Best baccarat sites

When it comes to value for money, baccarat ranks second only to blackjack among casino card games. A low house edge, simple betting rules and universal availability make it a great option for new players and experienced punters alike. This guide is intended to show our international readers how and where to play the best baccarat games online. For Australians, this page is for informational purposes only due to online gambling being banned in Australia as of September 2017 due to the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill.

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Real money baccarat variants online

Online baccarat games can be found at several trusted real money casino sites. The very best titles offer intuitive gameplay features, outstanding graphics, and independently tested RNG systems to ensure faultless performance and fair, honest results.

Microgaming baccarat

Microgaming is the world’s most respected developer of online casino games, with a rich legacy dating back to 1994. Besides being responsible for some of the best real money blackjack titles on the Web, the British firm is also a major player in punto banco baccarat games. Top Microgaming baccarat titles include:

Baccarat – A no-frills punto banco game with straightforward features and a $40 bet limit.

High Limit Baccarat – Much like the standard Microgaming Baccarat title above, but with an increased $500 table limit.

Baccarat Gold – Whereas most online punto banco titles are based on modern midi- and mini-baccarat tables, the Microgaming Gold Series version uses an old-school big baccarat layout with improved visuals, a $500 bet limit and the ability to squeeze and flip the cards.

Net Entertainment baccarat

NetEnt is Microgaming’s biggest rival in the online casino software market, and with good reason. The Scandinavian brand is a staple of the best no-download baccarat sites, offering great performance and superb audio-visual quality across a wide range of popular titles.

The Net Ent Professional Series baccarat games come in two versions: Baccarat Pro and Punto Banco Pro. While these differ slightly in terms of cosmetics, the gameplay is identical. Both games come with three distinct betting ranges, to cater for all types of punters:

Low Stakes – $0.10 minimum, $10 maximum bet
Regular Stakes – $1 minimum, $100 maximum bet
High Stakes – $10 minimum, $1000 maximum bet

BetSoft baccarat

Also based in Scandinavia, BetSoft is perhaps best known for its innovative range of 3D pokies. However, it also ranks among the top providers of table games at leading Flash casinos such as Guts.com.

BetSoft Baccarat may appear simple at first glance, but it offers everything a great online punto banco game should: easy-to-use game controls, a trusted and reliable RNG engine, quick access to rules and other essential information, and the option to bet anything from $1 to $100 per hand.

AppleJack Gaming baccarat

While a relative newcomer to the Australian online gambling scene, AppleJack is fast forging a reputation for producing slick, high-quality casino games. One of our favourites is Baccarat Star, which channels the exotic ambience of Macau with fast gameplay, a $100 limit on player and banker bets, and bonus payouts ranging as high as 30 to 1.

AppleJack also offers a unique three-handed hybrid game called Baccpo, which combines characteristics of both punto banco and blackjack. Instead betting on player, banker, or tie and watching the croupier play out the hand, the punter goes head-to-head with the dealer and can opt to hit or stand – just as you would in a game of 21.

What about live dealer punto banco?

As with real money blackjack and roulette, the best online casinos run multiple live dealer baccarat tables. These operate much the same as regular baccarat games at brick-and-mortar casinos, with real human croupiers dealing real playing cards. All the action is streamed live in High Definition to your computer, tablet, or mobile phone, so you can enjoy the feel of a land-based casino baccarat table without having to set foot on the gaming floor.

These outstanding live dealer baccarat games are available at our top-ranked real money casinos online:

  • Microgaming Baccarat Live
  • Microgaming Playboy Live Baccarat
  • Evolution Gaming Live Baccarat
  • Evolution Gaming VIP Baccarat
  • Evolution Gaming Baccarat Squeeze
  • Extreme Live Baccarat
  • Ezugi Baccarat Live

How to play baccarat on the Web

Online baccarat games work just like their land-based counterparts. Most versions use a full shoe of eight 52-card decks, although some games use only four or six.

Players can choose from three standard bets: the player (punto), the banker (banco), or the tie. The player bet pays 1 to 1, the banker pays 19 to 20 (or 0.95 to 1), and the tie pays either 8 to 1 or 9 to 1.

The aim of the game is to pick which hand will finish with the highest score (or, in the case of the tie, to predict that both hands will have the same points total). Baccarat punto banco uses a unique scoring system, which works like so:

  • Aces count for one point
  • Deuces through Nines count at face value (e.g. a Five = five points)
  • 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings count for zero

The other unusual feature of baccarat scoring is that only single-figure totals are allowed. Thus, whenever a score reaches or exceeds 10 points, only the second digit is counted.

For example: if the banker draws two Eights on the deal, the hand is counted as six points – not 16. As such, nine points is the highest possible score.

The hand with the greater points total wins. If the result is a tie, all player and banker wagers are pushed (i.e. returned to the bettor).

Punto banco drawing rules

Unlike blackjack and other draw-based card games, the players have no control over a baccarat hand. The croupier performs all the drawing for both punto and banco according to a tableau of iron-clad rules for each hand. Punters don’t need to know these particular conditions of play, but we’ll explain them anyway.

If either player or banker draws a ‘natural’ of eight or nine points on the deal, the hand is finished and the result declared. If the player has five points or fewer, a third and final card is dealt; otherwise, the hand stands.

Should the player stand pat on six or seven points, the banker will draw or stand according to the same rules as the player. But if the player takes a third card, the banker must act thusly:

  • If the player draws a Deuce or Three, the banker must hit with four points or fewer and stand with five or more.
  • If the player draws a Four or Five, the banker must hit with five points or fewer and stand with six or more.
  • If the player draws a Six or Seven, the banker must stand with seven points and hit with any other total.
  • If the player draws an Eight, the banker must hit with two points or fewer and stand with three or more.
  • If the player draws an Ace, Nine, 10, or face card, the banker must hit with three points or fewer and stand with four or more.

House edge in baccarat

The house edge in baccarat depends on which bet you decide to play. In an eight-deck game of real money punto banco where the tie pays 8 to 1, the casino advantage on each standard wager is:

  • 1.06 per cent on the banker bet
  • 1.24 per cent on the player bet
  • 14.36 per cent on a tie bet

Even though the house takes a five per cent commission on banker wins, the favourable drawing rules make it one of the best bets in the casino. The player wager is also excellent value compared to even money bets in most other table games.

The black sheep here is the tie, which is the very definition of a sucker bet. The payout may be more enticing, but the odds of winning are much slimmer than those of the player and banker wagers. The same goes for any side bets and bonuses.

Thus, if you want to take advantage of baccarat’s player-friendly odds, stick to punto and banco.

Where are the best places to play baccarat online?

The very same real money online casinos we recommend for blackjack players also host high-quality baccarat from the software developers we have detailed above.

  1. All Slots Casino
  2. Guts Casino
  3. G’Day Casino
  4. Royal Vegas Casino
  5. Jackpot City Casino