The Ultimate Guide to Table Games in South Africa
What makes the difference between a betting shop and a casino? It’s the table games - traditional games that have been casino staples for centuries. Thanks to modern technology, these games are not right at your fingertips. It’s like stepping into a casino - but more convenient.
Types of Table Games
Table games in the casino are those games that you play at a table and against one or more dealers - and the house. They are those games that you play when you step inside Montecasino or Sun City. And, of course, the games you’ll find at a live casino: live dealer games replicate all the classics.
Roulette - The Grandfather of Table Games
The iconic casino game we call roulette is one for the ages, having been around since the late 18th century. The game hasn’t changed much since its inception. The variants you can play in live casinos today are almost identical to the games played in France centuries ago.
Roulette has two main versions, with a slightly different wheel design.
American Roulette
The American version of roulette is the original French variant that made it across the Atlantic. The wheel has 38 numbered slots:
- Numbers from 1 to 36
- A 0 and a 00 slot
European Roulette
Frenchmen Francois and Lous Blanc created the European version of roulette in the mid-19th century. They changed the table a bit, reducing the house edge, which made their roulette wheel a big success.
- Numbers from 1 to 36
- A 0 slot
Other Roulette Variants
Live casinos have quite a few roulette versions - most of them are variants of European or American roulette:
- Speed Roulette
- Lightning Roulette
- Salon Privé Roulette
You can play live roulette at these casinos:
Baccarat - Fast and Convenient Fun
Baccarat is another old French game - although some think it originally came from Asia. Whichever the case, it started its glorious journey across the world’s casinos in the 19th century, and since then, it has conquered the world. In real-life casinos, baccarat is especially popular among high rollers. In live casinos, baccarat is an incredibly fun game that everyone loves - especially high rollers.
The game is simple and fast-paced. All the work is done by the dealer, which leaves you nothing to do but bet on the bank’s or the player’s hand.
There are several baccarat variants available in live casinos:
- Traditional baccarat
- Baccarat Squeeze where the dealer reveals the cards slowly, thus increasing the tension
- Speed Baccarat, as its name suggests, is an even faster version of the game
Find out everything about baccarat here >>
You can try live baccarat here:
Blackjack - Table Games for Profit
Blackjack is the odd one out. Unlike most casino games, it relies as much on skill as it does on luck. This is what makes it one of the few casino games that you can play professionally - and for profit. Live Blackjack is the modern version of the old Spanish game “21”. It is one of the most popular casino games today, especially at live casinos that routinely list several variants of the game. There are a few differences between the variants:
- The number of card decks in the shoe
- The payouts for a blackjack
- The dealer’s reactions to various hands
All these influence the house edge of the game - and require a different strategy on your end. But if you play right, you can bend the odds in your favour more often than not.
Read on about blackjack variants and strategies here >>
Give live blackjack a go at these casinos:
Casino Poker - Familiar Entertainment
Poker is not a casino game - except for the variants that you can play at an online casino. Casino poker is a more recent invention, introduced in land-based casinos in the last few decades. Of course, it made its way to live casinos as well.
There are several poker-inspired table games available at South Africa’s live casinos:
- Casino Hold’em inspired by Texas Hold’em
- Caribbean Stud inspired by Five Card Stud
- Three Card Poker based on Five Card Draw
Casino poker games come with various side bets, jackpots, and strategies. You can read all about them here >>
Play casino poker here:
Asian Games - Try Something New
There are several live casino games of Asian origin making waves in live casinos around the world. Many of them are available in South African casinos:
- Sic Bo is somewhat similar to roulette, except you play it with three dice. You can bet on various combinations of the dice, specific totals, and similar outcomes.
- Dragon Tiger is a basic “the bigger card wins” game with an Asian theme
- Fan Tan is a fun guessing game where players can bet on the results between 1 and 4
Read all about live casino games of Asian origin here>>
Try Asian table games here:
Why Play Table Games?
Most casino games that we call "table games" today were invented centuries ago. Most of them involved dice, playing cards, perhaps wheels that turned, stopping at various prizes. If you look at today's casino games, you'll see that, in their essence, they didn't change much over the centuries. There are just a few major types of games that show up at casinos in various forms to this day:
Card Games
We have a few card games at our casinos, online or otherwise, that have been around for centuries. Blackjack, the granddaddy of strategic casino games, was invented in the late 17th or early 18th century. Baccarat has been around for even longer, since the 16th. Of course, we have much more modern inventions played at casinos around the world: casino poker variants have been around since the noughties, for example, to bring poker players to the gaming tables.
Wheel Games
Roulette is the best-known game of chance that involves a wheel - but it certainly had predecessors. Even today, you can see games involving so-called "wheels of fortune" at fairs where players pay an entry fee, spin the wheel, and get a prize. Today, roulette is the most famous but not the only game involving wheels - although it's the only one played at a table. Games like Sweet Bonanza Candyland and Crazy Time keep the tradition alive.
Dice Games
Throwing stones or bones to see the future slowly transformed into a form of gambling over time, giving birth to the first dice games in history. In today's casinos, the tradition lives on in the form of craps, a game introduced in Las Vegas at the beginning of the 20th century. Craps remains one of the most popular table games at land-based casinos, with its tables constantly surrounded by cheering crowds. While it's not that exciting online, it does give you a decent gaming experience.
RNG vs Live Dealer
Back when the first online casinos were launched in the mid-1990s, the internet infrastructure was not good enough for live casino games to work. Not for lack of trying, mind you: software developers worldwide were trying to make them happen from the start. RNG-powered table games were, in turn, easy - and they carried the weight of online gambling for years.
What Is an RNG?
What is an RNG, you might ask? Well, RNG is an acronym for Random Number Generator, a computer algorithm tasked with generating provably random numbers. The keyword here is provable: true randomness is the key to the casino games' fairness. The RNG does all the heavy lifting in the background of all casino games, no matter if it's online roulette or a video slot machine. The spinning reels and win lines you see are the outcome of its calculations.
All the games you encounter at South African online casinos that don't involve a live dealer are powered by an RNG. This very much includes card games, table games, dice games, lotteries like keno or bingo, even virtual sports and some lotteries.
How About Live Games?
Live casino games - as their name suggests - are being handled by the dealers in real time, and you can follow them and play them "as they happen". They involve sophisticated streaming technology, trained dealers in studios, and real cards, dice or spinning wheels. These games are as close to the traditional casino experience as they can in the online environment, combining a special experience and a personal touch with the accessibility of online casinos. On the other hand, they tend to consume quite a bit of bandwidth with their constant video stream.
If you wonder if you should play traditional (RNG) table games at online casinos, here's the answer: yes, give them a try. They can be as fast-paced as slot machines, they go easy on your air time, and they offer you a completely new gaming experience. Experiment with a few of them: you might just discover a brand new favourite.
Table Games FAQ
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What are table games?
Table games are casino games played on a table, often involving cards, dice, or a spinning wheel, against the casino or other players.
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What kinds of table games are there?
Live casinos offer a variety of table games, including Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat, Poker, and their variants, played with live dealers.
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How to play table games?
To play table games, choose a game, learn its rules and betting options, place your bets on the table, and follow the dealer's instructions or game prompts.
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Are table games rigged?
Table games and live dealer games at reputable casinos are not rigged; they use certified Random Number Generators for fairness and are monitored by regulatory bodies.
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Can I win at live casino games?
Yes, you can win at live casino games, but outcomes depend on luck, game strategy, and understanding the rules of each game.