The evolution of the game of baccarat

The game of baccarat has evolved from a parlor game played by French aristocrats in the first half of the 19th century to a casino game that generated over US$41 billion in revenue for the casinos of Macau in 2013. The parlor game was originally a three-person zero-sum game. Later in the 19th centur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of gambling business and economics 2015-10, Vol.9 (2), p.1-13
Main Authors: Ethier, Stewart N, Lee, Jiyeon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
Card games
Casinos
History
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Summary:The game of baccarat has evolved from a parlor game played by French aristocrats in the first half of the 19th century to a casino game that generated over US$41 billion in revenue for the casinos of Macau in 2013. The parlor game was originally a three-person zero-sum game. Later in the 19th century it was simplified to a two-person zero-sum game. Early in the 20th century the parlor game became a casino game, no longer zero-sum. In the mid 20th century, the strategic casino game became a nonstrategic game, with players competing against the house instead of against each other. We argue that this evolution was motivated by both economic and game-theoretic considerations.
ISSN:1751-7990
1751-8008
DOI:10.5750/jgbe.v9i2.944