The Golden State has a rich history of gambling, dating back to the 19th century. It is the nation’s largest Indian gaming state with annual revenues of $9 billion, and the California Lottery participates in interstate lotto draws such as the Mega Millions and the Powerball. However, when card betting and the US west coast come up in conversation, California undoubtedly always gets mentioned as one of the country’s top poker destinations, home to over sixty-six spots dedicated to card gambling entertainment. While there are over sixty-two casinos in the state’s twenty-seven counties, it has yet to pass any online gaming regulation.
Currently, there is a war waging regarding tribal retail-only sports betting initiatives in California, with The Coalition for Safe, Responsible Gaming trying to oppose any lawmaker attempt or lobbying to push through digital legislation of this hobby. Hence, online sports and casino-style gambling is not yet legal in California. Unlike in New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, whose residents can freely enjoy games of chance over the World Wide Web.
Nonetheless, Californians are free to explore live dealer casino options from offshore operators boasting an international gaming license. These companies have attained approval to offer their services globally from a Curacao master license holder, Panama’s Gaming Control Board, or the Costa Rican government. Their vetted platforms are more or less identical to those operating in the listed US states, which get regulated by those territories’ licensing bodies. Thus, the answer to the question – Can California’s residents enjoy live dealer games from the state’s borders, is yes. Moreover, most of the products available at offshore online casinos are either the same or eerily similar to those hosted at US-based sites.
What Are Live Dealer Casinos?
While many online gamblers believe that live casinos are a relatively new form of gambling, that is not so. The first platform that supplied streaming table games showed up in 2003 when Playtech soft-launched their first Asian-targeted studio. Three years later, Microgaming tried to branch off into this sphere, and the current live dealer behemoth Evolution Gaming sprung up into existence.
A live dealer game is usually a classic gaming table product such as blackjack, roulette, or baccarat offered to players through a video feed of a croupier managing the game from a specially-equipped studio. Players make bets and convey their gameplay to their dealer through their chosen site’s interface, who follows through with their commands while letting Lady Luck make the final call concerning the outcome of each round.
Note that live table games are 100% legit, as they utilize optical card readers, and the devices they use frequently get tested by independent third-party agencies that ensure that they are fair, or in other words, the results that they produce are totally random. Examples of such companies are TST, iTech Labs, and eCOGRA.
Even though the mentioned casino classics dominate gambling websites’ live lobbies, since 2017, a new streaming genre has entered the mix, presenter products. These are game show-like games. Nevertheless, given that most of these come from providers like Playtech, Pragmatic Play Live, and Evolution, they rarely get featured by offshore operators, who like to stick to traditional options from brands like Fresh Deck Studios and Visionary iGaming.
Quality Online Casinos with Streaming Tables
According to an old AGA estimate, close to three thousand gambling sites are floating around the digital sphere. Today, that number is likely far vaster, making things difficult for newcomers to online gambling to know which ones to use and what platforms to ignore. That can be particularly confusing for Californians because most of the casinos on the Web get run by offshore operators.
To make things simple for interested parties, here are three tried-and-tested live casino options that many veteran players will recommend without hesitation:
· Wild Casino – Founded in 2017, Wild is a crypto-centric platform that operates out of Panama. They are famous for their live blackjack section that features tables from Visionary iGaming, and Fresh Deck Studios, with wildly varied betting limits. The management here seeks to reward new members with a fiat welcome package that gives away up to $5,000 and a crypto one that can yield up to $9,000.
· Las Atlantis – Las Atlantis is a Curacao-based casino that appeared online in early-2020, stunning everyone with an ultra-generous registration deal that can produce up to $14,000 in free-play funds. The streaming game picks here come from Visionary iGaming, and they are mainly blackjack and roulette options. Some accept bets as high as $2,500 per hand/spin/round.
· Super Slots – As the name suggests, Super Slots is primarily a site that tries to appeal to reel-spinning fanatics, but it also has a robust live section and provides a sign-up deposit match of 250% up to $6,000.
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