iGaming Technology: A Guide to Successfully Live Stream Your Games in Real-Time

The iGaming industry is on a meteoric rise, with projections estimating the global online gambling market to hit USD 153 billion by 2030, as reported by Grand View Research. This predicted explosive growth raises a vital question for operators: how can they utilize cutting-edge iGaming technology, particularly real-time live video streaming, to thrive in this competitive market? 

In this article, we delve into the essentials of iGaming technology, highlighting the importance of low-latency live video streaming in creating immersive, interactive gaming experiences. We’ll guide you through the technological nuances and strategic choices crucial for seamless game streaming. Whether you’re an established operator or new to the iGaming scene, understanding these technological elements is key to captivating players and gaining a competitive advantage in the fast-paced world of online gaming. 

What is iGaming 

iGaming covers all kinds of online betting where you’re guessing the future outcome of a game or event, like sports betting, online casinos, poker, and eSports. Unlike regular casinos, iGaming providers make things happen online through gaming platforms. An important charactiristic of this type of live video content is its credibility and the fact that players can interact with an actual person. Prominent examples are streamed live dealer games like live casino: Players can interact with their dealer to play e.g. roulette or card games (poker, black jack etc.). Other examples are Bingo, Online slots and even sports betting and video-game style products can enter this category.  

iGaming technology – what works  

The iGaming industry has grown a lot and it is expected to grow further – in all regions, worldwide. Platform operators and future ones want to know: What does it take to reach players virtually and bond them to a brand in a highly competitive market?  

The way players consume content has changed significantly due to mobility and the pandemic, new iGaming technology has been added to offerings and today’s players expect a smooth engaging experience when they play live casino games.  

Interactive real-time live streaming for iGaming to reach todays’ players as they consume today: 24/7/365, anywhere, anytime, any device with high quality expectations.  

This is where operators need to choose a streaming solution wisely because only the optimal mix of decisions regarding the infrastructure from video ingest to content delivery will create a high quality gaming experience for their players. The idea behind that is, if operators tackle the live streaming workflow, they can focus on their core business – their games.   

The first step starts with latency  

Getting a live game out to the world online: Envision the game and the dealer and the player playing remotely but looking for a real-time experience as if the player is in the same room. Often providers need to reach a large number of players in different locations. Given the amount of data traveling, the first challenge is to get the content to all participants without any noticeable delay.  

The key to enable an interactive experience lies in the so-called “latency” of the video, which is the time delay between the live dealer’s action and the time the viewer sees it. This is not guaranteed in traditional live streaming environments and requires an interactive live streaming solution based on ultra-low latency, which means less than one second end to end. 

To ensure players come back to streamed games operators need to bond them by staying ahead in a highly competitive environment.  

To establish an immersive user experience iGaming requires an interactive live streaming solution. 

What latency is possible? Read more about latency, tips for reducing streaming lag and explore strategies in our recent review about the state of latency in 2024.

Rely on a strong Global Network to reach anyone, anywhere, anytime 

Never assume that your players have great or even standard network conditions – maximize your audience by considering all scenarios, good ones and bad ones including growing regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Players may not come back to a roulette that went down or was of unsteady quality. 

So when it comes to delivering content operators need to rely on a streaming solution that is 100% reliable at all times, and robust against any hostile network situations anywhere in the world. This includes planning for the possibility that servers fail (they do). 

Key factor is that the Content Delivery Network (CDN) is strong meaning not standard but managed specifically for 24/7/365 interactive streaming scenarios: Global coverage, self-managed with iGaming expertise to grant automatic failover and autoscaling to any audience size. 

A strong Content Delivery Network (CDN) with a solid infrastructure provides the means to deliver games anywhere without interruption. 

100% availability: Unless your streaming solution guarantees 100% uptime 24/7 operations, you risk frustrating users with unintentional downtime.  

Easy and instant access on all devices 

One of the biggest challenges iGaming providers face is ensuring that players receive the best possible user experience on both, desktop and mobile, at all times. While some players might access the game on the go on their mobile while commuting, others might prefer their desktop. 

An additional requirement to keep in mind is that users prefer simple straightforward access without any plugins. Important is that this works equally well from all browsers.  

A requirement that has become increasingly important is “fast start-up” – the time it takes to start a game starting from the moment a user clicks the play button. In the domain of live casinos, players frequently shift from one table to another, and some even engage in two games concurrently. In this dynamic environment, fast video startup times ensure instant access to the game. 

Uninterrupted video streams: Buffering is not an option 

What happens if a player is streaming a game on a bus ride traveling through different network conditions? Keep in mind it is about monetization after all, so, regardless of the bandwidth available, players should be able to interact with streamed content smoothly or will leave their money elsewhere. 

The key to guarantee quality of experience with all network conditions lies in live transcoding and adaptive streaming.   

With adaptive bitrate playback, a stream can automatically adjust to the best quality for the available network while automatic conversion of the original live stream from a high-quality input stream into the different lower quality streams used depending on the bandwidth available can take place.  

Know about your players’ experience, control your service 

To stay ahead of the curve with iGaming technology, operators need to know what they deliver to whom and how the games perform in terms of streaming quality. There are multiple factors happening in the background e.g. ingest, delivery, playback. How do you break down these complex factors and interdepencies? A well structured streaming solution including analytics opens the door to monitor stream performance successfully. This should include ways to identify any performance issues to optimize your workflow for top-tier performance.  

Self alerting systems are also a great way to stay on top with the ingest quality of your streams, and improve service as well as user experience faster. 

Collect metrics – with 100% insights you can detect any impact on QoE and ensure that your audience receives the best possible streaming experience. 

Secure your profit, protect your games 

Due to issues like illegal stream replication, iGaming providers require means to protect their games to avoid possible misuse.  A few ways to protect content include:

1. Ingest Webhooks: Fortify the entry point of the streaming process to ensure the secure receipt of data. By employing encrypted webhooks, operators can prevent interception or tampering, maintaining the integrity of the streaming content from the outset.

2. Playback Tokens: Grant authorized access to streaming content. With a secure token-based authentication system, operators can thwart unauthorized users, adding an extra layer of protection against potential piracy attempts.

3. IP and Referral Blocking: By monitoring and controlling access points, operators can proactively identify and block suspicious IPs or referrals attempting unauthorized entry. This not only deters potential pirates but also allows operators to maintain control over distribution channels, minimizing the risk of illicit streaming.

Protecting streams from unauthorized access has become a major requirement as anywhere, anytime content availability and interactive livestreaming have gained popularity. 

Hence, we see stream security as a requirement that should be made part of a streaming solution. WIth a simple principle “Observe activities, evaluate suspicious ones, block identified threats” action can take place early to avoid damages for gaming operators. 

Key Takeaway 

Integrating analytics, CDN, and player functionalities into a unified solution ensures the consistent and reliable delivery of your streams across all platforms – becoming a key iGaming technology. With this approach, operators can focus on monitoring metrics and implementing necessary adjustments to ensure consistently excellent user experiences. This means they can focus on their business while still maintaining full control over their video experience. 

How nanoStream Cloud is providing real-time video streaming for iGaming 

Leveraging 25 years of experience and 8 years operating in iGaming, nanocosmos has become an integral player in the iGaming industry, earning the confidence of operators on a global scale. Our unwavering commitment to reliability and operational excellence in iGaming workflows is evident through our close affiliations with key operators, and being honored with the prestigious ICE Landmark Awards underscores our impact. Our platform and API reflects our unyielding dedication to customer satisfaction, addressing the real-time streaming needs of operators.

Experience the advantages of nanoStream Cloud, where you can expect: 

• Sub-second Latency: A holistic approach ensures end-to-end latency remains under 1 second without compromising on quality. 
• Global Content Delivery Network: Our ultra-low latency CDN, operational 24/7 with 100% uptime, guarantees uninterrupted high availability. With over 1000 servers worldwide, users can engage seamlessly from any corner of the globe. 
• Adaptive Player: Enjoy playback on all devices and networks through the synergy of ultra-fast live transcoding and adaptive bitrate playback. 
• Analytics: Leverage our powerful analytical tools for 100% insights. The nanocosmos platform provides end-to-end observability, empowering informed business decisions. 
• Security: Benefit from comprehensive security features, including ingest webhooks, playback tokens, and active misuse protection featuring IP and referral blocking. 
• Easy API Integration: Seamlessly integrate with existing workflows using our user-friendly APIs, supported by extensive documentation for your convenience.