved for each player seperately.

"Real table" live dealer blackjack gives you your own hand. You'll be "sat" next to other players and the dealer will follow your instructions in dealing the hand. This usually has higher betting limits due to the lower efficiency for the operator compared to unlimited tables.

Play Live Dealer Blackjack in Ontario

For players who want to give live dealer blackjack a try, JackpotCity Ontario is a great place to start. The site is easy to use, has a wide range of unlimited and real table liver dealer blackjack options, and offers a wide range of betting limits.

Live Dealer Baccarat

Live dealer baccarat works by using the modern casino rules for baccarat, in which the banker and player's moves are predetermined. As a result, any number of players can put money down on either the banker or player, while the cards are dealt remotely by a professional dealer who is livestreamed to all participating players.

Play Live Dealer Baccarat in Ontario

Live dealer baccarat is a little rarer than some of the other games on this list, so a good place for enthusiasts to start would be with Spin Casino Ontario.

Spin Casino Ontario has a wide variety of baccarat games with stakes ranging from $1 to $50,000. The company also puts on a lot of tables meaning you won't struggle to find a seat.

Live Dealer Craps

Live dealer craps tends to be one of the hardest games to find. Its relative popularity is low, so sites often cannot justify the cost. That said, the biggest sites will usually have a couple of live dealer craps games. In these games, players bet on the outcomes of the rolls of pair of dice.

Play Live Dealer Craps in Ontario

BetMGM Ontario is our go-to site for live dealer craps. Like a lot of sites, it only has a couple of craps tables (although it does also have the similar game Sicbo). However, it provides that game on top-quality software that has one of the best user interfaces in the business.

There are few sites that will give you anywhere near as good an experience playing live dealer craps as BetMGM Ontario.

Live Dealer Casinos in Ontario FAQs

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