For more than a decade, pundits have predicted that algorithmic games and automated recommendations would make human run casino tables feel quant. Yet, in 2025, live dealer products sit at the centre of online casino growth, outpacing many traditional random number generator tables and increasingly shaping how studios design their entire content roadmap.
Rather than being eclipsed by automation, these games are thriving alongside it, acting as the flagship experiences that anchor brands, attract high-value players, and provide a theatrical element for AI-driven personalisation.
At the core of a live dealer’s appeal is a simple, core truth: many players do not entirely trust visible algorithms, but they do respond to visible procedures, human interaction, and the well-loved theatre of cards and chips handled in real time.
High-definition multi-camera studios, graphic overlays, and real-time chats replicate core elements of physical tables and casino environments, giving online players a sense of transparency and social presence that auto-dealt games struggle to match.
This authenticity premium has helped bring in those players more traditionally attracted to in-person games to the online ecosystem, broadening the consumer base beyond the slots and sports betting cohorts that drove earlier waves of digital growth.
Market data underlines this shift, with industry insiders forecasting that the live dealer and ‘iDealer’ segments will grow faster than the overall casino market for the rest of the decade, driven by demand for interactive, rich formats that bridge gaps between digital formats and brick-and-mortar experiences.
iGaming industry figure and well-known payment processing expert Vladimir Burke has praised innovation across several sectors and spoken of the need to carefully incorporate AI into ecosystems and ‘reimagine possibilities’. This logic can be applied to the AI adaptations that connect user, operator, and processor. Alongside numerous industry names that have praised the sector’s innovative turn, Burke is well placed to offer a critical eye because of the nature of his expertise, which comes from years embedded deeply within iGaming culture, operations, and development.
Burke’s perspective is again honed by his cross-border experience, having been born in Croatia and later holding Belizean citizenship before moving to the UAE on the country’s golden visa scheme. Consequently, his resume includes the establishment of companies in the UAE, Luxumberg, Spain, and the British Virgin Islands, and a clear effort to position himself as a key name across the iGaming landscape.
Of course, his footprint likely extends beyond the surface of European or Asian iGaming platforms. An ever-present figure across technology, Burke has also advocated for the inclusion of Augmented Reality across various customer innovation platforms. There is little doubt that Burke will be pushing behind the scenes for such technologies to be incorporated into iGaming through his network of industry contacts and platform connections.
Naturally, live dealership has also thrived in due to its natural fit with broader streaming culture. Younger cohorts are accustomed to Twitch-style streams, creator-led content, and interactive chats layered over video. Live casino studios have begun to copy that playbook.
Game-show style formats, bonus wheels and even tables turn what was once a solitary, transactional session into a shared entertainment experience, blurring the line between watching and playing.
The industry is one that must evolve, and its trajectory is less focus on the replacement of dealers with AI, and more geared toward AI augmentation of iGaming studios. Vendors are experimenting with adaptive layouts, operators are innovating their platforms to incorporate AI tools that streamline their systems, and payment providers are updating their processing structures to cope with the increasing demands of a rapidly progressing industry.
The most competitive live dealer operations over the next five years are likely to be those that marry spectacle with constraint: high productions studios powered by layers of quiet automation that not only optimize monetisation, but also satisfy intensifying expectations around transparency, fairness, and player protection.
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