Baccarat in Cambodia

Why baccarat is the game that fills Asian casino floors

Walk into almost any casino floor in Asia and the biggest, busiest tables will be baccarat. The game, also known as punto banco, is one of the oldest and most popular casino games in the world, and it is especially popular with high rollers and Asian gamblers⁷. In Macau it is extremely dominant⁵, and in VIP rooms it is typically the only game offered, because it is the preferred game among Chinese players⁸. Cambodia's casino industry has grown along the same lines: casinos are concentrated in places like Poipet and Sihanoukville, and while floors carry blackjack, poker, roulette and slot machines, baccarat is the game that anchors the table section⁹.

Part of the reason is simplicity. Baccarat is a guessing game of pure chance: you bet on which of two dealt hands, the Player or the Banker, will end up closer to nine¹⁰. There are no decisions to make after the bet is placed, the dealer follows fixed drawing rules, and a full round takes under a minute. That makes it easy for a first-timer to join, while the even-money payouts and high table limits keep serious players at the table for hours. It is pronounced BAH-keh-RAH¹¹.

If you are planning a wider trip, our pages on casinos in Cambodia and casino games in Cambodia cover the rest of the floor.

How a round works: Player, Banker and Tie

No matter how many players are seated, only two hands of cards are dealt: the Player's and the Banker's¹⁰. A table seats seven to 14 players depending on the version, and each seat has three bet boxes, one each for Player, Banker and Tie¹⁰.

A round runs like this:

1. Bets go down. All bets must be placed before the cards are dealt; there is no betting after the first two cards appear¹². You choose Player, Banker or Tie, and at many tables you may only bet on either the Banker or the Player, not both, though you can bet on a Tie outcome at any time¹³.
2. Four cards are dealt. The dealer slides out a card to the Player box, one to the Banker box, then a second card to each, so each hand starts with two cards¹⁰. In some dealing orders the first and third cards go to the Player and the second and fourth to the Banker¹⁴.
3. Naturals end the round. If either hand totals 8 or 9 on its first two cards, that is a natural, both hands automatically stand with no exceptions, and all bets are paid immediately¹⁵.
4. Otherwise the tableau decides. A third card may be drawn for the Player and/or the Banker depending on the values of the first two cards, under a fixed set of rules the dealer applies automatically⁴. You never choose; the dealer just follows the grid.
5. The hand closest to nine wins. Player win, Banker win or Tie are the only three outcomes⁴.

The Player's drawing rule is simple: on any total from 0 to 5 the Player draws a third card, unless the Banker already has a natural 8 or 9; the Player always stands on 6 or 7¹⁰. The Banker's rule depends on what the Player drew, and is set out in the scoring section below.

Card values and how hands are scored

The card values could not be easier²:

• Aces count as 1
• Cards 2 through 9 count at face value
• 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings count as 0

The goal is a hand total closest to 9, which is the highest possible point total¹⁶. If a hand's total exceeds 9, only the last digit counts: a total of 14 counts as 4, 15 becomes 5, 10 becomes 0, 12 becomes 2 and 25 becomes 5¹⁶. So a hand of 7 and 8, worth 15 on paper, scores 5.

Here is the full third-card grid the dealer follows¹⁸:

One wrinkle: the third card is never dealt to a hand that already totals 7 or higher¹⁷. And at the start of a new shoe, the dealer turns over one card to decide how many cards to burn, with a 10 or face card meaning 10 cards burned; the cut card sits 16 cards from the bottom of the shoe⁵.

Payouts and the 5% Banker commission

The three main bets pay as follows⁴:

The 5% commission on winning Banker bets is the house's answer to the Banker's slight probability advantage under the drawing rules¹⁹. The dealer collects it at payout, so if you bet 100 on Banker and win, you take back 195 rather than 200. The commission idea is old: a 5% levy on the banker's winnings at each coup was written into European baccarat rules as far back as 1979²⁰.

If the hands tie, bets on Player or Banker are neither won nor lost. On most standard tables your original stake is simply returned and the round is not counted as a win or a loss for those bets¹⁹. Tie bettors collect the 8:1 payout.

House edge by bet: 1.06% to 14.36%

In an eight-deck game, the house edge works out to 1.06% on the Banker bet, 1.24% on the Player bet, and 14.36% on the Tie⁵. Those numbers are why experienced players treat the game the way they do:

• Banker, at about 1.06%, is the cheapest bet on the table, even after the commission⁵.
• Player, at about 1.24%, costs you very little more⁴.
• Tie, at 14.36%, is more than ten times as expensive as the main bets, despite the tempting 8:1 payout¹⁶.

For comparison, that 1.06% figure is among the lowest house edges of any table game with optimal play²¹. The practical takeaway is simple: the Tie bet's big payout comes from a much worse price, and the main bets give you far more play for your money. One long-standing piece of advice sums up the rest: the smart player bets on the Banker every time and leaves the scorecards alone²².

Side bets and special tables

Beyond the three main bets, Cambodian tables carry a range of side bets and variants. Depending on the table, you may be required to place a main bet before you can place a side bet, so check with the dealer first¹³.

Pair bets. You can bet on "Player Pair", "Banker Pair", "Either Pair" or "Perfect Pair", plus additional bonus bets depending on the table¹³. A pair bet wins if the first two cards dealt to that hand are a pair, such as 5-5 or K-K, and loses on everything else; on some tables you can make the side bet on its own, without a traditional wager²³. Player and Banker pair side bets typically pay 12 to 1²³, and some no-commission variants pay a Banker Pair at 11 to 1²⁴.

Super 6. A common no-commission variant. The Banker bet pays 1:1 with no commission, but if the Banker wins with a total of exactly 6, you only receive 50% of your winnings²⁴. To make up for it there is a Super Six side bet on the Banker winning with 6 points, which pays 12:1²⁴. Super Six tables offer eight bet types: Player, Banker, Tie, Player Pair, Banker Pair, Super Six, Player Natural and Banker Natural²⁴.

Super 7 and other bonus bets. At Ha Tien Vegas, the Baccarat Super 7 and Super 6 tables carry the potential to win 40 times your stake¹. Wider side-bet menus seen on baccarat tables elsewhere include Dragon Bonus, 4-5-6, Lucky Bonus, 3-Card Six, Dragon 7, Panda 8, Royal Match, Bellagio Match and Matching Dragon⁷, and EZ Baccarat tables add Dragon 7 and Panda 8 side wagers²⁵.

No-commission baccarat (Baccarat Khong Hoa Hong). Some online and live tables offer seven bet types: Player, Banker, Tie, Banker Pair, Player Pair, Big and Small, with the Banker payout cut to 50% only when the Banker wins on a total of 6²⁴.

Where to play baccarat in Cambodia

Cambodia's licensed casino floors are spread across the country, with the industry concentrated in Poipet and Sihanoukville⁹. Two venues matter most for baccarat players:

NagaWorld, Phnom Penh. Cambodia's largest gaming and entertainment complex³, with baccarat as the centerpiece of its table-game floors. Our full guide covers NagaWorld: entry rules, games and getting there, and the venue sits in the capital, covered in our page on casinos in Phnom Penh.

Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, Kampot. The largest casino and entertainment complex in Kampot, located at Road 33, Prek Chak, Kompong Trach, right near the Cambodian-Vietnamese international border, which makes it an easy trip for players coming from Vietnam²⁶. The casino runs 8 baccarat tables around the clock, 24/7¹, alongside Baccarat Super 7 and Super 6, Bai Buu, Niu Niu, Dragon Tiger, roulette machines and slots¹. The resort rounds it out with a hotel, restaurants, a spa and karaoke²⁷. See our guide to Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort for entry details and getting there, and our pages on casinos in Sihanoukville, casinos in Poipet and casinos in Bavet for the border towns.

Who can play

Cambodian law draws a sharp line at the casino door: the licensed floors described above are for foreign visitors, while Cambodian citizens are barred from them. The legal casino gambling age is 18⁶. For the full picture, including what applies to visitors, expats and residents, see gambling in Cambodia and gambling in Cambodia as a visitor.

A first visit to the baccarat table

Baccarat is one of the easiest table games to join for the first time, because you do nothing after placing your bet. Here is what to expect:

• Find the table and the limits. Tables display minimum and maximum stakes; ask the floor staff if it is not obvious. Ha Tien Vegas tables run 24/7, so there is no closing time to work around¹.
• Watch a few rounds first. Each round is over in under a minute, and the dealer does all the drawing. You only need to know which box you are backing.
• Place your chips in the box. All bets must be down before the cards are dealt¹². Put chips on Player, Banker or Tie; if you want a pair side bet, check whether the table requires a main bet first¹³.
• Let the dealer work. The dealer deals four cards, applies the third-card grid, and settles the bets. Winning Banker bets have the 5% commission taken at payout⁴.
• Keep it simple. The Banker and Player bets are the cheapest on the table; the Tie bet and most side bets cost far more per round in house edge⁵.

Dress codes and entry rules vary by venue; NagaWorld and Ha Tien Vegas both have their own entry requirements, covered in their individual guides. For money matters on the floor, see gambling payments in Cambodia.

Online baccarat options for players in Cambodia

The online picture is different from the land-based one. Cambodia prohibits online gambling for its citizens, and there are no regulated online casinos in the country, not only for residents but for anyone who finds themselves in Cambodia⁶. Cambodian players who gamble online do so through foreign-licensed sites, operating from jurisdictions like Panama, Anjouan, Mwali, Curaçao, the Isle of Man and Malta; using them can constitute illegal gambling, though authorities rarely prosecute locals for it⁶. One review listing counts 769 casinos accepting players from Cambodia⁶.

Those offshore sites carry baccarat from providers including Play'n GO, BGaming, Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, AvatarUX, Hacksaw Gaming, Blueprint Gaming, PG Soft and Evolution, with some lobbies holding more than ten thousand titles⁶. Live dealer baccarat on these sites is typically played with eight decks of 52 cards, no jokers, plus two cut cards, and allows up to three bets per player across the Player, Banker and Tie areas¹⁵. Payments run heavily through crypto: Tether, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the top choices for Cambodian online gamblers, followed by Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Binance Coin⁶.

If you go this route, our online gambling in Cambodia page covers the landscape in more detail, and our operator reviews, such as Stake, BCGame and Natural8, describe individual sites. The game itself works exactly as described above: same card values, same tableau, same 5% commission on Banker wins¹³.