Now and then, many people like to gamble, which is why online and land-based casinos continue to be so popular.
The activity has a very different appeal to other forms of gaming as it offers the chance for people to put money down in the hopes of returning more money. It’s been used as a metaphor by many great musicians and bands, with the most prominent being Mötorhead and the track ‘Ace of Spades’, which is still given raucous covers by modern artists.
But of all of the gambling games that have achieved fame across North America, it’s baccarat which so many of the world’s biggest casinos rely upon. As soccer is to sport, baccarat is to gambling: they’re the most popular globally but not North American favorites.
Just by looking at casino statistics, which we’ll get into shortly, baccarat is a clear driver of casino success and is getting increasingly popular with regular gamers, and not just VIPs. Baccarat is a fully-fledged craze in gambling right now, and yet many people around Canada and the United States still don’t know how to play.
Baccarat: The world’s most popular gambling game
Even in places like Las Vegas where there are sparingly few baccarat tables, the game has become a major contributor to casino revenues. The game is even more integral to establishments in the new gambling hub of the world, Macau, where over $30 billion in revenues each year comes from baccarat.
Baccarat has long been the main attraction of super-wealthy Asian gamblers. It’s their game of choice and has given rise to the term ‘VIP Baccarat’ – a revenue stream filed separately to regular blackjack. However, it’s the rise of regular baccarat players that is propelling the current baccarat craze. It has been found that VIP Baccarat plays sunk by 22.5 percent from Q3 2018 to Q3 2019, but regular baccarat play surged by 20.5 percent. While the high rollers are playing less, regular players are playing much more.
But why is baccarat so much more popular with eastern gamblers than western gamblers? Experts in the video above attribute the difference to westerners only playing games that they think they can beat. On the other hand, eastern players, particularly the Chinese, like simple games and put a lot of their play down to luck. When they lose at a baccarat table, they move to the next to see if their luck comes in at a new table. This would explain why blackjack is more popular in North America than arguably simpler baccarat.
How do you play the global phenomenon of baccarat?
Baccarat is very similar to blackjack in that you have to beat the dealer with the cards dealt. However, in baccarat, players have a choice of betting – either on their hand, the banker’s hand, or a tie – as opposed to sticking to what they’re dealt. There are some other differences as well, such as the closest hand to nine wins and aces being valued at one, so it’s best to try out a baccarat online game before going to a casino in-person to play.
Once you get the hang of it, baccarat is a very simple game to play. You bet on one of the three outcomes, the croupier deals the hands, point totals are calculated, the dealer may then be required to draw another card, and then the winning hand is found.
Given the simplicity of the game of baccarat and the chance to back any outcome on the table, it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. Now, all that there’s left to do is jump on the craze!