Who’s got a hot hand in New Jersey?
Dice game fans in the Garden State can rejoice. After a long wait, live dealer craps is finally available at some New Jersey online casinos.
Market leader Evolution is currently the only company offering such games in the US. It revealed in early August that it would bring the games to New Jersey after launching them in Pennsylvania. On October 25, it announced that it was finally ready to do so.
Pennsylvania rarely gets a new gambling product before New Jersey. Part of the reason, in this case, was the regulations around paraphernalia. Casino dice are made to a high standard and typically feature the branding of the casino where they’re approved for use. Evolution needed special approval from the Division of Gaming Enforcement for unbranded dice. It received that approval on July 8 but may have started other parts of the process later as a result of waiting.
Certain casinos, like DraftKings, partner with Evolution to create custom-branded studios. Most, however, opt for the cheaper option of sharing generic tables with other casinos. Generic, unbranded dice are essential for those tables.
NJ Online Casinos With Live Dealer Craps
Live dealer casino gaming is hugely popular in the US and got its start in New Jersey. As a result, the vast majority of NJ online casinos include at least some of Evolution’s titles. Live dealer blackjack and live roulette are all but a given these days.
It may take a while for Evolution Craps to become similarly widespread. A cursory inspection of a few larger online casino sites in the state reveals that some have adopted the game from day one while others haven’t. Three sites that do currently offer Evolution Craps are:
BetMGM, Caesars, FanDuel and Golden Nugget are among the major brands that are still without a live dealer craps option for the time being.
Interestingly, DraftKings has also been one of the few options in the US for online craps without a live dealer. It developed its own DK Craps product in-house. The prevailing wisdom in the industry is that the complexity of craps, the importance of its social aspects, and the potentially longer play time make it less suited for online adaptation than most other table games.
Live dealer play addresses the social aspects. Also, fans of live dealer games are already used to a somewhat slower pace of play than traditional online casino audiences.
What’s more, Evolution Craps features an “Easy Mode,” which disables some of the more complex betting options. There’s also an in-game tutorial.
Who Rolls the Dice in Evolution Craps?
One concern people might have when moving from brick-and-mortar craps to online play is who gets to roll the dice. After all, one appealing factor in live play is getting to hold the dice yourself.
Cards in a shoe, the dealer’s toss of the roulette ball and a slot machine’s random number generator are all equally fair. But throwing your own dice at craps just feels better, at least for some.
Sadly, that’s not possible online. But you don’t have to worry about whether Evolution’s dealers will somehow cheat while rolling the dice for you. No human is involved in rolling the dice at all. They’re mechanically launched from a plastic tray onto the table. In that regard, Evolution Craps is a bit more like Auto-Roulette than it is like other live dealer games.
Unlike Auto-Roulette, however, there is still a human dealer at the table. They are there just to call out results, provide some social interaction for the players and return the dice to their launcher after each roll.