Creating seamless experiences for live dealer games
Buffering, latency, bandwidth, video quality, security, and more topics keep iGaming providers busy when dealing with the delivery of their games worldwide. We spoke with Angelo De Gobbi, COO of LiveG24, to understand how real-time streaming with nanoStream Cloud has been integrated into LiveG24’s business application. What were the challenges and most important requirements?
Snapshot
LiveG24 is a leading iGaming software provider offering licensed live casino and bingo games streamed globally. For years, the company relied on Flash technology for its streaming services, managing operations in-house. However, with Flash’s retirement and the evolving demands of the industry including security and compatibility, LiveG24 recognized the need for a more robust solution to ensure a seamless gaming experience worldwide.
About LiveG24
- Offering streamed games for operators: Baccarat, Roulette, Blackjack, and Bingo.
- Streaming 24/7/365 to all regions
- From Studios in Europe (Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Estonia) targeting markets all over the world including emerging regions like Brazil and Africa.
Challenges and Solutions
Latency requirement for creating interactive live dealer games
LiveG24 had to tackle the latency challenge, especially for interactive live dealer games like blackjack. Getting that latency down to under a second was crucial to keep the gaming experience engaging, as well as to increase the betting window and grow monetization.
Angelo: “When we’re doing our streaming in-house, 15 or 20 years ago, using flash technology, […] we were dealing with around 3-4 seconds latency delay. This is not particularly problematic for roulette games which gives you a bit less stress in the latency, but for card games it is. Blackjack for example, where there is an interaction between the player and dealer, requires ultra-low latency.
With nanoStream Cloud we are at sub-second e.g. we stream from a studio in Europe to Brazil with a latency of around 0.8 which is quite good, considering that we are traveling all around the world with our video signal.
Seamless Live dealer games, 24/7/365
One of LiveG24’s most significant challenges was to ensure uninterrupted gaming experiences for players worldwide. Any interruption in viewing experiences could directly hinder monetization efforts, emphasizing the paramount importance of seamless gameplay irrespective of the player’s location or device. Players need to be able to quickly connect to a game, place bets, and engage without anything compromising their experience.
Angelo: there is no point in streaming with high bitrates imagining our games will be watched on a 4k monitor. The players are mostly connected via mobile and for us it is much more important to make sure they have an uninterrupted experience there than to deliver the highest video quality that they won’t use.
Angelo: Our clients are providers that require streaming for different purposes. Some seek integration into their existing online offerings, some engage us to take care of the entire creation of a complete live studio. Our customers run streams nonstop. When there is an issue, it needs to be fixed ASAP – translating into a timeframe of one minute.
In order to prioritize the players’ quality of experience (QoE), LiveG24 needed comprehensive visibility into their streaming workflow. The challenge lay in understanding the journey of the stream through the workflow and the players’ experiences with it, enabling LiveG24 to implement necessary changes and glean insights for growth.
Angelo: They all have in common that they target players and that their games run 24/7/365. Our job is to monitor the backend of these streams and make sure they run securely. For that, we work with nanoStream Cloud Analytics.
The World Map is used to check the latency values per country
Live Monitoring in nanoStream Analytics
LiveG24: We filter and choose a specific stream to see the max concurrent viewers
The Country Pie Chart breaks down traffic by country
Protecting streams from unauthorized access
Angelo: Security is really important to us and the token security with nanoStream Cloud is the main feature we use. Some fraudulent operators recreated our streamed games and this causes royalty issues and streams can be directed to countries where online gambling is not legalized. Now with the token system, we are delighted. We can also check simultaneous players.
“We want to be sure that nobody will be able to use our stream without our permission. This is very important both for quality issues, as well as for legal issues. We want to avoid our games being used in illegal markets. We compare the real-time users from nanoStream Analytics with our data to make sure no one is using it without permission”.
Cross-check of IPs
LiveG24: In the analytics menu breakdown, we make sure there is no unauthorized/fraudulent use:
- Filter “stream name”
- The view can be filtered e.g. by last 15 or 60 minutes
- Unauthorized access can be blocked via tool button
Multi-camera View For Bingo Games
Angelo: For casino games, we use one camera, for Bingo 2 cameras: One camera concentrates on the live dealer operating the blower, while the other zooms in on the selection of the bingo ball. With both feeds synchronized, it significantly heightens the engagement level for the viewer.
We use nanoStream Cloud to insert video e.g. of a live bingo game. To do this we use two streams one presenting the dealer and one for the player to see the ball. nanoStream Cloud works well to run these two streams simultaneously for the players and include not only delivery to mobile phones but including older models which is important to us.
Heavy In-House Workload For Seamless Operations
Managing streaming operations internally placed a significant burden on LiveG24, requiring extensive resources for tasks such as transcoding, human resource management, and technology updates. Streamlining these processes was essential to enhance operational efficiency and adaptability to evolving industry standards.
The integration of nanoStream Cloud was very seamless and all updates are too.
| Requirement | Solution |
| Interactive live dealer games from European locations to be streamed around the world to different time zones with latency of under 1 second | Real-time video streaming with support 24/7/365 |
| Solution for a B2B business application that targets iGaming operators | Easy integration, easy to use |
| Smooth experience for all players joining including from remote locations with subpar internet connection | Adaptive Bitrate Streaming with adjustable transcoding profiles Content Delivery Network for worldwide reach |
| Compatibility with devices including older models | Easy access based on browser-based, including all devices |
| Stream security to block unauthorized access, illegal activities, and royalty issues | Analytics to identify fraudulent use Token-based streaming |
| Bingo Worldwide delivery of 2 simultaneous in-sync streams | Multi-view in sync enabled by time stamps |
Summary & Outcome
In our case study involving LiveG24, a leading Casino Software Provider, the need for a solution offering seamless ultra-low latency streaming 24/7/365 across all regions and devices was paramount. For that, the combination of various specific requirements proved to deliver a unique solution: adaptive bitrate streaming with adjustable transcoding profiles that rely on a strong CDN, easy access and compatibility with all devices, live control in Analytics to shield content from unauthorized access as well as token-based streaming.
In addition, the synchronized multi-camera view enabled by time stamps was an important factor. Ultimately, LiveG24 found nanoStream Cloud to be the ideal solution, citing its reliability and practicality as primary drivers for adoption.
Angelo: “nanoStream Cloud. It simply works and that is why we are using it”.
Disclaimer: The images included in this case study are illustrative and do not depict any information or data related to LiveG24 and nanocosmos. Access to specific information in nanoStream Analytics depends on the subscription level and authorization.
