Asian Casino Table Games

Fan Tan, Sic Bo, Niu Niu and other Asian games you will find

Walk into a large casino anywhere in Asia and you will see familiar international games: baccarat, blackjack, roulette. But the games that give Asian casino floors their character are the homegrown ones, and Macau is where the fullest range of them survives.

Macau's gaming law lists 24 permitted games of fortune in casinos. Alongside the international staples, the list includes Fan Tan, Sic Bo, fish-prawn-crab Sic Bo, Pai Gow, small Pai Gow, mahjong Pai Gow, mahjong baccarat, fu gui san gong, Taiwan Pai Gow, san gong baccarat, twelve numbers, twenty-five doors, eleven or twelve card games, neuf galets and thirteen-card poker¹. That single list is the best map of what "Asian table games" means in practice.

Here is what the main ones look like at the table:

• Fan Tan is the classic Chinese counting game. A dealer covers a pile of small buttons with a bowl, then removes them four at a time with a small stick. The last remaining buttons decide the result: one, two, three or four. You bet on which number will be left, and the table pays accordingly. It is slow, ritualistic and hypnotic to watch, and the crowd around a hot Fan Tan table can be several people deep.
• Sic Bo is a dice game played with three dice under a glass dome. You bet on totals, doubles, triples and combinations, and the layout looks a little like a craps or roulette layout. The two headline bets are Big (a total of 11 to 17) and Small (4 to 10), with triples losing either way. We cover the full layout and payouts in our Sic Bo rules page.
• Fish-prawn-crab Sic Bo is a cousin of Sic Bo played with pictorial dice instead of numbered ones, a version of the old Chinese game Hoo Hey How. It appears on Macau's permitted list in its own right¹.
• Pai Gow in its original form is played with Chinese domino tiles rather than cards. You are dealt a stack of tiles and split them into a high hand and a low hand, and your two hands each compete against the dealer's two. Macau also permits mahjong Pai Gow, small Pai Gow and Taiwan Pai Gow as separate games¹.
• Niu Niu (written in Macau's law as a form of san gong and related cattle-named games) is a fast card game in which five cards are dealt and the aim is to make a total as close to a multiple of ten as possible. It has spread through casinos and private games across the region, often alongside its Thai cousin Pok Deng, which is more common in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and some Chinese territories⁸.
• Dragon Tiger is a two-card version of baccarat: one card for Dragon, one card for Tiger, highest card wins. It is a common sight in Asian casinos and on live dealer platforms serving the region, where it sits alongside live Sic Bo⁹.

If you want to compare how these games stack up against the international ones in terms of odds, see our page on the house edge of casino games.

Where the games are played: Macau, Cambodia and beyond

Macau is far and away the center of gravity for these games, but it is not the only place you will find them.

In Cambodia, the casino industry is concentrated in Poipet, on the Thai border, and in Sihanoukville on the coast⁶. The games on offer are mostly the international staples: blackjack, poker, roulette and slot machines⁶. Traditional Chinese games appear where the customer base is largely Chinese, and Thai-influenced card games such as Pok Deng are more common in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and some Chinese territories than anywhere else⁸. Cambodian casinos are open to foreigners and tourists; citizens are prohibited, and while some locals use foreign online sites, that can constitute illegal gambling, though authorities rarely prosecute individuals for it⁷. For the full picture, see our page on gambling in Cambodia.

In South Korea, the split is unusual: almost every casino in the country is for foreigners only, and Kangwon Land is the one casino where Korean citizens may play. Kangwon Land runs 195 tables in total⁵.

The foreigner-only casinos, from Paradise Walkerhill in Seoul to the Jeju hotel casinos, stick mainly to baccarat, blackjack, roulette and slots¹⁰.

In Vietnam, casinos are likewise open to foreigners, and venues such as Casino Hạ Long keep their gaming clubs open 24 hours¹³. In Japan, live dealer versions of Dragon Tiger and Sic Bo are widely available on offshore sites serving Japanese players, alongside live blackjack, baccarat and roulette⁹. Thai players, who have no legal casino at home, have historically traveled to dens abroad with only Thai players in places such as Macau, Singapore and Malaysia¹⁴.

For a broader comparison of the region's casino destinations, see Asia's casino destinations compared.

Macau: the biggest market for Asian table games

Macau's gaming industry is characterized by Pacapio (a lottery-style numbers game) and slot machines, as well as the internationally renowned table games of its large casinos². It is the table games that make Macau the world's biggest gaming market, and it is the only place where the full list of 24 permitted games of fortune is likely to be found under one roof, or at least under a handful of roofs¹.

The scale is hard to picture until you see it. The Sands Macao alone operated 159 gaming tables at the end of 2022¹⁵. Across town, The Parisian Macao ran 365 gaming tables and The Plaza Macao 108 in the same period a few years earlier¹⁶. Wynn Macau offers 24-hour gaming with a wide variety of games, including private gaming salons, the Sky Casino and a dedicated poker area¹⁷.

Many casinos also have restaurants serving international cuisine, so a visit can easily combine watching the tables with a meal³. Slot machine centers, known locally as Mocha-style clubs, offer the newest slot machine games in a comfortable environment, generally with a 24-hour coffee shop and food and beverage service³. For more on that side of the business, see our page on electronic table games and slot halls.

Baccarat: the dominant game and its table limits

For all the variety on Macau's permitted list, one game dwarfs the rest: baccarat. It is typically the only game offered in VIP rooms, and it is the preferred game among Chinese players⁴. Even on the mass floor, baccarat tables outnumber everything else, and the ritual of the squeeze, slowly peeling back the card, is part of the entertainment. See our pages on baccarat rules and baccarat variants for how the game works.

Table limits vary enormously between the mass floor and the VIP rooms. Traditionally, VIP-room patrons were expected to bring a gaming budget of over MOP500,000 per visit, though casinos sometimes relaxed this threshold during periods of intense competition⁴. Mass tables start far lower, and the spread between the two is the practical difference between the public floor and the private salons. We cover the numbers in detail in casino table minimums and maximum bets in Asia and VIP rooms and private gaming.

The pattern repeats elsewhere. At Kangwon Land in South Korea, baccarat accounts for 93 of the casino's 195 tables, spread across general tables, VIP tables and foreigner-only tables, more than any other game⁵.

House rules that surprise visitors: photography, streaming and betting

A few rules catch first-time visitors out, and they are worth knowing before you sit down.

Photography and streaming. Filming and photography at live gaming tables are not allowed, and livestreaming from a casino floor is treated seriously. This has become a live issue in the region: in Cambodia, live dealer streaming from casinos is being shut down from October 2026, a measure requested by the Prime Minister over risks linked to online gambling. If you want a photo, ask a member of staff where it is permitted; usually it is away from the tables. We cover the rules jurisdiction by jurisdiction in casino photography and phone rules.

Smoking. Since October 2014, casinos in Macau have implemented a smoking ban prohibiting smoking on all mass market gaming floors¹⁹. Use the designated smoking areas instead. Details are in our page on smoking in casinos in Asia.

Rule variations. Even within the same game, some rules and pay tables vary slightly by casino, particularly for novelty poker games²⁰. Always check the pay table printed on the layout before you bet.

Buying in mid-game. At a craps table, put your cash on the table and signal a dealer to exchange it for chips, ideally after the current shooter rolls, while the dice are in front of the boxperson²¹. The same no-handing-money rule applies at Sic Bo: place your bills on the table and the dealer exchanges them, never hand money directly to a dealer²².

Who is allowed to play: age and nationality rules

The rules differ sharply by country and by who you are, so check the local position before you go.

In Macau, the legal age of entry to casinos is 21, and persons under 21 are not allowed to enter². The rule applies to everyone, residents and visitors alike, and ID can be checked at the door.

In South Korea, the age threshold is 19 or older at Kangwon Land, the one casino open to Korean citizens²⁴, and the same 19-and-over rule applies at foreigner-only casinos such as Paradise Casino Walkerhill, where a passport is required at entry for age and nationality checks²⁵. Seven Luck Casino Busan Lotte Branch is foreigners only, with Koreans barred from entry, passport checks and metal detectors installed for safety²⁶. The Jeju hotel casinos, including Jeju KAL and Jeju Shilla, are likewise foreigners-only venues¹¹.

In Japan, where integrated resorts are being developed under the Act on Development of Specified Integrated Resort Areas, entry to casino facilities is limited to those aged 20 and over, with a levy charged to Japanese residents²⁷.

In Cambodia, as noted above, regulated gaming venues allow foreigners and tourists to gamble, while citizens are prohibited⁷.

In Thailand, where casino legalization has been under discussion, the draft framework includes an entry levy charged to foreigners²⁸.

Currencies, chips and table etiquette

Buying chips. The universal rule is that cash goes on the table, not into a dealer's hand. At Sic Bo, you place money on the table and a dealer exchanges it for chips²²; at craps, you put your cash on the table and let the crew know you would like chips²¹. Bets at the table are represented by plaques or chips with face value, a convention that goes back decades in casino regulation worldwide²⁹. For the full picture on cages, currencies and cashing out, see buying and cashing chips.

Roulette chips are special. Roulette chips can only be played at the table where they were bought, and cannot be converted to regular casino chips or used elsewhere in the casino³⁰. Cash them out with the same dealer before you leave the table.

Table etiquette. Casino chips are the only thing that really belongs on a Sic Bo table³¹. Keep wallets, handbags and other personal items tucked away, and keep beverages in the holders to avoid spills³². If you find a chip on the floor, hand it to a member of staff rather than pocketing it.

Currency in Macau. The local currency is the Macanese pataca, but Hong Kong dollars circulate freely and are the practical choice for most visitors. Chips are bought with cash at the table and redeemed at the cage. For tipping conventions, which vary widely across the region, see our page on tipping dealers in Asian casinos.

Getting there and getting around: shuttles, hours and facilities

Shuttles. In Macau, free shuttle buses arranged by the casinos run from the border entry points and tourist hotspots to the resorts³. They are the easiest way to move between properties, and you do not need to be staying at the hotel to use them. We list the routes in our page on free casino shuttle buses.

Hours. Macau casinos are open 24 hours², and the law requires each casino to operate continuously, 24 hours a day²³. The concession contracts state it plainly: the concessionaire shall open the casinos twenty-four hours, without interruption, every day of the year¹⁸, and the sector runs on a continuous 24-hour schedule³³. The same round-the-clock pattern holds at Kangwon Land's competitors in Korea's foreigner-only market: Paradise Casino Busan and Paradise Casino Paradise City at Incheon are open 24 hours³⁴, as are the Jeju hotel casinos¹¹. Casino Hạ Long in Vietnam opens 24/24¹³. For the full regional picture, see are Asian casinos open 24 hours.

Facilities. Beyond the tables, the larger resorts are built to keep you on site. Paradise Casino's Incheon Airport branch combines a GAMING ZONE with baccarat, blackjack and roulette, a VIP ZONE and a Dine & Drink area³⁷. Macau's slot machine centers come with 24-hour coffee shops and dining service³, and many casinos have restaurants serving international cuisine³. Dress codes are relaxed on most mass floors, but see our page on casino dress codes in Asia if you are planning a night out.

Events. Macau's resorts double as entertainment venues: the 13th International Lion Dance Championship 2026 MGM CUP brings 25 teams from 14 countries and regions to the A-Ma Temple forecourt on October 10 and 11, 2026, and concerts run through the season at venues such as G Box at Galaxy Macau. If you are visiting in October 2026, note that REM, the new luxury hotel at City of Dreams Macau, celebrates its grand opening that month.