Casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd appears to have joined the Macau-market trend of simplifying side bet options on its mass-floor and high-limit main-floor baccarat games. That is based on GGRAsia’s observations on Monday at Galaxy Macau, the firm’s Cotai flagship, and on Tuesday on the first-floor and third-floor gaming areas at StarWorld Hotel in downtown Macau.
As per checks, on Galaxy Macau and StarWorld main floors, players are being offered simultaneously on tables, the side bets ‘Small 6/Big 6’, ‘Small 7/Big 7’ and ‘Super Lucky 7’. The standard ‘Lucky 6’ and ‘Lucky 7’ side bets first seen market-wide last year, were not observed.
The slimmed options were also what was seen at the high-limit baccarat zones Pavilion North and Pavilion South at Galaxy Macau.
Market rivals Wynn Macau Ltd, MGM China Holdings Ltd and Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, were observed back in August, as adopting a pared range of side bets per table. That was according to banking institution Citigroup in its monthly premium mass bets survey.
SJM Holdings Ltd – which also has a full “smart-table” operation at its Macau peninsula property Grand Lisboa and its Cotai resort complex Grand Lisboa Palace – has also adopted the simplified baccarat side bet layouts, GGRAsia observed on its latest site visits.
Recent GGRAsia visits to Sands China Ltd properties indicate the firm is continuing to offer Macau’s most extensive set of baccarat side bets per table. Lucky 6 and Lucky 7 were still available, as well as Small 6/Big 6, Small/Big 7 and Super Lucky 7 via its smart baccarat tables. From July, Sands China added a progressive jackpot to its baccarat table games offer.
Sands China is using Angel Group’s smart tables. The other five Macau operators have adopted Walker Digital Table Systems LLC’s technology.
On October 22, Robert Goldstein, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp, parent of Sands China, said on the group’s third-quarter earnings call, that side bets not only boosted house advantage relative to standard baccarat bets, but also added more fun for players due to higher potential payouts on winning hands.
In Macau, Lucky 7 has been offered in formats that pay either 6 to 1, or 15 to 1, when the play hits precisely a winning ‘player’ hand with a face value of seven points, composed of two or three cards.
The ‘Small 7/Big 7’ side bet – has two payout tracks. Small 7, also known as “Two-card 7”, pays 15 to 1 when play hits precisely a winning ‘player’ hand with a face value of seven points, composed of two cards. Big 7, also known as “Three-card 7”, pays 30 to 1 when a winning ‘player’ hand has a face value of seven points, composed of three cards.
