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It's the biggest moneymaker in casinos, but lots of U.S. players have never played baccarat. Here's why the game is big in Asia, and could get bigger elsewhere.

The following is a written article by Marjorie Preston.

START ARTICLE.  The subject is baccarat. So first, let's get those James Bond references out of the way.

Yes, everybody's favorite secret agent played baccarat in iconic films like Dr. No, Thunderball, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Maybe that's why the classic card game has enduring appeal—there's nothing as elegant as a tuxedo-clad 007, breaking the bank in Monte Carlo, accompanied by a seductive dame who may or may not be a counterspy. But he's not the only reason baccarat is popular.

Among Asian players, baccarat is a cultural tradition, a matter of superstition, fortune and fate, with the gods distributing their favor through a dealer's shoe. The game is highly social, with players gathered around a table, sometimes riding the same bet, waiting breathlessly for the turn of the next card, sometimes even drawing an audience.

In addition, depending on the bet, baccarat has the lowest house edge of any casino game (1.06 percent on the banker side, 1.24 percent on the player side, an average of 1.2 percent). That means players stand a decent chance of winning—and winning big, if they bet big—though if they do so on banker, they have to pay a 5 percent commission on the winnings.

And last but not least, baccarat is easy to play, even for rank beginners.

Simplicity Itself

The object of the game is strikingly simple: get two to three cards with values that equal eight or nine, betting on banker, player or tie, though the latter comes with a stiffer house edge of 14.36 percent.

Though it's not really that simple, it's really that simple.

Roger Snow, acknowledged baccarat wizard and senior vice president of Scientific Games, likens the game to an "elaborate coin flip. It's heads or tails, player or banker, win or lose. And that's it."

Though there's no skill or strategy involved—except, of course, in the active imaginations of some players—baccarat generates more revenue than any other table game. According to Forbes, in 2017 Macau's casinos made more than 88 percent of a total $33.2 billion from baccarat.

"Nothing else is even in the same ZIP code, because baccarat drives a lot of high-limit action," says Snow. "You'll have super high-limit players betting $100,000 a hand." Reportedly, in Macau and Singapore, bets of $500,000 are not unheard of.

"There's no denying the impact baccarat has on table game performance at every casino where it's offered," agrees John Hemberger, senior vice president of table products at AGS. "The average bets are sometimes so significant, they can be the leading force for driving performance on a monthly basis."

Big Deal

While baccarat is less important to the bottom line in U.S. casinos, it's hardly insignificant. For example, in February 2018, the 350-plus baccarat tables in Las Vegas won $176.3 million, up 82 percent year-over-year, on total wagers of $1.25 billion, in a boost attributed to the Chinese New Year. But whenever international visitation drops—as it did after 9/11, during economic slumps, and so on—baccarat revenues also decline.

Also, in the 1990s and early 2000s, slot machines claimed up to 70 percent of the gaming area, and tables were increasingly shuffled off the floor. Manufacturers got to work to goose up the games; Hemberger says Snow's Dragon Bonus side bet was a literal game-changer.

"It was so powerful, because it added volatility but in such a simple way that it kept the core game in place. Baccarat is like blackjack—the base game isn't perfect, but it's awfully close to being a perfect gambling experience." And who wants to mess with perfect?

Commission-free baccarat streamlined the game, freeing dealers from having to pause to "make change like a paperboy," Snow says. Mini-baccarat with lower stakes opened the game to mass players.

AGS' Dai Bacc, introduced with great success in 2017, includes bonuses "that hit very infrequently, but pay significant amounts; think 40-to-1," says Hemberger. "A third side bet, the 'Kill' bet, could result in a 70-to-1 payout. That's when players really embraced this new idea: 'We get that it's not going to happen very often, but when it does, that's a big payoff.'"

Progressive Party

Progressives are "a real area of focus for suppliers right now," Hemberger says, citing AGS's Royal 9, with about 200 units in the field, as "one of the fastest growing products in our portfolio at the moment."

One reason baccarat progressives failed in the past is because players had to split the pot, Hemberger says. "So if there was $100,000 on a progressive meter and four players at the table, if I won I only got $25,000. And that's not a good deal."

Royal 9 "very successfully individualizes the opportunity to win a progressive jackpot" by assigning distinct winning combinations to each player: for example, Seat 1 wins with a Jack of hearts and a Nine of spades, while Seat 2 wins with a King of clubs and Nine of diamonds.

"We have now allowed a player to win 100 percent of the jackpot, with everyone else getting 'some type of payout,' like a consolation prize." Royal 9 is now live at MGM National Harbor, Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods and Maryland Live!, among other properties, with recent installations at Fallsview Casino and Caesars Windsor in Canada.

As if that isn't enough, at G2E 2019 AGS presented a second-generation progressive, Bonus Spin Xtreme, which can link all table games in a casino and offer a single shared progressive jackpot—a first.

Hemberger cites its ability to provide "one unique progressive jackpot winner for community-style table games like roulette, baccarat and craps, while enabling all participating players to be rewarded with a community prize. That helps players encourage other players to make a bet, because they can win off each other's hand. When you have so many games linked, you have the opportunity to have life-changing jackpots that can exceed $1 million."

Which brings us to the inevitable question: does baccarat in all its iterations have staying power as the casino patron base changes?

Snow, for one, says you bet.

"Baccarat players, who have always been very traditional, have allowed the games to go commission-free. They've allowed the side bets and EZ Baccarat. I think baccarat players today, especially younger baccarat players, are more embracing of new content. And in this tough world, that makes me optimistic that they'll say, 'Wow, that's a compelling idea. Wow, I want to play that game too.'"