New Baccarat side bets coming for Golden Week

Macau’s casino regulator has approved the launch of two new baccarat side bets, “Lucky 7” and “Super Lucky 7,” which are expected to debut on gaming floors in time for the upcoming Chinese mainland’s October Golden Week holiday period, industry sources have revealed.

According to multiple industry sources, the new side bets have already received the necessary approvals from Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The “Lucky 7” side bet offers payouts of 6-to-1 for a winning “player” hand with a face value of seven made up of two cards, and 15-to-1 for a three-card hand of seven points.

The “Super Lucky 7” variant is more complex, featuring three different payout tracks. The highest payout of 100-to-1 applies when a winning “player” hand of seven points beats a “banker” hand of six points, with each hand consisting of three cards. Other payouts under “Super Lucky 7” include 40-to-1 and 30-to-1, depending on the card compositions.

These new side bets are expected to be available on both traditional live table games and the “smart” live-dealer table format in Macau. The game rules are similar to the “Dragon Tiger” baccarat variant found at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands resort.

The introduction of the new side bets follows the widespread adoption of the “Small 6/Big 6” baccarat side bet across Macau’s six casino operators earlier this year, coinciding with the May Golden Week holiday. The “Small 6/Big 6” side bet, which resembles the “Tiger Baccarat” game in Singapore, pays 22-to-1 and 50-to-1 for certain “banker” hand outcomes. Victoria Chan