The release surprised me for two reasons:

1. Victor Chandler have only just added Chartwell/HoGaming live dealers and now already run 2 different live casino platforms (the other being Evolution Gaming); and
2. In the release, EntwineTech claimed to be the one of the largest suppliers of live dealer casino software with over 30 licensees and daily turnover in the billions.

Surprise point 1…

Only days after launching a new look live casino page and adding a second live dealer platform, it seems Victor Chandler are about to go even bigger with live games and add a THIRD platform.

I don’t know the details of the license agreement.  It may be that Victor Chandler intend to use EntwineTech’s games purely in their Asian facing business – the games have a definite Asian flavor, the dealer studio is located in the Philippines and support and interface presentation is Chinese language focused (traditional and simplified). The license may reflect regional use only. Then and again it may not.

Either way, Victor Chandler may soon have without question the most comprehensive and diverse range of live gaming options offered by any single online casino.

No details were given on when the games would be available at VC Live casino, so we wait with interest to see how this develops.

Surprise point 2…

The name EntwineTech is completely new to me. Never heard it before.

Now I’m not laying claim to knowing everything that’s going on in the world of live dealer casinos, but any platform with over 30 licensees and claiming to be one of the biggest in the world with player turnover in the $billions daily…come on, how on earth did they not hit the radar?

I thought for a moment I had actually missed the proverbial elephant sitting in the room, before doing a little digging around to find out that EntwineTech is in fact the very recently acquired and now renamed and re-branded Entertasia. PR on the acquisition hasn’t yet been put out while the re-branding is being completed.

I’m also happy to report that they’ve taken great steps in ‘internationalizing’ their games and interfaces as well as adding full screen play capabilities.  13 games are now available – below are shots of Super Baccarat, Blackjack (new full screen) and Roulette (full screen coming soon apparently).

These and other EntwineTech games can be played currently at Bodog88.

Super Baccarat…

Full screen live blackjack…

European Roulette…

Related pages:

Bodog88 review

VC Live Casino review

VC Live – VC Grand, Victor’s Palace, Real Deal

EntwineTech (formerly Entertasia) platform review

Chartwell are a Canadian based online casino software developer whose RNG casino games are pretty widely used in industry.  They don’t have a live dealer product, nor do they plan on developing one themselves.

According to the release, they’ve signed an agreement with Ho Gaming that will make them the exclusive distributors of Ho Gaming’s live dealer platform in the European market.  As part of the deal Ho Gaming will tweak their current product to make it a little more suitable to the Euro market and then players will soon (not sure when just yet)  have another live dealer option – which we look forward to.

There is one slightly confusing detail though.

Poking around the Chartwell website to try and get more information on what the games may look like, or when we can expect to play them, I came across the below summary of Chartwell’s future live gaming ambitions (screen shot taken 19 Oct)…

Chartwell's live dealer plans - as per their website

I just hope the guys at Chartwell remembered to let Entertasia know they’ve been replaced!

Anyway, below are some shots of Ho Gaming’s current live dealer games.  If I was a betting man I’d guess the Euro-fied games won’t be enormously different.

What will be different is the studio location (currently in the Philippines).  I’d also be surprised if the dealers in the Euro studio will have to learn their trade in Stanley Ho’s Grand Lisboa casino in Macau (as the Philippine studio dealers do).

Riga Blonde Girls Parade

According to news hot off the press, Entertasia are partnering with a Latvian based gambling software developer to create games for the Western playing market.

Their new partners, CXTM are based in Riga.  Yes, that’s the same Riga, Latvia where Evolution Gaming have set up their dealer studio, dealing games to players at Unibet, 888.com, Expekt, Victor Chandler, Ladbrokes, Blue Square, and so on.  It’s also the same Riga, Latvia where Playtech decided to plonk their European based dealer studio.

Under the deal CXTM will be helping to ‘Westernise’  Entertasia’s games which have to date been targeted largely at Asian player markets.  This will largely involve developing new interface skins – but may also involve recruiting new dealers to fill yet another Riga studio.

Now while the interface skin thing is fact that comes from the company CEO’s in their joint press release, the suggestion that a studio in Riga with Latvian dealers is being planned is pure Livedealer.org speculation that has no basis in fact…but it would make plenty of sense.  I mean if you’re going to ‘Westernise’ the product then surely the dealer in the video – a major component of the game, should be Western right?  And if you’re  looking for European dealers, then why not go to the place that seems to be the darling of the real-time-video-streaming industry…Riga, Latvia.   The fact that CXTM is based there just cements the theory.

And judging from the above photo, taken at this years ‘Riga  Blonde Girls Parade’ (organized by the Latvian Blonde Association – this is true, look it up) there is certainly no shortage of qualified dealers to choose from.