There are times I wished I lived in New Jersey. And those times that I wished I lived in New Jersey, I throw up in my mouth a little. Now, as someone who has lived in Georgia for 20 years, I will fully admit that as I take that little jab at the Garden State, I do not live in a bastion of wonder. But man, sometimes I really want to partake in a little regulated online gambling and when I see something like live dealer casino floor gaming, as what was just launched by the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, I do get a little jealous.
Golden Nugget soft launched the live dealer casino floor roulette on March 21st, but officially announced the game a week later, on March 28th. And frankly, it’s pretty cool. Many of us (even me, back in the good, old days) are familiar with traditional online casino games, where we place wagers on computerized versions of things like blackjack, craps, and roulette. What Golden Nugget Atlantic City has launched is a game where players, sitting in front of their computers at home within New Jersey’s borders, can watch a real, live game on the regular gaming floor of the Golden Nugget and actually bet on it.
Bet on it just like they are there, though without touching real chips and all that. Again, it’s an actual game that is going on in the Golden Nugget with a real dealer and real players on the casino floor. I’m not sure exactly how the results get transmitted and chip transaction calculated, but it happens. Perhaps someone there types in what number is hit and the gaming system does the rest. Perhaps a camera does the job. Or maybe there is some RFID razzamatazz going on. But however it works, a real wheel spins, a real ball rolls around, real people are there, in person, betting, and people at home do the same.
In a press release, the Golden Nugget said that “….watching patrons at the Golden Nugget Atlantic City place bets alongside online patrons makes for an ever more authentic live casino feel.”
Live dealer casino floor roulette will naturally be slower than regular online roulette, but I would imagine, as the press release implied, that it is a hell of a lot more fun. No, no online game can replace the experience of being at the table live and in person, but until virtual reality internet gambling becomes a reality, this seems like the next best thing. I know if I was going to put down a few bets on black, I would do it with a game like this (though I write for gambling websites, I’ll admit I’m not actually much of a gambler outside of poker).
The Golden Nugget has several options for other live dealer games, though those games are broadcast from special studios, not live from the casino floor. Looking at the casino’s website, it appears there five blackjack tables, two roulette tables, one baccarat table, and one casino hold’em table. They all run 2:00pm to 3:00am, whereas the live casino floor roulette game runs 24/7.