Baccarat

Baccarat looks intimidating and is genuinely one of the easiest games in the casino — you don’t play a hand, you just bet on which of two hands wins: the player, the banker, or a tie. No hitting, no standing, no decisions to get wrong. And it hides a quiet edge for the punter who knows it: the banker bet is one of the lowest-house-edge bets on the entire floor. Here’s why, what the commission is about, and how to play it right.

How a hand works and the three bets

Two hands are dealt — confusingly named “player” and “banker”, but you can bet on either, neither one is yours. Each gets two cards, sometimes a third by a fixed rule you never have to think about, and the hand closest to a total of 9 wins. Tens and picture cards count zero, an ace counts one, and totals drop the tens digit — so a 7 and an 8 (15) is a 5.

Your only job is to place one of three bets before the deal:

• Player — pays even money if the player hand wins.
• Banker — pays even money, minus a 5% commission, if the banker hand wins.
• Tie — pays 8 to 1 if both hands finish level.

That’s the whole game. The cards play themselves out by rule; you just chose the right bet.

Why banker is the best bet

Because of the fixed drawing rules, the banker hand wins slightly more often than the player hand. That edge is small but real, and it makes banker the correct bet on every single hand. The numbers:

A 1.06% edge is elite — it sits right next to well-played blackjack and beats roulette comfortably. The player bet is barely worse and perfectly fine. The tie, despite its juicy 8-to-1 payout, is a trap: it lands so rarely that the edge balloons past 14%. Bet banker, ignore the tie, and you’re playing one of the smartest games in the building.

What the commission actually costs

The 5% commission on banker wins exists for a simple reason: banker wins often enough that without the charge, the bet would favour the player and the casino would lose money. The commission is how the house keeps its slim edge — and even after taking it, banker is still the lowest-edge bet on the table.

In practice the casino tracks it automatically; you don’t hand over chips each time. The point to hold onto is that the commission is already baked into that 1.06% figure. It’s not a hidden extra — it’s the reason the best bet stays the best bet.

A worked example, in rand

You bet R100 on the banker and it wins. You’re paid even money less the 5% commission, so you collect R95 profit rather than R100 — and that small clip is exactly what keeps banker the lowest-edge play.

Now the temptation: same R100 on the tie, which pays 8 to 1, so a win returns R800 profit. It looks like the smart swing — until you remember it lands roughly once every eleven hands. Over a session those rare hits don’t come close to covering the losses in between, which is why the tie’s real edge is around 14% against you. The R95 banker win is the boring, correct, money-saving play. Take it.

Will a baccarat win actually pay out?

Yes, instantly — baccarat is fixed-odds, so a winning banker or player bet credits your wallet the moment the hand settles, commission already deducted. Cashing out of Scorebet runs on the usual local rails, paid once your account is FICA-verified. The deal is governed by a certified random number generator, so no run of banker or player wins makes the other “due” — each hand is independent. The honest caveat is the same as every table: even a 1.06% edge favours the house over enough hands, so set a budget and bank a good run.

Baccarat is the low-fuss, low-edge game for the player who’d rather not sweat decisions — just bet banker, skip the tie, and let it run. It’s live at Scorebet. Compare it with the decision-led blackjack or the simple roulette, or step back to table games. 18+.