Although less experienced compared to giants like Evolution Gaming, Playtech, and Microgaming, Pragmatic Play has already made waves in the world of interactive gambling. The company specializes in the provision of RNG-based casino games, with a portfolio that is mostly dominated by sophisticated video slots.
Its roster of licensees includes leading operators like William Hill, 888, Betfair, LeoVegas, BetVictor, and Paddy Power, among others. It was not until recently that Pragmatic Play stepped out of its RNG comfort zone by rolling out a dedicated live casino product in mid-2019.
Its live portfolio is a bit limited at the moment but the company will most certainly expand it with new tables in the future. The software supplier presently offers around twelve live roulette, blackjack, and baccarat tables. Although the range is not very diverse, the live games are well-presented and perform seamlessly across all devices.
Pragmatic Play’s Story and Achievements
12015 Launch
Pragmatic Play landed on the online gambling scene in 2015 and quickly consolidated its position through hard work and genuine commitment to quality. The company is privately held and is headquartered in the Maltese resort town of Sliema, although it also has offices in Gibraltar. It staffs more than 80 employees and reported annual revenue of $2.26 million in 2017.
2Extreme Live Gaming Acquisition
When it first launched, Pragmatic Play dealt exclusively with the development and distribution of RNG-run casino games, with video slots being its main priority. The company quickly came to the realization it needs to expand its product scope to remain on par with rival software providers.
This eventually led to Pragmatic Play’s landmark acquisition of Extreme Live Gaming, a live casino solutions provider that previously belonged to the Austria-based gaming company Novomatic.
Completed in June 2018, the acquisition is considered an important step in the company’s commercial expansion, earning it integration deals with leading online gambling brands the likes of Mr Green, PlayFortuna, LeoVegas, Meridianbet, and BetVictor, among others.
Extreme Live Gaming is considered one of the most innovative providers of live dealer solutions and as such, is highly regarded by both players and gambling brands. At the time of the acquisition, Extreme’s platform featured around ten table games, streaming live roulette, baccarat, and blackjack from its London-based studio.
3Live Suite Diversification
Pragmatic Play continued to diversify its selection of live casino games in the years following Extreme Live Gaming’s acquisition. One of the latest additions to its constantly growing live portfolio came in May 2020 when Auto Roulette became part of Pragmatic’s live gaming suite.
The company also launched Live Speed Baccarat and Live Baccarat a couple of months earlier, in March of the same year. At the moment of writing, Pragmatic Play has the authorization to legally distribute its services in more than twenty regulated markets worldwide, offering its games in over thirty languages.
4Other Achievements and Awards
Pragmatic Play boasts multiple achievements and has been recognized with many awards over the years. Most of these accolades recognize the company’s achievements in the field of RNG-based games. However, this article focuses on Pragmatic Play’s live dealer offering so we chose to list the accomplishments of Extreme Live Gaming, which is now part of Pragmatic’s family.
- A nomination for Best Live Casino Supplier at the 2017 EGR B2B Awards
- A nomination in the category of Best Mobile Gaming Software at the 2017 EGR B2B Awards
- A nomination for Best Multi-Channel Supplier at the 2017 EGR B2B Awards
- A nomination for Best Live Dealer Overall Product at the 2018 Live Gaming Summit, held at Casino Barcelona. BetConstruct went home with the trophy, though.
- Extreme Live Gaming was also shortlisted in the category of Best In-Casino Streaming Live Dealer Provider at the 2018 Live Gaming Summit but lost to the giant Evolution Gaming.
Live Dealer Studio Location
Extreme Live Gaming (now branded as Pragmatic Play Live) was originally targeting the live gaming markets in Asia. However, the company eventually decided to move its offices to the United Kingdom and set up its live dealer studio in the capital, London.
After the successful completion of the acquisition we spoke about earlier, Pragmatic Play decided to undertake an overhaul of Extreme’s live tables. The company reportedly went as far as hiring former employees of live solution giants like Ezugi and Evolution Gaming for the overhaul.
Eventually, the company decided to move the studios from their London location to Romania’s capital, Bucharest. The revamped facility has the capacity to house around 43 live tables, although further expansion of the gaming floor is also possible.
The studio environment is very sophisticated as it is decorated in green and regal gold, colors that usually evoke associations with high-stake VIP gambling. The setting is lavish, yet very airy. As for the quality of the live stream, it is superb as was to be expected.
The live roulette games, in particular, use four high-end 4k cameras per table to deliver the action to players’ screens. The quality of the audio is just as good, with players being able to clearly hear everything the live dealers say.
Certificates and Regulation
1Overview
Pragmatic Play is a certified software provider that services over twenty regulated markets. The company has been granted licenses by some of the world’s most recognized gambling regulators.
It operates its services in full compliance with each market’s regulatory requirements, ensuring a transparent and reliable gaming experience to its licensees’ customers. Continue reading for more information on the supplier’s permits.
2UK Gambling Commission (UKGC)
After a cumbersome application process, Pragmatic Play received the stamp of approval of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) on April 10, 2017. The company was issued a Remote Gambling Software Operating License, an accomplishment that is considered a major milestone in its history due to the rigid standards of the UK regulator.
3Malta Gaming Authority (MGA)
Pragmatic Play also holds a license issued by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA). The company obtained a Class 4 MGA license in July 2019. This is the highest out of four permit classes, authorizing the supplier to distribute its gaming products in some of Europe’s biggest gaming markets.
4Spelinspektionen (the Swedish Gambling Authority)
The company’s gaming content went live on the Swedish market at the beginning of January 2019 thanks to a license granted by the local regulator Spelinspektionen (the Swedish Gambling Authority).
5Gibraltar Gambling Commission
Toward the end of November 2018, Pragmatic Play announced it has received a B2B Supplier License by the Gibraltar Gambling Commission. A permit from Gibraltar carries significant weight in the online gambling industry and was an essential step in Pragmatic’s ambitious plans for further market expansion.
6Spillemyndigheden
Pragmatic Play extended its gaming footprint to the Danish market after receiving a certification from Denmark’s regulator Spillemyndigheden in August 2017. The company’s gaming content became available to Danish players via the locally licensed Vera & John Casino.
7Romanian National Gambling Office
The renowned software supplier was also granted authorization to offer its products in Romania under a license issued by the Romanian National Gambling Office, or ONJN, at the beginning of December 2016. The company entered the competitive Romanian market via a Class II gambling permit.
8Gaming Laboratories International (GLI)
In addition to all these licenses, Pragmatic Play holds a certification from the renowned testing agency Gaming Laboratories International (GLI). This certificate goes to show the company’s games perform on par with the industry’s standards for fairness.
Key Features of Pragmatic Play’s Live Casino Platform
Pragmatic Play Live ensures a seamless experience for all fans of live casino gaming. In full honesty, this is not surprising considering its live platform shares a similar interface and gameplay features as the Evolution Gaming live software. This is not something to frown upon, however, because Pragmatic manages to create a genuine replica that is in no way inferior to Evolution’s offering.
Multilingual
The multilingual user interface allows live casino players to execute gameplay commands in a variety of languages, including German, Chinese, English, and Spanish. To be more specific, the live interface supports around 30 languages. With that said, the languages are configurable and the available options depend on which live dealer casino you register at.
HTML5
Cross-compatibility is another trait of Pragmatic Play Live. The user interface is built on the HTML5 markup language. This is to say players have instant in-browser access to their favorite live tables regardless of what device they prefer to use. The software works across all widely used browsers and operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android.
Support Chat
The platform also features a very useful 24/7 customer support chat, built directly into the user interface. This way, players can get in touch with the casinos’ support staff without having to exit the live lobby and interrupt their gaming sessions. You can ask for assistance straight away by clicking the customer support icon on the user interface.
4K Quality
The multiple-camera stream creates a highly realistic experience that hardly comes short of that in landbased casinos. The studio relies on 4k state-of-the-art cameras to deliver an immersive feel and look.
Roulette games yield themselves very well to the live format. The camera zooms in to show players a close-up of the wheel so they can track the ball’s trajectory before it finally settles on a winning number. Furthermore, players also have the option to switch to Classic View. The stream window is minimized and the virtual betting layout occupies half of the screen in Classic View.
Special and Favorite Bets
Special and favorite bets are incorporated into the user interface of all live roulette variations by Pragmatic Play. Simply put, special bets comprise a category of complex wagers that enjoy popularity with experienced fans of the game. These include full completes, finales a cheval, and finales en plein.
Feel free to check out our detailed guide on roulette bet types for further information. Other than that, you can open the Special Bets feature by clicking on the star-shaped icon in the lower-left corner of the interface. Additionally, players can save up to five of their favorite bets or bet combinations by clicking the heart-shaped icon.
Statistics
Statistical trends information is also available via the Pragmatic Play Live platform. Based on the results of the previous 50 to 500 spins, statistics can help players make better-informed decisions about what wagers to post next.
The roulette stats are organized into three groups – hot and cold numbers, last called numbers, and a chart tab. The first two are pretty much self-explanatory. The chart tab presents players with information about the percentages of winning red/black, odd/even, high/low, column, and dozen bets.
Player History Panel
The player history panel displays valuable information about your past live gaming sessions. You can easily track how much you have wagered and at which table. The net cash earnings (or losses) are also displayed in this panel.
Configurable Settings
Configurable video and sound settings are available via the Settings menu. You can switch from one language to another or turn off the game effects and the audio. The video streams are available in high, medium, and low quality. However, we suggest you turn on the auto-adjust feature.
Pragmatic Play Live Blackjack
The live blackjack tables offered by Pragmatic Play abide by uniform rules. This makes it easier for less experienced players to jump from one table to another without consulting with the Game Help menu. The games are dealt out of a shoe with eight full decks. The dealers give players a penetration of 50% or less, so counting cards is obviously not worth it in this case.
Manual Reshuffling
Reshuffling takes place once the live dealer reaches the cut card. If this happens mid-hand, the dealer would remove the cut card and allow players to complete their hands before the reshuffle. The dealer will warn them in advance that this is “the last hand of the shoe”. The packs are reshuffled manually by a separate staff member at a table by the main dealer’s side.
Deck Change
Another important policy has to do with deck change. Old packs are disposed of once every 24 hours. However, deck change can also occur in several exceptional cases. This happens whenever three or more cards have fallen on the floor, when there is a longer interruption in the video stream, when the shoe contains cards with defective barcodes, or when the table is reopened after a longer period of inactivity.
General House Rules and House Edge
The Pragmatic Play Live blackjack tables offer relatively favorable rules although there is more to be desired in this respect. American Vegas rules are in place. To begin with, the professional dealers abide by the S17 rule, which is to say they always draw to 16 and stand on all totals of 17. Hole cards are in play as well.
Each table can seat a maximum of seven players. If more vacant seats are available, the same person can spread their action to two or more betting spots. Also, you can double down on any starting hand consisting of two cards except after splitting a pair.
Splitting is possible on any pair but you are prohibited from drawing additional cards to split aces. Blackjacks offer the standard return of 3 to 2. Insurance is offered against a dealer ace at the usual odds of 2 to 1. This set of rules gives the house a relatively tolerable advantage of 0.72%. The theoretical return in the main game is 99.28%.
Blackjack Features of Interest
The blackjack tables by Pragmatic Play Live are equipped with several other features and betting options although most of these can hardly be called unique or original. Nevertheless, they are worth mentioning to the benefit of those who are completely new to this live dealer platform.
- Side bets are supported at the majority of live blackjack tables, particularly the common wagers from the Perfect Pairs and the 21+3 categories. Although these are independent of the outcome of the main game, players can post them only on condition they have previously made a main bet. Their house edge is higher – 4.10% for PP and 3.70% for 21+3.
- Players can bet behind other seated patrons at full tables. You can turn this feature on and off from the main settings menu. You can wager on the hands of other players while waiting for a seat to vacate.
The seated player is responsible for the hitting and standing decisions. It appears Pragmatic Play has borrowed the Winning Badge idea from Evolution Gaming. Said badge enables you to instantly spot the players with the longest winning streak at a given table. - The Early Decision option (also borrowed from Evolution where it is called Pre-Decision) enables you to make playing decisions on your hand at a full table without having to wait for other players to complete their hands first. This feature is available both on desktop and mobile.
- The Auto-Stand feature can speed up your gameplay. When the functionality is activated, the software would automatically decline additional cards from the dealer if your hand’s total is equal or greater than a certain value. The feature is unavailable for pairs and soft hands, though.
Live Dealer Blackjack by Pragmatic Play Gameplay
Pragmatic Play Live Roulette
The Pragmatic Play Live platform can offer fans of the Devil’s Wheel around six live roulette tables. Players can change the language of the interface from the main settings menu but the available languages vary depending on the live casino. The platform is also home to several variations hosted in native languages, including Roulette Germany, Roulette Russia, and Roulette Italy. Speed and Auto Roulette are also among the options.
General House Rules and House Edge
The Pragmatic Play live roulette varieties abide by the standard European rules where you have a single-zero wheel and a total of 37 numbered pockets. The wheels themselves are courtesy of the recognized manufacturer TCS Huxley which supplies gaming equipment to some of the world’s largest landbased casinos.
Players are presented with the standard set of inside and outside wagers. A racetrack is included for roulette experts who prefer to post complex combination wagers such as the Tiers, Orphelins, Voisins, Zero Game, and Neighbors. Betting on up to nine neighbors is possible. The number can be adjusted via the +/- buttons to the left of the racetrack.
Being single-zero games, the live roulette variations offer the standard theoretical return of 97.30%. The house edge is 2.70%, respectively. Unlike some of the single-zero games streamed by Evolution Gaming, Pragmatic Play’s roulette suite does not support the La Partage and En Prison rules that lead to further reductions in the house edge. Players lose their outside bets in full if zero hits.
Other Features of Interest
We covered some of the essential functionalities of the roulette games in our features section. However, there are several other things of interest at Pragmatic’s live roulette tables we would like to briefly tackle here.
- The last winning numbers are displayed at the bottom of the main game screen. Although the results of previous rounds are hardly helpful when it comes to predicting future outcomes, this feature might still appeal to roulette fans who believe in hot and cold numbers. The newest results are displayed from right to left.
- Autoplay enables you to automatically repost previous wagers or combinations of wagers for your chosen number of spins. The feature is configurable but it starts at a minimum of five auto rounds. The functionality is deactivated whenever your balance drops below a certain amount or reaches zero, and when you earn a previously specified sum during any single round of play.
- The rules on valid spins are not exactly features per se but are still worthy of consideration. An outcome is declared valid only on condition the ball had been spun by the dealer in a direction opposite to that of the spinning wheel.Respectively, the ball must make a minimum of three complete rotations before dropping from the ball track. In the event of an invalid spin, the dealer would declare verbally “No spin.” This usually happens upon violations of the previous two rules or whenever the ball gets stuck in a fret or jumps out of the ball track (this is known as a “ball out”).
- Zoom-in on the winning number is displayed on top of the video screen so players can easily determine the outcome of each spin. It is shown simultaneously with a list of the winners who have correctly predicted the outcome. Winning numbers are also displayed in animated circles on the virtual interface.
Live Dealer Roulette by Pragmatic Play Gameplay
Pragmatic Play Live Baccarat
Live baccarat is one of the latest launches of the Pragmatic Play platform. The renowned supplier released two new variations of the classic card game of chance in the spring of 2020. One is the classic variant while the other one is called Speed Baccarat.
Table Style and Feel
Similarly to the other live products of Pragmatic, the baccarat tables resemble those of Evolution Gaming in terms of style. You will see what we mean if you make a side-by-side comparison of the two. The action takes place in an elegant setting and, you guessed it, it uses a similar style and tones as the baccarat tables of Evolution.
The environment uses classic gold and scarlet tones. The tables are bean-shaped and covered with yellow felt. The dealers are usually female and clad in red or black ensembles. The games are intended for play on desktop as well as on mobile, with few interface differences between the two formats.
General Rules and House Edge
The live baccarat tables abide by the traditional rules of the classic game. Best of all, there is no need for you to memorize the complicated tableau. The expert dealers are well-familiar with the drawing rules for the Player and Banker hands and would deal cards automatically depending on the total of each of the two outcomes.
Speaking of outcomes, here you can choose to back the standard Player, Banker, and Tie options. They pay at normal odds as follows: 1 to 1 for Player, 0.95 to 1 for Banker, and 8 to 1 for Tie. The live games are dealt out of eight-deck shoes. Each outcome yields a different house edge (1.06% for Banker, 1.24% for Player, and 14.4% for Tie).
Features to Pay Attention to
- Regular and No-Commission mode are both an option for baccarat players at Pragmatic Play-powered live casinos. When you join a table, the game automatically loads in Regular mode, but you can switch to No-Commission mode if you do not want to pay the 0.05% “fee” on your winning Banker wagers.
- Side bets are available in addition to the three standard betting options. You can activate them by clicking the Super 6 button. You can post separate wagers on the following side outcomes: Perfect Pair (25 to 1), Player or Banker Pair (11 to 1), Small Hand (1.5 to 1), Big Hand (0.54 to 1), and Either Pair (5 to 1).
- The Statistical trends provide you with information on the total amount of money bettors have invested in each of the three main outcomes. This feature also shows you the percentage of players that have backed the Banker and Player hands or the Tie.
- Roadmaps are extremely popular among baccarat players, especially those who are riddled with superstition. This is a statistical feature that shows you the trends and the result distribution during the current shoe.The game is still based on chance so the roadmaps are not guaranteed to tip the scales in your favor. To our knowledge, the only way to beat this game is through edge sorting, which is not applicable to live dealer baccarat for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, you should feel free to use the roadmaps if you are keen on riding trends.