Every casino needs live dealers, but things change, and now Ballys' Table Master Fusion is moving forward towards a time when live table game dealers may be a thing of the past. It's happening and it's scary, because as the saturation point for casinos in the US and the world is met, casinos will find less expensive ways to run their operations - including more electronic games. On the other hand, if you are new to a table game and want to learn without being intimidated, the machines are a great start.You just find a seat, put your cash in the slot and read the video screen to get started - pushing buttons for all options.


Electronic games like blackjack have been around for years, but they haven't always been popular because the games are clunky and slow, with video dealers that look bored and prop-like, because they are. But that's changing.

Table Master Fusion adds a contemporary design and video-dealers to greatly enhance the player experience. The video games are designed as five-seat table products that can be run 24-hours per day and provide a product that many jurisdictions prohibit with live dealers.

When Maryland Live! opened, they were strictly slots and electronic games. As time went on, live table game dealers were added to the mix and have proved much more popular than the original electronic games, but other locations that don't have live games may never switch if the new designs are more profitable than the old machines. And, places like Reno that are experiencing a downturn in already slow revenue quarters are likely to see more electronic games in the very near future.

States like Arizona where casinos are restricted to just live blackjack and poker games are able to offer craps, roulette and baccarat on machines, and while they aren't as busy as live games might be, they are quite profitable.

New Mexico casinos (Native American) offer all games, but horse race tracks in the state have only slots, and electronic games will someday be commonplace. That's an unfortunate thing for casino table game dealers who won't have additional places to work.

The new Ballys machines are quite stylish. Games can obviously be adapted to any minimum and maximum bet, and like live games, they can be set to automatically change during busy hours or slow periods. Each game has five attractive video dealers that actually look interested, and while that's not a necessity for players it does help. Electronic games also eliminate loss of revenue due to cheating by collusion, chip theft and dealer error.

What You Can Expect

If you are trying the new Fusion blackjack games, expect them to go slower than live games if there are several players. You'll also lose the fun of bantering with the dealers, but you won't have to tip them for the pleasure of their company. You will want to read all of the game details on the rules screen.

Each casino is able to choose multiple options including number of decks and house rules for hitting, doubling, splits and multiple hand situations. They can even choose the amount paid for blackjack, where we hope every casino will choose 3 for 2! Every hand is displayed on the players' own video screen as well as the community display with the video of the dealer.

Unfortunately, while you'll want to play your best basic strategy, you won't be able to count cards to any extent that would give you an advantage over the house. You will be able to choose from a number of blackjack side bets, like Royal Match, Bet the Set and Royal Match 21 Progressive.

As Ballys rolls out their sleek new products you can expect to see a couple new table games added to the bunch that are likely to be very popular: Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em. Again, the addition of those games in electronic form doesn't bode well for casino dealers. Three Card Poker is exceptionally popular with a high house hold. Once it is on the casino floor there will be little reason for managers to add it as a live game.

In addition, managers will like the Ultimate Texas Hold'em electronic product because many dealers struggle with reading poker hands and make costly errors, the machines don't.