|
Visionary iGaming, abbreviated to ViG, is based in Costa Rica and primarily targets markets that the major live casino providers can’t.
ViG is genuinely one of the industry’s greats. It’s been around since 2008 and delivers standout live dealer games with a lower house edge than its competitors.
You’ll find ViG games in many US-facing offshore casinos, which otherwise would be unable to offer their players live dealer games. This is where ViG steps in with its quality live games, which have specific details that make all the difference.
Live casino providers that don’t have game show titles with multipliers and money wheels don’t get much attention, do they?
But if you’re on the prowl for the blackjack game with the lowest house edge or No Commission Baccarat with roadmaps, then Visionary iGaming will suddenly find itself on your radar.
USA players without access to regulated live casinos—If you’re wondering whether you should play ViG games as a USA player, you definitely should because your only other option would be Bovada proprietary games, which are not great.
Blackjack with the best table rules—For everyone else, ViG is a niche live casino provider that attracts blackjack fans who know how table rules change the game in their favour. ViG, as it turns out, has some of the best blackjack tables you’ll ever get to play. Baccarat players love ViG, too.
Live casino games are real – A standout feature of Visionary iGaming is that it just feels like an actual casino floor. While you’re playing, the floor manager may walk by. Another dealer might sit down and start preparing his cards. And they’re standard-sized Bee casino playing cards. It’s real.
I visited their studio in 2017 if you want to see behind the scenes with me.
ViG casinos are, sadly, difficult to find. You have to dig deep to give yourself a chance to find Blackjack Early Payout or No Commission Baccarat.
It’s easier for USA players to find ViG games as they’ll often stumble upon offshore ViG casinos with a Curacao licence.
Finding a casino with ViG games is quite difficult for Europe and the rest of the world. They are not available in the UK.
However, even once you’ve found one, it must be a quality casino if I’m to recommend it to you. Simply having ViG games won’t cut it.
Game | Why Play | Where To Play |
---|---|---|
ViG Live Blackjack | Late Surrender, DDAS, 6 decks, standard-size playing cards, RTP up to 99.50% | Dublinbet |
ViG Blackjack Early Payout | Early Payout, DDAS, 6 decks, standard-size playing cards, RTP up to 99.50% | Dublinbet |
ViG Live European Roulette | Large betting layout, racetrack for called bets, HD video picture-in-picture | Dublinbet |
ViG Live American Roulette | No reason to play as has increased house edge due to Double Zero. | Dublinbet |
ViG Baccarat | Standard-size playing cards, rich game history | Dublinbet |
ViG No Commission Baccarat | Banker pays 1:1, standard-size playing cards, rich game history | Dublinbet |
ViG has two versions of live dealer blackjack, which are some of the best blackjack games you’ll ever get to play, plus one more RNG game that also deserves a mention.
The only other supplier that has rules as good is Ezugi.
The rules used by Visionary iGaming are controversial as their blackjack games offer a rare sight of the dealer hitting on Soft 17.
You can double down on any two cards and Double Down After Split (DDAS). Each game uses six decks.
In one game, you got Surrender; in the other, you got an Early Payout.
Blackjack with Early Payout is unique. It was developed by one of VIG’s founder members. You can cash out your hand before the game has completed for a sum calculated based on your hand value and the dealers. VIG owns it, so you’ll only find it at one of their casinos.
The Hit on Soft 17 rule was added to restore some of the house edge from the DDAS. If you know how to use DDAS properly, you’ll still benefit.
You may consider Surrendering or claiming an Early Payout when the dealer has a Soft 17 (when he has an Ace and a 6). There’s a specific correct strategy for every blackjack game, so it’s worth checking.
You can play Side bets of Bet Behind, 21-3 (rummy) and Perfect pairs alongside the main hand in all the games.
A more detailed review of the Visionary iGaming Live Blackjack is here.
This is the star of the show.
Blackjack Early Payout© (BJEP) was the world’s first socially scalable game that can accommodate an infinite number of online players and also the first to offer Early Payout. This is your chance to opt out of a hand at any stage in exchange for cash.
BJEP is a three-handed unlimited game where multiple players play the same hand. You’ll never have a problem getting a seat, and you play the hand as your own. Other player’s decisions have no impact on your hand.
ViG claims that this is the highest-paying blackjack game because, by following the basic strategy, the player can increase the payout to 99.50%.
If you want to learn more about Early Payout and the similar blackjack games by other providers, read this page.
Also known as Blackjack HD, this is a more traditional 7-seat blackjack with Late Surrender.
You can surrender your hand and get half your stake back if the dealer doesn’t have Blackjack.
The tables for this version are limited, so getting a seat can be a problem at busy times, especially since one player can take up to three seats. The game has Bet Behind, though, called Back Betting, so you can play even if you don’t have a seat.
Another option available here is Choose Ahead, which lets you decide as soon as your cards are dealt, speeding up the game. If you lose connection, ViG Live Blackjack will play your hand out according to the Basic Strategy in your best interest. It’s details like this that make ViG stand out.
Visionary iGaming uses standard-sized playing cards—you usually see enlarged ones—that are identical to the cards used in land-based casinos worldwide.
This is a perfect blackjack table with Late Surrender and DDAS. If you can master these two rules, you’ll play some of the highest RTP blackjack available.
This is the RNG game that I mentioned. It’s a seven-seat game with Surrender, but it’s played against the computer, not a live dealer.
You can’t do much with roulette unless you offer multipliers or streams from real land-based casinos, neither of which ViG is doing.
You get real Cammegh wheels and a roulette game that is as good as it gets without these two upgrades.
Perhaps the biggest standout feature here is HD video picture-in-picture, the mode the game switches to during the wheel’s spin so you can see where the ball lands. But you’ll also see the dealer in the smaller picture.
The betting layout is large, while the video area is relatively small, which is refreshing.
You can easily place your inside bets, outside bets, and even called bets using the racetrack. There is also a rich game history you can study. This is just a simple game of roulette, done perfectly.
It is the same as European Roulette, except it has another zero.
Why you’d play American roulette is beyond me when you have the option of single zero roulette.
The RTP for European Roulette is 97.30%, and for American Roulette, it is 94.7%.
I must say, I like ViG’s baccarat a lot.
Baccarat tables tend to look cartoonish and artificial when you play games by other providers online, but ViG does it differently. This is a real baccarat with real standard-sized playing cards on imperfect canvas with only two words: PLAYER and BANKER.
The baccarat roadmaps are large and easy to study. They offer the player all the most popular methods to track history, including the Bead Plate, Big Road, Big Eye Road, Small Road, and Cockroach Road. I’ll say it again: details like this make ViG a provider I respect.
The betting console is large enough to contain all the usual side bets: pairs, Dragon Bonus, and Super 6. Visit my Baccarat Side Bets and Game Options page to learn how to play these.
In addition to the standard Live Baccarat, ViG also offers Live Super 6, also known as No-Commission Baccarat.
This is a version of baccarat in which the Player and Banker pay 1:1, so there’s no annoying 0.95:1 payout when the Banker wins.
It can certainly affect your strategy as Banker becomes an even better bet.
The downside is that you only win 1:2 when Banker wins with an exact score of 6. The house edge remains essentially the same.
From a player’s perspective, ViG has only a handful of games, the best of which are the two Blackjack games.
Like so many companies in iGaming, ViG caters to casinos and offers them many solutions so they can offer games to players. For example, ViG can offer an integrated, turnkey, or live land-based casino, as they can set up the stream from an actual location. It goes further: social casinos, private tables, and probably more. ViG also packs a great portfolio of Betsoft and Pragmatic Play slots in their casinos.
You probably know I’m a fan of dedicated live tables, as I see them as a big sign of trust. Here is a company that says flat out they can build you a dedicated live table however you want.
Visionary iGaming was founded in Costa Rica in 2008 by Martin Reiner and a couple of the senior management team of Vutetec, an online gaming development company.
They all left Vuetec, raised capital, and started Visionary iGaming because they saw the potential of Live Casinos and wanted to take a different direction from Vuetec.
Until then, live casino solutions were mainly voyeuristic, with no dealer and player interaction possible.
The ViG Management team saw an opportunity to increase the excitement of the Live Dealer experience by focusing on and nurturing the social elements of the live product.
Live games are more trustworthy than their RNG counterparts, so VIG wanted to create an environment where players are greeted by name when they join a table, play with dealers who know the games, and interact with players in a community setting.
ViG built its Live dealer software platform in-house and from the ground up. Its development offices are in Melbourne, Australia, and San Jose, Costa Rica.
This has taken VIG’s customer base from 40 Casinos to over 60.
I visited VIG in April 2017. Read my exclusive review, where you’ll see me being put through my paces on the Live Blackjack table.
The Visionary iGaming product is excellent. It aims to keep the player experience fun and happy, a trend that more and more live casinos are adopting.
They offer free play, but you must register at the casino to access the play money.
This allows you to test the games and become familiar with the interface before you deposit, which is a good selling point.
I only have one negative: the look of the playing interface. It seems a bit dated.
Even with the new HD interface, seeing the cards when they are dealt can be challenging. That has more to do with the studio lighting than anything else, but they must resolve it.