Baccarat has an image problem in South Africa. It looks intimidating, with the high-limit rooms at Sun City, the velvet ropes and the James Bond associations, and most casual players walk straight past it on the way to slots and roulette. That is a mistake. Baccarat is one of the simplest games in the casino, and the odds it gives a casual player are better than almost anything else on offer.
You don't make decisions in baccarat. You don't take cards. You don't hit, stand, double or split. You place a bet on one of three outcomes, the dealer follows fixed rules, and someone wins. That's the entire game.
If you can pick between three options, you can play baccarat. If you can pick the right one of those three options, you can play it well.
How the game actually works
Two hands are dealt, the Player hand and the Banker hand. You bet on which one will win, or on a tie. Despite the names, "Player" and "Banker" are just labels; you are not playing against the bank, only betting on a side.
Each hand starts with two cards. Card values:
- 2 through 9: Face value
- 10, J, Q, K: Zero (yes, zero)
- Aces: One
Add the cards, then drop the tens digit if the total exceeds nine. So 7 + 8 = 15, which becomes 5. A King and a 4 = 0 + 4 = 4. The hand closer to nine wins.
The third-card rule
This is the only complicated part of baccarat, and you don't need to learn it because the dealer applies it for you. If either hand totals 8 or 9 on its first two cards (a "natural"), the hand ends. Otherwise the Player hand draws a third card under fixed rules, then the Banker hand draws under slightly different fixed rules. Whichever hand is closer to 9 wins.
The third-card rule is what gives Banker its slight advantage: it wins about 1.2 percentage points more often than Player.
The only thing you need to remember
Every hand, bet on the Banker. After commission, it has the lowest house edge of any bet on the table. There is no trick, no system, no exception. Bet Banker every time and you're playing baccarat optimally.
The three bets, ranked
Baccarat tables offer three main bets. Their house edges differ enormously:
| Bet | Pays | House Edge | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banker | 0.95:1 (after 5% commission) | 1.06% | The only bet you should make |
| Player | 1:1 | 1.24% | Acceptable, but Banker is better |
| Tie | 8:1 (some tables 9:1) | 14.4% at 8:1 (4.8% at 9:1) | Never bet this |
That 14.4% on the standard 8:1 Tie bet is not a typo. Even at 9:1 the edge is about 4.8%, more than four times the Banker bet. It's worse than American roulette, worse than most slots, and roughly 13 times worse than the Banker bet. The casino lets you bet on Tie because they know enough recreational players will. Don't be one of them.
What about the side bets?
Many baccarat tables now offer side bets such as Pair, Perfect Pair, Big/Small and Dragon Bonus. They exist to take more money from players who enjoy a long shot, and their house edges are higher than the main bets, in several cases above 10%. Skip them.
Bankroll and session framework
Baccarat is fast, and digital versions are faster still. Speed magnifies the swings: even a 1% house edge eats into your bankroll more quickly when you play more hands an hour. A practical way to structure a session:
- Bring at least 30–40 times your unit bet as session bankroll. R3,000 for a R100 table.
- Bet flat. Always Banker. Never increase after losses.
- Set a stop-loss equal to half your session bankroll, and a profit target equal to half.
- When either hits, leave. Online or live, the table will be there next time.
The truth about baccarat systems
Walk past a baccarat table on a Saturday night and you will see players tracking results on scorecards and boards, with red and blue marks and "dragon" patterns. They are looking for streaks to follow or bet against. None of it works. Each hand is independent of the last, and past results predict nothing. The cards don't remember what came before.
This is the same fallacy that traps roulette players. A coin that has landed heads ten times in a row is no more likely to land tails on the next flip than on the first. Same with baccarat. Pattern-tracking is a ritual, not a strategy.
The results board above a baccarat table is decoration, not a tool. It tells you more about how the casino thinks players behave than about the next hand.
Live versus digital baccarat
Online baccarat usually comes in two formats. Online casino-style games are not licensed as such in South Africa, and whether licensed bookmakers may offer them is disputed after a 2025 Supreme Court of Appeal ruling (see our gambling laws guide). The choice of format matters more than people realise:
Live dealer baccarat
A real dealer and real cards, streamed to your phone. The pace is close to a physical casino and the house edge on Banker is still 1.06%. Online casino-style games are not licensed in South Africa, and their status at bookmakers is disputed; see the note above.
Digital (RNG) baccarat
Computer-generated outcomes. The maths is identical, but the pace can hit 200+ hands per hour if you let it. That speed compounds losses. Same edge, much faster bleed. Use only if you can hold strict bet limits and walk-away rules.
Why you should actually play baccarat
Look at the numbers. Banker bet, 1.06% house edge. Compare that to:
- European roulette: 2.7%, more than double
- American roulette: 5.26%, about five times as much
- Slots: 5% to 15%, five to fifteen times as much
- Side bets at every game: typically 5–25% worse
Of the games that need no strategy, baccarat gives you the best odds. The Banker bet beats any roulette bet, every slot machine and every side bet in the casino. Most players ignore it, which suits the casino.
Continue learning
- Blackjack basic strategy: an even lower house edge, if you learn the strategy.
- Roulette guide: just as easy, with a much higher house edge.
- All guides: every strategy guide in one place.
- SA gambling laws: what is and isn't licensed online.