Can You Play for Big Online Baccarat Jackpots?

Baccarat is popular due to its simplistic gameplay and low house edge. You can lower the house advantage to 1.06% by betting on the banker hand winning every time.

Both low and high rollers enjoy playing this game, because they can last a while with a relatively low bankroll. They also don’t need to think hard to use perfect strategy.

However, jackpot hunters don’t normally choose baccarat. After all, this game doesn’t typically feature progressive jackpots, like slots, Caribbean stud, or Let It Ride do.

You may be surprised to know, though, that you can play for baccarat jackpots online. I’m going to discuss more on playing for these prizes along with if they offer significant money.

How Do You Play Online Baccarat?

Before getting into the jackpot side of baccarat, I’d like to cover the basics of the online version. If you’ve already played real money baccarat online quite a bit, then you might consider skipping this section.

Each hand starts out with you placing a wager on the banker hand, player hand, or both hands tying. The banker and player bets pay 1:1 on wins, while the tie can pay either 8:1 or 9:1.

I suggest wagering on the banker hand to win due to the 1.06% house edge. The player bet is also reasonable with its 1.24% house advantage. The tie bet, meanwhile, is unfavorable no matter if there’s an 8:1 or 9:1 payout.

Every online casino that I’ve played at only requires a $1 minimum bet. Assuming a progressive jackpot is available, you can also place a dollar side wager at this time too.

After putting your virtual chips in one of the three betting circles, you select Deal to start the hand. The software will then deal cards until a winner is determined.

The baccarat hand scoring rules are fairly complicated compared to the average card game. The only thing you really need to know, though, is that the winner is determined by which hand is closest to a score of 9.

You win as long as your chosen hand (player or banker) wins. Assuming you wager on the banker or player and both hands tie, then you lose unless you’ve made a tie bet.

The great thing about online baccarat is that you don’t really need to know all of the rules to play. You simply have to place chips into a betting circle.

Assuming you do want to know the hand scoring, then you can check out the previous link or visit a relevant online game’s info section.

Which Developers Offer Progressive Baccarat?

Baccarat isn’t as popular of a jackpot game as Caribbean stud, Let It Ride, or even blackjack. The number of developers that offer progressive versions have dwindled.

Today, the only developer that currently offers progressive baccarat is Playtech. Their game seeds the progressive jackpot at $50,000.

You don’t have much of a selection to look forward to regarding online jackpots. The good news, though, is that Playtech does supply a fair number of casinos.

Unfortunately, US residents can’t play at Playtech sites. Hopefully, though, other developers begin offering jackpot baccarat in the future.


Start by Making a Deposit

You might want to familiarize yourself with progressive baccarat by playing it for free first. You simply need to register for an account at a Playtech casino to do so.

Afterward, you must deposit using one of the available banking options. Most online casinos feature a variety of deposit methods, including credit cards, cryptocurrencies, e-wallets, bank transfers, prepaid cards, and wires.

Each casino has a minimum deposit that they require. For example, you might have to fund your account with at least $10.

When deciding how much to deposit, you should keep in mind that progressive baccarat features both a minimum bet and side wager. You’ll need to risk at least $2 per hand if you want to play for the jackpot.

Once your account has funds, you can proceed to playing real-money baccarat. You must place the minimum regular bet, but the jackpot wager is optional.

What Can You Win with the Jackpot Bet?

Assuming you do place the jackpot wager, you have an opportunity to win a prize worth at least five figures. You’ll see the current jackpot amount displayed at the top of the screen.

The Playtech jackpot, for example, is worth $90,963 at the time of this writing. This amount isn’t life-changing money for most gamblers, but it’s definitely a nice chunk of change.

You win the jackpot when you and the dealer both have an ace and eight of the same suit. The odds of this rare occurrence happening are just 1 in 588,296.

You can actually gain positive expected value (+EV) from your wagers when the jackpot eclipses $537,032. Of course, the current prize is quite a ways off this amount.

Strategy for Baccarat Jackpots

Baccarat strategy is quite easy. You simply bet on the banker hand winning every time to enjoy the best odds of winning.

The jackpot strategy is a little more involved. You want to watch how much the prize is currently worth and play when it grows to a larger amount.

Again, the breakeven point is at $537,032. Assuming you play at this time or later, then you can look forward to over 100% payback.

Unfortunately, there are two huge catches to this strategy:

• The jackpot is worth less than $91,000 at this time.
• The RTP on the jackpot wager is all theoretical.

Regarding the first point, the jackpot bet RTP starts at 84.8%. Considering that the prize isn’t even 20% of the way to breakeven value, you won’t enjoy much higher than 84.8% payback on this wager right now.

The second big problem is that you actually have to win the jackpot at some point to realize the 100%-plus payback. Otherwise, you’re just throwing dollars down the drain on each hand.

Despite your low odds of winning, though, you should still place side bets when the jackpot grows. You’ll not only theoretically enjoy over 100% RTP, but also win more if you do hit the jackpot.

Other than this, you just want to use good basic baccarat strategy and lower the house edge on regular bets. By wagering on the banker each time, you minimize losses while chasing the jackpot.

Is It Worth Playing for Big Online Baccarat Jackpots?

Whether or not you think that playing for online baccarat jackpots is worthwhile depends on two main factors:

• How much you like this game.
• How much you care about winning a large prize on the side.

You should truly enjoy baccarat before playing the progressive version. After all, there are better games available if you only care about pursing big payouts.

Caribbean stud, Let It Ride, and slot machines can feature much larger progressive jackpots. Furthermore, their side bets are more likely to offer +EV than the online baccarat’s side wager.

The second point ties in the first one. If you love baccarat and also want to go after a jackpot simultaneously, then you should appreciate this game.

Online progressive baccarat is a rare game that isn’t found much in land-based or online casinos. Therefore, you should take advantage if you truly think that this prospect sounds exciting.

On the other hand, you want to also consider the downside to playing this game. The jackpot doesn’t offer great odds nor does it pay out life-changing money at the current time.

I don’t know if the jackpot will ever get close to its breakeven value. Even if you do manage to win, $91k isn’t a tremendous haul.

That said, everything depends upon your personal preferences regarding baccarat. You should only play this game if you like the combo of online baccarat along with a progressive prize.

Conclusion

Baccarat is definitely the least-served table game when it comes to jackpots. Only one developer currently offers a progressive jackpot.

Granted, Playtech is one of the bigger names in online gambling. But I’d definitely like to see more providers offering this game.

Baccarat just doesn’t lend itself to huge jackpots like Caribbean stud, Let It Ride, or slots do. The good news, though, is that you at least have some opportunity to chase a jackpot.

Assuming you want to get more EV out of side wagers, then you should let the jackpot keep growing. This way, you have a shot at winning more money and getting additional value out of each bet.