A new ‘Small 6/Big 6’ baccarat side bet with attractive payout to winning customers but that is likely to boost house edge overall, was in use in the Macau market on Thursday, during a GGRAsia spot-check of some of the city’s main casino floors. The new side bet can be offered by Macau casino operators without them needing to utilise so-called ‘smart’ tables.
Also, so-called ‘baccarat insurance’ bets – a hedging wager favoured by some players but with a high house edge – were in evidence at MGM China Holdings Ltd’s properties. The company says such bets are hard to offer without use of smart tables, and MGM China describes itself an early adopter of such technology.
Thursday was the second day of mainland China’s five-day May holidays, and large numbers of tourists were in evidence downtown and in the newer Cotai casino district.
At Macau-peninsula casinos the busiest live-dealer baccarat games – Chinese players’ favourite casino pastime – were mostly tables in denominations of HKD1,000 (about US$128) to HKD1,500.
The lowest-priced mass-market baccarat games seen by GGRAsia were HKD300, on the third floor at SJM Holdings Ltd’s Grand Lisboa.
At 11.10 am at Grand Lisboa downtown (pictured below), the first floor – the main mass-gaming zone – had baccarat minimums ranging from HKD1,000 to HKD2,000, with the most popular at HKD1,500.
A live-dealer baccarat area delineated separately from that main floor, had tables ranging from HKD1,000 to HKD2,000, but few players.
Above on the mezzanine level, at the Phoenix Pavilion, there were a handful of HKD2,000, HKD3,000 and HKD5,000 tables, though again, with few players.
Grand Lisboa’s second-floor mass gaming had live-baccarat denominations from HKD300, up to HKD1,000. The tables filled with players were at HKD500.
At 11.46am at Wynn Macau, run by Wynn Macau Ltd, the main floor of Lakeside casino was busy, but not overly-crowded. Baccarat ranged from HKD1,000 up to HKD3,000, with the most popular at HKD1,500 and HKD2,000.
The Encore casino on the ground floor, had moderate traffic, with tables from HKD3,000 to HKD10,000, the most popular being at HKD3,000.
At 12.10pm, at MGM Macau, main-floor baccarat ranged from HKD500, up to HKD3,000. Most tables were busy, but the most popular were HKD1,000.
A separate, higher-limit baccarat area at the MGM China downtown venue, had tables at HKD2,000 and HKD3,000, with some tables offering a baccarat insurance bet, though traffic in that area was light.
At 12.35pm at Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd’s StarWorld Hotel in downtown Macau, the first floor offered baccarat ranging from HKD500 to HKD3,000. The majority of tables was at HKD1,000. The fifth floor Horizon high-limit area had HKD2,000 to HKD5,000 tables, but was not busy. The newly-approved ‘Small 6/Big 6’ baccarat side bet was available throughout both the main and the high-limit baccarat areas at StarWorld Hotel.
At 3.18pm at Galaxy Entertainment’s flagship resort Galaxy Macau (pictured below) on Cotai, the main-floor baccarat was from HKD1,000 to HKD5,000, with games already equipped with Small 6/Big 6 side bets. That bet was also available at the high-limit baccarat games at the property. Overall, many main-floor tables were busy, with the most popular at HKD1,000 and HKD2,000.
The Pavilion North high-limit baccarat had denominations from HKD2,000 up to HKD10,000, as did the Pavilion South area. Most popular at Pavilion North, was HKD3,000 and HKD5,000. At Pavilion South, the favourite was HKD3,000. Both zones offered Small 6/Big 6 bets.
At 4.07pm at Sands China Ltd’s Cotai flagship the Venetian Macao (topmost picture), main floor baccarat – all with Small 6/Big 6 side bet – ranged from HKD800 to HKD3,000. Busiest were HKD1,000 and HKD2,000 tables.
The Venetian Macao’s high-limit baccarat was from HKD2,000 to HKD10,000. Many tables were busy, with most popular pricings being in the HKD3,000 to HKD5,000 range. That area also offered Small 6/Big 6 bets.
At 4.40pm at Sands China’s The Londoner Macao on Thursday, smart tables equipped with cameras were in evidence on the main-floor baccarat games, with minimums from HKD2,000 to HKD10,000. The HKD2,000 and HKD3,000 tables were the busiest. The Small 6/Big 6 bets were on offer throughout the property’s main casino floor area.
At 5.15pm at Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s City of Dreams, main-floor baccarat was from HKD500 up to HKD5,000, with many tables busy. The most popular were at HKD1,000 and HKD2,000.
A Qi Long-branded high-limit baccarat area had tables from HKD3,000 to HKD10,000. A few HKD5,000 tables were busy with players.
At 5.35pm at MGM Cotai, main floor baccarat started at HKD500, up to HKD3,000, with the HKD1,000 and HKD2,000 being busiest.
High-limit baccarat was from HKD3,000, to HKD10,000. The busy tables were mostly at either HKD3,000 or HKD5,000. Some of the tables offered baccarat insurance bets.
At 6.09pm in Wynn Palace, main-floor baccarat started at HKD1,000 and went up to HKD3,000. Many tables were occupied, with the busiest at HKD1,000 and HKD2,000.
High-limit baccarat started at HKD3,000, rising to HKD10,000. The most popular were at HKD3,000 and HKD5,000.
At 6.40pm in Grand Lisboa Palace, run by SJM Holdings, main-floor baccarat started at HKD500 and went up to HKD3,000. The overall traffic of the main floor was moderate, with the busiest at tables at HKD1,000. High-limit baccarat on the ground floor – housed in the property’s “Phoenix Pavilion” – had only light traffic.
