Evolution Gaming Software & 231 Online Casinos Reviewed

Introduction

Evolution is a publicly-traded provider of live dealers to Internet casinos. They are one of the largest players in that industry, I think first or second in terms of size. They are licensed and regulated in at least ten countries, including Canada, as well as the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They have 700 gaming tables between eight studios. In addition, the Evolution dealers speak 14 languages.

The Evolution Games live dealer casino in Latvia is the most professional I have ever seen online. The dealers are all well-trained and speak English fluently. In the games like Three Card Poker, where lots of players can bet on the same hand, the dealers keep things moving along fast. In blackjack, where each player has his own hand, the dealers are especially engaging with the players. You don't even need to play, they will chat with people just watching.

Another thing I like about the Evolution Gaming dealers is they don't shake the players down for tips. In fact, I don't think it is even possible to tip.

Rules followed by Evolution Gaming are standard. The proprietary games like Ultimate Casino Hold 'Em, Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker, Monopoly and Casino Hold 'Em appear to be legitimately licensed, as evidenced by the signage and lack of a name change. This is something I applaud, because most Internet casinos just steal proprietary games under the ruse of changing the name.

It can be difficult to tell which casinos offer a live dealer casino by Evolution Gaming. Sometimes, especially in the case of common-domain games like blackjack, baccarat, and roulette, you can tell because the screen will say "Evolution Gaming" as the game loads. With propriety games, which are dealt in a separate room, and the dealers wear different outfits, it is harder to tell. You can which proprietary games Evolution offers via their web site.

Dedicated & Native Environments

Evolution Gaming is the only live dealer supplier with a heavy focus on creating branded studios for their tier 1 partners, and also offering games with dealers that speak other languages than English.

The current language offering includes tables in Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Flemish, Italian, Portuguese and French.

According to LiveDealers, they are now working on a custom live dealer studio for players in India.

Evolution Gaming Casinos

Lightning Roulette

Lightning Roulette is a based on conventional 37-number roulette. All bets except single-number bets have the same pays as standard roulette. What changes is the win on single number bets is randomized. Here is how it works:

1. The game will randomly pick 2 to 5 "Lucky Numbers." In my 500 spin sampling, the average is close to three numbers. In the screenshot, these Lucky Numbers are 19, 24, and 26.
2. The game will assign a Lucky Win to each number. In the screenshot, these wins are 200, 500, and 50. Possible Lucky Wins are 50 to 500. These wins are on a "for one" basis. In my sampling of 500 spins, the average win is 103.
3. If the ball does not land in a Lucky Number, then any winning bets on that number shall pay 30 for 1.
4. If the ball lands in a Lucky Number, then bets on that number shall pay the Lucky Win associated with that number. For example, in the screenshot for this game, if the ball landed in 24, then bets on 24 would pay 500 for 1.

The help file claims a return of 97.1% (as compared to 97.3% in conventional single-zero roulette). This is consistent with three Lucky Numbers per spin at an average win of 103 for 1 each.

Mega Ball

Mega Ball is a live bingo game. They player may buy 1 to 200 cards, which the game conveniently daubs. One Evolution casino reports the return to be 95.40%. For my lengthy analysis, please see my page on Mega Ball.

Crazy Time

Crazy Time is a very elaborate version of big six. There are eight bets to choose from, four of which lead to bonus games. The bottom line is a return of 96.08%.

For more information, please see my page on Crazy Time or watch my video below.

Baccarat

Evolution offers both standard baccarat, commission-free baccarat (where a Banker win on 6 pays 1 to 2), squeeze, and controlled squeeze games. The tie bet may pay 8 or 9 to 1, according to the preference of the operator. They also offer a host of side bets. It is up to the operator, which games and side bets to offer.

As a reminder, here is the house edge of the primary bets in baccarat:

• Player: Pays 1 to 1. House edge of 1.24%.
• Banker: Pays 0.95 to 1. House edge of 1.06%.
• Tie: Pays 8 to 1. House edge of 14.36%.
• Tie: Pays 9 to 1. House edge of 4.84%.

In commission-free baccarat, the Banker bet has a house edge of 1.46% while the odds for the Player and Tie are the same.

Next, here is a list of the side bets available to the operator.

• Player pair: Pays 11 to 1. House edge of 10.36%.
• Banker pair: Pays 11 to 1. House edge of 10.36%.
• Either pair: Pays 5 to 1 if either the first two Player cards or first two Banker cards form a pair. House edge of 13.71%.
• Super 6: Pays 16 to 1. House edge of 8.43%. Available for commission-free baccarat only.
• Perfect Pair. They follow what I can "version 2," which pays 25 for one Perfect pair and 200 for two. House edge of 8.05%.
• Player Bonus/Banker Bonus: This is what are called the Dragon Bonus in land casinos. House edge of 2.65% on the Player Bonus and 9.37% on the Banker Bonus.

By coincidence, or not, these are the same side bets and pays that Playtech offers in baccarat.

Blackjack

Following are the blackjack rules:

• Eight decks.
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2.
• Dealer stands on soft 17.
• Player may double on any initial two cards.
• Double after split allowed.
• No surrender.
• Player may split once only (no re-splitting).
• Although the dealer takes a hole card, he doesn't peek for a blackjack with a 10 up, but does with an ace. The player will lose the total amount if the dealer gets a blackjack starting with a 10 up.
• Penetration of 50%.

The house edge under these rules is 0.72%.

There are also a couple of side bets as follows:

• Perfect Pairs, following the 25-12-6 pay table. House edge of 4.10%.
• 21+3 (version 7), following the 100-40-30-10-5 pay table (starting with suited trips). House edge of 3.70%.

For more information, please see my page on blackjack side bets in general or my page specifically on 21+3.

The following table shows the Blackjack games available in alphabetical order.

Here is the same list in returns range, choose your game wisely.

Free Bet Blackjack

As far as I know, Evolution is the only place to play Free Bet Blackjack online. If you're not familiar with the game, it is a variant of blackjack where the player can split or double for free. Please see my Free Bet Blackjack page for all the rules and analysis.

The following side bets are added:

• 21 + 3 — The 100-40-30-10-5 pay table is followed for a house edge of 3.70%.
• Any Pair — The 25-8 pay table is followed for a house edge of 4.10%.
• Hot 3 — The 100-20-4-2-1 pay table is followed for a house edge of 5.40%.
• Bust It — This is the same side bet that it titled "Bust It" in land casinos. The 250-100-50-9-2-1 pay table is followed for a house edge of 6.18%.

Infinite Blackjack

Infinite Blackjack is a form of blackjack that can, in theory, be played by an infinite number of players. All players make decisions based on the same cards. The dealer keeps dealing cards as long as somebody is still taking them. If a player stands, then any cards dealt after that point won't matter for him. The rules seem to be as follows:

• Eight decks
• Dealer peeks for blackjack
• Dealer stands on soft 17
• Player may double on any initial two cards
• Double after split not allowed
• Player may split once only
• No surrender
• Six-card Charlie

For those who don't know, the six-card Charlie rule means that if the player gets to six cards without busting, then he automatically wins. Unlike how it is usually done, this rule applies to each hand after splitting, but I think the effect of that twist is negligible.

Before considering the six-card Charlie rule, my blackjack house edge calculator shows a house edge of 0.61%. My effect of rule variations page shows the normal six-card Charlie rule is worth 0.16% to the player. So, my overall house edge is 0.61% - 0.16% = 0.45%. The game help file claims a house edge of 0.49%. You can decide who to believe.

The game also has the following four side bets:

• Hot 3 — This bet is similar to the Lucky Lucky. It pays based on the player's initial two cards and the dealer's up card. Going by the 1-2-4-20-100 pay table I saw, the house edge is 5.40%.
• Any Pair — This is what most land casinos call the Pair Square. They pay 8 to one for an unsuited pair and 25 to 1 for a suited pair. House edge is 4.10%.
• 21+3 — The 5-10-30-40-100 pay table is followed for a house edge of 3.70%.
• Bust It — This is the same premise as what land casinos call Buster Blackjack. Evolution follows a 1-2-9-50-100-250 pay table. I assume the dealer always hits out, even if the dealer gets a blackjack. House edge of 6.18%.

Casino Hold 'Em

Casino Hold 'Em follows the standard rules. Many players bet on a single hand but each has his own free will in the fold/raise decision.

The Ante follows the most common 100-20-10-3-2 pay table, for a house edge of 2.16%. The Bonus Bet, normally called the AA+ in land casinos, follows the 10-50-40-30-20-7-7-7-7 pay table for a house edge of 6.26%.

I would like to give due credit to Evolution Gaming for correctly paying according to the Ante pay table when the dealer doesn't qualify, unlike Realtime Gaming, who incorrectly pay 1 to 1 only on winning player hands.

Deal or No Deal Live

Briefly, Deal or No Deal Live is a combination video/live dealer game, based on the popular game show. The rules are somewhat involved, but allow a long entertainment value for your bet and decent odds at a return of 95.42%. For more information, please see my page on Deal or No Deal Live.

Dragon Tiger

I'm told that Dragon Tiger is available as an optional game, according to the preference of casino management. The game offers the following bets:

• Dragon — House edge of 3.73%.
• Tiger — House edge of 3.73%.
• Tie — Pays 11 to 1 — House edge of 10.36%.
• Suited Tie — Pays 50 to 1 — House edge of 13.98%.
• Small, big, even, odd — Pays 1 to 1 (losing all on ties) — House edge of 7.69%.

Dream Catcher

Dream Catcher is similar to Big Six, but involves multipliers. I wrote a entire page on Dream Catcher with all the rules and analysis. The executive summary is the best bet is on $10, at a house edge of 3.42%, and the worst is on the $40 at 9.19%, both ignoring the maximum win of $500,000, which as a minimal effect on small initial bets.

Football Studio

Football Studio is mathematically the same thing as Dragon Tiger. In this case a card is given the "Home" and "Away" teams. Ties lose half. Following are the bets available:

• Away — Pays 1 to 1 — House edge of 3.73%.
• Home — Pays 1 to 1 — House edge of 3.73%.
• Tie — Pays 11 to 1 — House edge of 10.36%.

Lightning Dice

Lightning Dice is pretty much the same thing as sic bo (see below) except with a live dealer and the range of the payouts is different, as follows:

The help file states that the return to player on the 3 and 18 bets is 96.21% and the range on all bets is 96.03% to 96.21%. Without knowing the average win for any given bet, I have no way to calculate the expected returns.

Monopoly Live

Monopoly Live is a unique variant of Big Six. There are slices on the wheel for $1, $2, $5, $10, Chance, 2 rolls, and 4 rolls. Here is a very brief summary of the rules:

• Bets on $1, $2, $5, and $10 pay at those odds if the wheel stops in that segment. For example, a bet on $5 will pay 5 to 1 if the wheel stops on the $5 slice.
• If the wheel lands on Chance, then a Chance card will be drawn. This card will show an immediate win or a multiplier. If the player gets a multiplier all previous bets will remain standing and the wheel will be spun again. Any win will be multiplied by whatever the multiplier is. I'm not sure what happens if the wheel lands in Chance two or more times in a row.
• If the wheel lands on 2 Rolls, then a bonus game will be played with at least two rolls of the dice. This bonus game is based on Monopoly where the roll of the dice determine what happens. All the property spaces are instant wins. Things get more complicated on all the other spaces with random wins. If the player rolls doubles he gets more rolls.
• If the wheel lands on 4 Rolls the player goes through the same bonus game, but with a minimum of 4 rolls.

The rules don't give nearly enough information for me to quantify the odds of this game. However, Evolution kindly discloses the return of each bet, as follows:

• $1 — 92.88%
• $2 — 96.23%
• $5 — 91.30%
• $10 — 96.02%
• 2 Rolls — 93.90%
• 4 Rolls — 93.67%

Caribbean Stud Poker

The standard U.S. pay table is used, for a house edge of 5.22%. The Element of Risk is 2.56%. In addition, a "5+1" side bet is offered, based on the poker value of the combined player's five cards and dealer's up card. The 1000-200-100-20-15-10-7 pay table has an 8.56% house advantage.

Three Card Poker

The standard Three Card Poker rules are followed. Lots of players bet on the same hand, each making his own fold/raise decision, so the game moves fast.

The Ante Bonus follows the usual 1-4-5 pay table for a house edge on the Ante bet of 3.38%.

The Pairplus follows a 1-4-5-30-40-100 pay table, which I have never seen before, for a house edge of 4.49%.

The 6 Card Bonus follows a 7-10-15-20-100-200-1000 pay table for a house edge of 8.56%.

Roulette

The player can play roulette against a live dealer or fully electronically with Single Person Roulette. Both use a single-zero wheel for a house edge of 2.70% on all bets.

For a comparison against other live dealer products, please see our page on live dealer roulette.

Side Bet City

Side Bet City is one of the better names for a casino game I've seen lately. It is a simple game where the dealer first deals a three card out from a single deck, then adds two cards to it for a five-card, and finally two more for a seven-card hand. The player may bet on any of the three hands or that all three bets lose. For all the rules and analysis, please see my page on Side Bet City.

Super Sic Bo

Super Sic Bo plays like conventional Sic Bo, except most of the wins have random pays. Unfortunately, they just tell you the range of the pays, not any kind of average or probability of each possible win. That said, the table below shows all I know.

Top Card

Top Card is pretty much the same thing as Dragon Tiger, betting on which of two cards will be higher. A tie pays 11 to 1, which is better than the 8 to 1 of Dragon Tiger, but either way it's a lousy bet. The house edge on the Home and Away bets is 3.73% and the Tie is 10.36%. For more information, please see my page on Top Card.

Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em

Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em follows the standard rules. Many players bet on the same hand so the game moves quickly. Each player has his own free will on when to raise or fold. The Trips bet follows the 3-4-7-8-30-40-50 pay table, for a house edge of 3.50%.

In some countries, they use the name "Extreme Texas Hold 'Em" instead, for legal reasons.