Media Live Casino is not the first brand which comes to mind when talking about live dealer games, even though the company exists since 2005. Initially, they were set up in Malta as an online casino game operator.
Two years later, Media Live Casino acquired live games license and started creating their first live dealer games streamed from a studio.
The for Italy followed in 2011, and 2012 saw the provider’s first installation in a land-based venue, namely the Italian Casino Sanremo.
The first in-house casino was created in 2013 on Betvictor’s Gibraltar premises, though it’s no longer operational. Couple of years later, Media Live Casino got themselves a UK operating license and opened a new Chroma studio in Malta.
Standard Media Live Casino portfolio consists of Live Roulette, Blackjack and Baccarat, though depending on the operator’s specific requirements, the developer can also create Live Texas Hold’em, Live Caribbean Poker, Casino War, Trente et Quarante, Chemin de Fer, Sic Bo, Pai Gow, and Mahjong. Chroma Key Roulette, Blackjack and Baccarat, using green screen technology, are used to offer dedicated tables with a completely customisable background and interface, with the latter adaptable to widescreen monitors. Live games are streamed either from the Maltese studio or a real casino floor.
The Lobby was redesigned in 2014 and now offers a wide range of information, including the name of game and the dealer, current status (open, closed, shuffling…), operating hours, language, number of players, latest winners and statistics. Live Chat function enables interaction with the dealer and other players.
Multi-game mode allows PC, Mac and Kiosk users to play up to four different tables simultaneously.
Malta Live Roulette is the company’s flagship product, broadcasted from Malta studios and hosted by multilingual dealers. Croupiers are seated in ornately decorated environment and action delivered with the help of a Cammegh Roulette wheel, with interface minimised to free space for HD streaming.
Thinking it important to leave the ball constantly in view, cameras remain fixed. Bets are placed directly on the table, and those made by other players can be seen during “bets open” stage of the game. Real time statistics provide an overview of numbers with most bets and history of last 100 spins, and players can also view highest bets and a list of all winners.
Live Sanremo Roulette, Roulette Perla, and Olympic Roulette, are three Media Live games streamed from land-based venues. The first is broadcasted from the Sanremo Casino in Italy, the second from Nova Gorica in Slovenia, and the third from the Olympic Park Casino in Tallin, Estonia.
The view will change in different stages of the game, minimising video feed while bets are placed on the bottom half of the screen, switching to a bird’s-eye view of the table as the dealer spins the wheel, and zooming in on the latter until the ball picks a slot to rest in.
Audio settings allow one to switch the pre-recorded voice on and off, enable or disable streaming audio and background music.
Live Automatic Roulette uses a physical wheel but without a croupier to spin it. It’s ideal for players looking for lower limits and faster games. This variant plays more than 80 rounds per hour and accepts an unlimited number of participants simultaneously.
Jackpot Live Roulette provides an opportunity to win up to three progressive jackpots, Bronze, Silver and Gold, released when there is a repetition of 3, 4 and 5 numbers in a row. Players can choose between an in-house jackpot and a multi-client progressive jackpot.
Live Sport Roulette is another variant of the game designed to mimic land-based experience. Brick-and-mortar casino are frequently equipped with televisions for viewing sport events, so why not offer the same opportunity to those gambling online?
Players of Live Media Sport Roulette are in parallel able to watch a major football, basketball, tennis or rugby competition on a screen displayed next to the dealer.
Live VR Roulette allows one to play using virtual reality visor and thus enjoy a 360 degree gaming experience. Being able to face the table and move within the studio makes this game more realistic than any other offered by Media Live or their competitors.
Media Live Casino Live Blackjack
Live Malta Blackjack is a classic 7-seat game playing according to standard European rules. Cards are shuffled by the support staff during the game, which is supposed to increase reliability.
The dealer stands on soft 17, Blackjack pays 3:2, and Insurance 2:1. Sadly, no side bets are offered. Players can occupy up to 3 seats and take advantage of unrestricted doubling; being able to double bets with any combination is likely to be particularly appreciated by high-rollers.
Participants can also make decision before it’s their turn to act, which considerably speeds up the gameplay.
Bets are placed directly on the table and cards feature oversized markings to help readability.
Live chat icon, settings, audio and video controls are all positioned on top, and your chips and betting options made available at the bottom, thus ensuring a clear view of the table and the dealer. One can choose to display video feed over the entire screen or minimise it to fit in a small window on the upper half.
Media Live Casino Live Baccarat
Live Malta Baccarat accepts an infinite number of players and will randomly display some of the others to make the game more interesting. Real time statistics offer the trend of principal bets and all standard scorecards, namely Bead Road, Big Road, Small Road, Cockroach Pig, and Big Eye Boy. It’s interesting to see choices made by other game participants, shown with a percentage of those betting on Punto, Banco, or Egalite.
Available side bets include Player Pair and Banker Pair (paying 11:1), Either Pair (5:1), Perfect Pair (25:1), Small and Big.
The set-up is similar to that of Live Blackjack: chips and betting controls are placed at the bottom, and buttons for video/audio adjustment and game rules positioned on top of the screen.
Live Sanremo Baccarat allows players to bet next to Sanremo Casino patrons without having to travel to Italy. The game’s interface has been designed to offer a view of cards dealt by the dealer but also bets placed by other players.
Media Live dealers will speak in either English or Italian, and we’ve seen Live Roulette games where they were using both. If neither of these options suit you, you’ll have to make do with the multi-lingual interface and a choice of languages available at a particular online casino.
Platform Overview
As of 2014, the developer uses HTML5 technology which makes their products compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Mobile. Games can be played in both landscape and portrait mode.
Zooming in on the Roulette betting table makes it easy to place one’s chips at the desired positions before focusing on the wheel to witness the result of the spin. Simple interface featured by mobile Live Blackjack and Baccarat makes it easy to replicate almost identical layout on smaller screens.
Live Dealers
Media Live dealers are a mixed bunch, varying from very talkative, happy to offer advice and rejoice in a player’s win, to those reluctant to smile and sticking with the very basics. Some of the ladies wearing classic black dresses seem to be native English speakers, but you shouldn’t find them difficult to understand even if they’re not.
Competitive Advantages and Points of Difference
Even though Media Live Casino has been around for a while, they’ve not managed to grab a spot among leaders and their games are not that easy to find, unless you happen to be an Italian player.
The developer’s basic portfolio is, well, pretty basic, with the biggest advantage being games streamed from brick-and-mortar venues in Italy, Slovenia and Estonia.
Live Blackjack and Baccarat are at best at par with those offered by other developers, though the former sorely misses side bets. Innovative elements are offered only with Live Roulette games, namely Jackpot Roulette (even though chances of actually hitting a jackpot are incredibly small) and VR Roulette, which is so far the most authentic replica of land-based experience.
It would be interesting to see other games the provider claims to be able to deliver, such as Live Poker, Sic Bo and Mahjong, but we haven’t managed to find a gaming site featuring any of these.
Latest innovation by Evolution Gaming, Lightning Roulette combines the excitement of playing live roulette with the winning potential of slots. Before every spin, between 2 and 5 numbers are awarded an improved multiplier between 50 and 500 times of your wager.
It gets better. The RTP on it is matching that of European Roulette (97.30%) which means that you give up nothing, but get to play a much more exciting variation of live roulette.