While casinos can potentially make millions in a few hours, they can also lose millions. How high do the betting limits go? Zender cites casinos in Singapore, which take bets as high as $750,000 SGD (about $550,000 USD) on a single hand, and shares that casinos on the Las Vegas Strip might take bets as high as $150,000 per hand. What makes baccarat dangerous for casinos is that, due to the large amounts of money bet and the thin house edge, players have the potential to win serious money at the casino’s expense.
Most serious players, then, stick to player or banker. There is a third bet, tie, which, if both hands equal the same number, pays off eight to one, but it has a much larger house edge-over 14 percent. Why are high rollers attracted to baccarat? In addition to the cultural reasons Zender outlined, the game has one of the lowest hold percentages in the casino, with an average house advantage of about 1.2 percent on banker and player bets.
