About the game
Side Bet City is one of the many Evolution live dealer games available for Canadian players and brings a typical Las Vegas game show to your screen. Side Bet City was launched in 2019 by the live dealer pros of Evolution and is known for its convenience and simplicity: there is no need to learn and apply complicated rules and strategies. How our casino pros would categorise Sid Bet City? Hard to say, but it looks a lot like poker if you ask us. Needless to say, Side Bet City is one of the category: Evolution games that resembles poker, but is still different in many ways. Let’s just say that Side Bet City is a fast, easy poker sort og game with big pay-outs brought to you in a 1980’s theme. Sounds pretty awesome, right? Let’s find out in our Side Bet City review whether this game suits your needs or not.
Where to play it
Our casino related website recommends some of the best live dealer casinos you’ll find in Canada and every single one of them offers live dealer games by Evolution. The casinos we have listed below have included Side Bet City in their portfolio as well and are all approved by our online casino experts. All of these sites are trustworthy, fully licenced and offer bonus deals:
Welcome Bonus: 100% up to C$500 +Free Spins!
C$1000
+ 200 cash Free Spins
C$1000
+ 50 Free spins
The rules
Side Bet City has many similarities to poker and many online casinos in Canada label it as a variant of poker. After launching Side Bet City on your device, it won’t take long to find yourself in a true game show that has many elements that will make you think of Las Vegas. It might be the retro 80’s look, but it still doesn’t have the glamour of other live dealer games that we’re used to from the Evolution portfolio. If you don’t mind a little less blows and whistles, this might just be the perfect setting for you. It’s up to you to decide yourself what you think of it. The first thing you’ll need to do that is the rules of the Side Bet City game.
Looks like poker
The idea of Side Bet City is very simple: to make a bet on a winning poker hand combination. The game gives you the option to choose from three different card combinations. The Side Bet City game consists of one deck of 52 cards that is shuffled each round and players have the option to play with multiple players at the same time. Each round lasts only 15 seconds and players who fail to make their bet in time will not participate in the game. After the cards have been shuffled and the bets have been placed, it’s time for the dealer to deal the cards. The Side Bet City dealer is quite a character who you either love or hate.
It’s all about seven cards only
Next, the dealer places seven cards on the table at Side Bet City and players bet on whether a winning hand can be made with the cards you’re looking at. In Side Bet City you can bet on four different options:
- 3 Card: a combination with the first three cards.
- 5 Card: a combination with the first five cards.
- 7 Card: a combination with the first seven cards.
- All Lose: no winning hand.
All Lose: no winning hand
Betting itself is very simple and straightforward in Side Bet City. You simply move your chip via the buttons that appear on your screen. We have to say we kind of love games that are easy to play, so this might be one of the reasons to pick this live dealer game over another after all. Side Bet City is all about making a poker combination with the first three, five or seven cards. The sooner you manage to make this combination, the better. In addition to placing the above bets, there are no special features or additional bets that you can bet on. The poker combinations you can make at Side Bet City are based on Texas Hold ‘Em. Think of it as you were trying to make a flush, straight, three of a kind or of course a full house.
How to win
This brings us to our next point: if you don’t know the poker combinations of Texas Hold’Em, it would be a good idea to get to know these first. Other than that, you can’t really influence the outcome of the game at Side Bet City. This should be one of the very first things you should know before you start playing this game. As skills don’t play a role in this game, this is also where the comparison with poker ends to us. Alternatively, you can make a difference in your winning chances in the long run if you carefully analyse the payout percentages of the different game types. Although we’ll go through this later on in this Side Bet City review, we can already tell you that the 7 Card Hand has the highest house edge: 5,66%.
Don’t fall for it
That is indeed a very high house edge for a table game if you ask us. We’re a huge fan of live dealer games and we haven’t come across many live games that take away this portion of advantage from the player. This is why Vernon’s casino pros would definitely recommend you not to make this bet too often as it’ll probably cost you money in the long run. The same is true for the 5 Card Hand as this hand works with a house edge of 4,79%. Please note that things can get a bit tricky with this last betting option. The 5 Card Hand is the only bet where you can make a theoretic win of 1,000 to 1 (with a Royal Flush) which makes it look like a very interesting bet. And on the 7 Card Hand, a Royal Flush still pays 500: 1. Do note however that Evolution uses the classic Side Bet trick here: lure the player with high possible payouts and make them forget how unfavourable the payout percentage really is.
How to play
Yet, Evolution is clearly one of the most productive live providers you’ll find on the internet, which is something we highly enjoy. Some of the games they produce are instant winners from the very first moment you play the game for the first time, but we have to say that Side Bet City doesn’t give us the overwhelming experience Monopoly Live or Deal or No Deal do.
Nonetheless, we would be more than happy to tell you how to play the game. Here’s how:
1. Claim your bonus
Canadian live dealer players love casino bonuses and so do we. At the same time it’s not always easy to find a bonus that is valid for the live dealer lobby. This is why you’ve decided to ask for Vernon’s help as we’re here to give you the best live dealer experience possible. This starts with listing the very best casino options in Canada and moves on to giving you the latest live dealer casino bonuses for Canada based players. Make sure to claim yours.
2. Set the bet
With live table games, you can see the table where the game takes place via a HD live video stream, with a section for your bets at the bottom. Here you choose your bet by simply moving your chips. The exact bets can differ per casino, but should normally be between $0,50 and $250. We expect that most Canadian casinos will work with these limits as well.
3. Pick the winning hand
By selecting the chips and placing them on one of the four bets, you will make your first bet. Let’s say that you choose to bet $0,50 on each option, you first click on the chip with that value and then on the four betting options for a total bet of $2.
4. View the result
After you bet, the host deals the cards on the table and it’s time to cross your fingers. Did you win? Then you’ll see how your winnings will be added to your account immediately. At the bottom right you see the result and you’ll find a complete overview of the payouts. In the table below you will find more information about the combinations of Side Bet City.
5. Time to payout
After you’re satisfied of course, that is. If you’ve made a few nice winnings it’s time to head to your casino account and withdraw your winnings. Do make sure to set a budget everytime you play with real money as money management is the key to success. Ideally, you would also have an idea of your profit target as well. Stop playing as soon as you reach it.
The features
This game is also streamed from one of the many Evolution studios in Europe. All of their studios are fully equipped with the latest technology which is clearly crucial for casino games that work with live dealers. Side Bet City is hosted by a professional live dealer who deals the cards, makes you feel welcome, and interacts with the players while the game is going on. Side Bet City’s video stream is outstanding as you would expect from any Evolution-production. The entire game is streamed in Full HD and the different camera angles will make sure you won’t make a thing of the action going on in the live dealer studio. As mentioned before we do find the setting less dynamic as in other games by Evolution.
RTP
To determine whether betting on Side Bet City can give you the return on investment you’re looking for in a casino game, it’s always a good idea to first look at the Return to Play (RTP).
This is a lot easier for slot games, as table games usually work with different bets. This is clearly the case with a game that is focused on side bets as well, which is why you make four different bets in Side Bet City. This also means that there are also four different RTPs.
- 3 Card: 96,69%
- 5 Card: 95,21%
- 7 Card: 94,34%
- All Lose: 96,29%
The Return To Player percentages at Side Bet City are very low compared to other Evolution games. Looking for the bet with the lowest house edge? Then you should go for the 3 Card bet, as this will lower the house edge to only 3,31%, giving you an RTP of 96,69% which isn’t that bad. The minimum and maximum bet of Side Bet City differs per online casino. Games like Lightning Roulette (97,1%), Live Blackjack (99,29%) and Live Baccarat (up to 98,95%) have a far better RTP. In the Canadian online casinos that you’ve come across on this page, you will most likely find minimum bets of $1 and maximum bets of around $2000.
