Live Dragon Tiger by SA Gaming is an online live dealer casino game released in 2023. SA Gaming’s version is a classic take on the Dragon Tiger card game whichh is popular throughout Asia. On top of an advanced UI and solid graphics, the game boasts an impressive collection of side betting options that help it stand out from the competition. With an RTP of 96.27% and a minimum bet of just $1, this table is suitable for many different budgets and goals. The game is available on both desktop and mobile.
SA Gaming have a long-standing history as one of the best casino software providers in Asia. Their titles are relatively simple, but nonetheless good at what they do. In this SA Gaming Live Dragon Tiger review, we’ll take a look at the game’s bets, odds, and features, and see how it holds up against the competition.
Game Specifications | |
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Game name | SA Gaming Dragon Tiger Live |
Game provider | SA Gaming |
Game type | Dragon Tiger |
Streaming from | Philippines (TL) |
RTP | 96.27% |
Bet range | €0.2 - €500 |
Max win | 8x |
Side bets | No |
Supported platforms |
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Supported OS |
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Languages |
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Dragon Tiger is not a game commonly found on Las Vegas casino floors. However, this simple card game is very popular in Asian casinos, in places like Macau and Cambodia particularly.
If you don’t have access to these destinations, do not worry. SA Gaming will solve your problem by giving you the chance to try out live dealer Dragon Tiger from the comfort of your home. SA Gaming Live Dragon Tiger is available on several top live casino sites. It represents one of the better options offered to the Asian audience when it comes to this speedy, simple gambling game.
Numerous fans of card games and experts on the subject refer to Dragon Tiger as a two-card version of baccarat. They are not mistaken, as Dragon Tiger is indeed very much like baccarat, except that the two opposite sides battle with one card each.
The dragon and the tiger are two powerful creatures from the Chinese culture, which is why their presence is important on the betting table. Live Dragon Tiger depends on pure luck, which is the nature of live Dragon Tiger games. It also offers customers attractive opportunities to place wagers and enhance their balance should good fortune take their side.
The game is played with 8 decks of 52 cards, without jokers. The players are given a specific time to place their bets after which the croupier deals one card to the Dragon and then one to the Tiger. The points are completed after that initial drawing of the cards. Live Dragon Tiger gives the players a 20-second window to decide which bets to wager on. Deciding shouldn’t be hard as there are three basic bets in the game: Dragon, Tiger, and Tie.
The card with the higher value wins. When there is a tie, none of the two sides wins, only the players who placed their bets on Tie. However, if your bet loses due to a tie, you’ll still receive half your stake back.
The Dragon and Tiger bets are pretty much identical. Both have the same chances of winning, and both pay out even money.
The dealer does not represent either Dragon or Tiger. She only deals with the cards and announces the winning points. Suits are not considered in Dragon Tiger – only the face value of the cards. The King is the highest card and it has a value of 13 points. This means that the Ace counts as 1, which means it’s the weakest card in the game.
Players who believe roadmaps may lead them to more frequent wins may keep track of the outcomes of previous rounds on the side. In fact, information on previous rounds takes up the majority of the screen. That’s why players who enjoy chasing hot or cold bets might prefer SA Gaming Live Dragon Tiger to the competition.
In 2025, SA Gaming updated its Dragon Tiger game to include 12 new side betting options. Although adding a dozen bets sounds impressive, most of these are simply mirrored versions of themselves that concern the rank and color of the cards.
These are fairly common Dragon Tiger side bets, including:
The side bets can be placed in any round, regardless of your other bets. Use the button in the upper right corner of the betting layout to switch between different tabs and access different side bets.
Dragon Tiger is an incredibly straightforward game that mostly works like a coin toss. As such, players can’t directly influence the outcome or the odds.
This rule gives both Dragon and Tiger bets a house edge of 3.73%. Either bet is fine to make, and they are identical from a strategic standpoint.
However, the Tie is by far the worst decision you can make. The house edge is even easier to understand here – the payout simply does not reflect how unlikely a Tie is. Different Dragon Tiger tables offer payouts ranging from 8:1 to 11:1, but all of them suffer from very high house edge rates. In this case, the house advantage is over 32%, so the Tie bet should be avoided no matter what.
Beyond that, The amount you can stake on a bet is pretty much the only thing you can control in Dragon Tiger, which makes money management extremely important.
This has led some people to use betting systems in Dragon Tiger to beat the game. There are many betting systems you can use, and they largely work the same way they would in Baccarat.
The most common type of betting system is the Martingale. Martingale is incredibly straightforward – just play Dragon and Tiger bets over and over. Whenever you lose, double your stake for the next bet. If the doubled bet wins, you go back to the starting stake. If not, you double it again, and so on until you win. While it prevents losses, this approach is also extremely risky because a string of losses can cost you a lot.
Alternatively, you can use a positive progression system such as the D’Alembert. This simple system increases bets by +1 unit every time you win, allowing you to benefit from winning streaks.
Pros | Cons |
✅ Simple, fast-paced gameplay suitable for beginners ✅ Industry-standard payouts and RTP ✅ Wide range of side bets that add a lot of variety to an otherwise repetitive game ✅ Rboust user interface with plenty of statistical information |
❌ Dragon Tiger is essentially a simplified baccarat game with lower RTP ❌ The overall RTP is low compared to most classic casino games ❌ The cluttered betting UI and stat windows are not everyone’s cup of tea |
Since there are only three possible outcomes in Dragon Tiger, there are only three payouts for the main bet. Things are even easier to keep track of when you consider that two of these bets are identical.
All in all, just remember that the Dragon and Tiger bets pay even money. The Tie bet has returns of 8:1, but comes with a very steep house edge. You can see the payout table below.
Bet | Payout | ||
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SA Gaming Dragon Tiger Payouts | |||
Dragon | 1:1 | ||
Tiger | 1:1 | ||
Tie | 8:1 | ||
Side Bets | |||
Dragon Big/Tiger Big | 1:1 | ||
Dragon Small/Tiger Small | 1:1 | ||
Dragon Odd/Tiger Odd | 0.75:1 | ||
Dragon Even/Tiger Even | 1.05:1 | ||
Dragon Red/Tiger Red | 0.9:1 | ||
Dragon Black/Tiger Black | 0.9:1 |
According to these returns, the Dragon and Tiger bets boast a decent RTP of 96.27%. Tie bets are the only outlier with an abysmal 67.23% RTP. That’s why most experts advise players to stay away from Tie wagers. They have one of the steepest house edges in casino gaming.
As far as the side bets go, SA Gaming has not provided us with concrete information on the RTP rates of these wagers. Our experience tells us that they are likely somewhere in the 90-95% range, but we can’t confirm that this data is accurate.
Make sure to choose the game that suits your taste and budget. For more extensive guides on live Dragon Tiger basics, read this article.
The game’s betting interface is fairly impressive, with multiple customization options and plenty of stats and histories to examine. For example, the betting table itself is available in multiple sizes and can be adjusted on the fly to fit your current needs.
That said, the betting positions themselves will likely be confusing to new players. There are a lot of them, and it’s not always clear which bets are which and what they do. Moreover, the side bets are initially hidden in different tabs, which is not immediately obvious if you don’t know that the game’s supposed to have 12 side wagers.
While it’s not particularly hard to figure out, SA Gaming probably could have done a better job of guiding new players.
Beyond that, the table on the left shows the exact results for the previous 10 rounds. You can expand it to include up to 200. Conversely, the window to the right holds statistical info on the winning percentages of every bet and number combination.
SA Gaming’s releases have never been the most visually advanced, but they have been making solid improvements in recent years. The interface itself looks a lot more modern than it used to, for example.
However, the stream itself is not of the highest quality compared to what some other software providers are able to put out. It’s a stable stream with solid performance, but the studio is rather bland, and the image itself is a bit blurry thanks to poor lighting.
In short, it’s a solid-looking game, but it’s nowhere near the best in the industry.
Here at Livecasinos.com, how we rate casino games is based on a strict set of standards that were developed over many years of playing and analyzing live dealer games of all sorts. Here are some of the key factors we consider before giving our recommendation:
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