Live dealer players have spent most of 2026 watching slot races go by. The Live Dealer Showdown fixes that: six Thursday-night sessions between 10 September and 15 October, £40,000 in total prizes, and a format built around table play rather than bolted on from a slot leaderboard.
Session format
Each Showdown runs from 19:00 to 23:59 UK time on a Thursday. Outside that window nothing counts, which is unusual for Spinfin tournaments and deliberate — a fixed four-hour window means everyone on the leaderboard is playing the same session against the same field, and you can see in real time what a winning score looks like.
Prize pools are identical every week:
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | £1,500 |
| 2nd | £900 |
| 3rd | £600 |
| 4th – 10th | £250 |
| 11th – 50th | £90 |
| 51st – 200th | £35 |
| 201st – 500th | £12 |
That is £6,667 a night across 500 paid places, six nights running.
How scoring works
The Showdown scores on net return relative to stake across your best 20 qualifying rounds. Every settled round staking at least £5 counts as a qualifying round; your score is the summed return-to-stake ratio of your 20 strongest ones.
Two things follow from that. First, a player who sits down for 25 rounds is competing on nearly the same terms as one who plays 300 — after your best 20, extra volume adds nothing. Second, side bets count towards the ratio, which is why the boards on this format tend to be led by players working blackjack side bets and roulette straight-ups rather than flat even-money bets.
Qualifying tables
All Live88 blackjack, roulette and baccarat tables qualify, including the VIP and speed variants, plus BetGames baccarat. Specifically:
- Blackjack — Blackjack 2, Blackjack A, Blackjack 2 VIP
- Roulette — Roulette 1, Roulette 2, Speed Auto Roulette
- Baccarat — Baccarat 1, Speed Baccarat 1, Baccarat Speed A, BetGames Baccarat
Game shows sit outside this tournament — they have their own leaderboard, covered separately in this section.
Rules and payouts
Entry is automatic on any qualifying round; there is nothing to opt into. Prizes are paid in cash with no wagering requirement, credited by midday on the Friday following each session. Ties are broken by whoever reached the score first, so an early strong session beats a late identical one.
Rounds played with bonus funds do not qualify, and Spinfin’s standard tournament terms apply.
A note on the format
Return-to-stake scoring rewards variance, and side-bet-heavy play is a fast way to raise variance. That cuts both ways — the same bets that put players at the top of a Showdown board are the ones that empty a balance quickest.
18+. Decide your session budget before 19:00, not during it. Please gamble responsibly.