FanDuel announced a casino content partnership with Inspired Entertainment this week, becoming the latest US online casino operator to embrace the developer’s unique “hybrid dealer” concept. These games resemble popular live dealer online casino products but use prerecorded footage of real human dealers rather than a real-time stream from a studio.
The deal with Inspired also includes the development of a bespoke sports-themed game, designed with FanDuel’s core audience. Many US online casinos have recently been investing in expanding their range of exclusive content in an effort to differentiate their products. FanDuel’s other recent additions include several sports-themed LuckyTap games from Design Works Gaming.
Inspired’s President and CEO, Brooks Pierce, said:
We are excited to partner with FanDuel and introduce our Hybrid Dealer suite to their platform. This collaboration not only expands FanDuel’s gaming offerings, but also showcases the versatility and appeal of our Hybrid Dealer technology.
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The Hybrid Dealer Trend
Live dealer games have been available in the US since 2018, but hybrid dealer is a new idea. Three companies now have live dealer studios in the country, but Inspired is the only one offering hybrid dealer games.
The concept fits in neatly with the core of Inspired’s business, which is virtual sports. Although they’re different styles of games, virtual sports and hybrid dealer are technologically similar. Both generate game results randomly but then stitch together video clips in order to present those results to the player as a narrative.
Inspired’s range of virtual sports products will soon include a licensed NHL hockey title, which is also sure to appeal to many FanDuel customers.
Some virtual sports titles use 3D-generated imagery to portray their fictional events. However, some developers use footage of real athletes, which has proven to be popular with players.
Similarly, Inspired’s hybrid dealer products use pre-recorded footage of human dealers in an environment similar to a live dealer studio. The advantage, compared to true live dealer games, is that hybrid dealer games can run around the clock, with minimal overhead for the operator and supplier, and none of the unique security risks or potential for technical issues that come with running a live dealer studio.
BetMGM Casino was the first to embrace Inspired’s hybrid dealer tech with its bespoke Bonus City last year. Other partners followed, including Caesars, the Canadian lottery Loto-Québec, and now FanDuel.
Inspired’s first hybrid dealer product was a “big wheel” game that formed the basis for Bonus City and will likely underpin FanDuel’s custom game as well. However, it has since added Hybrid Dealer Roulette as a second option.
Notably, there’s no Hybrid Dealer Blackjack yet, likely because the branching choices for the player would make the implementation more challenging.
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