Baccarat: Casinos Best Friend and Worst Enemy

Monthly casino gaming revenues take into account baccarat along with all other games you’ll find on the casino floor. Baccarat is a high roller game and wins and losses for players and casinos are drastic.

baccarat is showing the greatest strength in the casinos. “Baccarat figures are volatile,” said Lawton, who predicts baccarat win will increase 5 percent this fiscal year and increase an estimated 3 to 4 percent in the coming biennium.

Maddox said the Wynn properties market to the high-end players. He said the casinos “overly rely on 150 international customers willing to wager millions of dollars.”

I don’t write, or talk, about baccarat much because 1) I find the game boring and 2) when I was learning how to play the game in Atlantic City a friend and I were called Gweilo (AKA “White Devil”) by one of the Asian players at my table. I don’t need that in my life.

High rollers play baccarat since it has such great odds and fair returns on their money spent. Since big baccarat games (the game held in their own room and not mini baccarat on the casino floor) have such an impact on casino and overall state gaming revenue it comes as no surprise that casinos would focus on bringing in baccarat players.

Baccarat is basically an even odds game so the hefty wagers can swing casino revenue one way or the other in a day, let alone a quarter or year. Since the game is essentially a coin flip it’s no surprise that it’s expected to continue to grow in popularity.

Even though most baccarat players are high(er) rollers it’s interesting that Wynn Las Vegas only focuses on 150 players to make satisfy their baccarat income for any given month. These are the highest of the high rollers.

This is something to take into account when you’re a medium roller (like me) wondering why your $25 blackjack or $1 video poker play isn’t gaining much in return from the players clubs at casinos have baccarat (Not all casinos have big baccarat games). If casinos lose a few medium rollers it doesn’t directly effect their bottom line. It’s another story if they lose one of these 150 big baccarat players gambling millions of dollars on a weekend.

This is simply common sense but the reminder of how significant your play is to a casino allows you to manage your expectations and keep things fun at the casino. I know I can use the reminder after a bad weekend of gambling at Encore and Wynn.