Baccarat history has its origin in an Etruscan ritual of the middle ages and we figure since they offer it at all the best online casinos that we would include it for our visitors. A blonde virgin would roll a nine-sided die that would decide her fate. If the die showed an 8 or a 9 then the virgin would become the priestess to the nine gods. If the die showed a 6 or a 7 then she would live but not take part in any rituals. If the die showed a number from 1 to 5 then the virgin had to walk into the sea and drown. Not quite the risk involved in online baccarat. An Italian named Felix Falguiere created a gambling game based on this ritual using tarot cards. He named the game “baccarat” after the hand that had zero value, because baccarat means zero in Italian.
From Italy, baccarat moved to France. In the 15th century it was popular among the nobility in the court of Charles VIII. Napoleon banned the game when he came to power. But this only served to drive the game underground. Its popularity did not suffer. The French called the game Chemin de Fer after the French word for railways. Baccarat also moved to England where it was played both as a fun game and a gambling game. The English played baccarat differently. They introduced the concept of the casino being the bank and hence this version came to be known as baccarat en banque. This allowed for higher stakes.
From Europe baccarat moved to Latin America. Baccarat was introduced in the United States fairly late. It was only when the Havana casinos were closed down in 1850, Tommy Renzoni brought this game to the Dunes Casino in Las Vegas. In America the rules were different from both Chemin de Fer and baccarat en banque. The American version came to be known as American Baccarat. Soon baccarat became a popular game for high rollers. But those who could not afford the high table stakes also wanted a piece of the action. This led to the introduction of Mini Baccarat, which was played at much lower table stakes that the ordinary player could afford. Another version of baccarat emerged in North America. This was Punto Banco. In this version neither the player nor the banker had any decisions to make. All moves were decided by the cards dealt.
The development of the random number generator using computer software made it possible for players to play baccarat on their computers. However there was no wagering involved and the graphics were rudimentary. Then in the mid 1990s because of Internet penetration and the evolution of gaming platforms that could securely handle financial transactions online casinos originated. Baccarat became a popular game at these online casinos.
Nothing epitomizes the lure of baccarat better than the James Bond movies. Baccarat has featured in several Bond films including Dr. No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Golden Eye. But the most notable of them all was the first Bond film, Casino Royale. The entire plot of the movie revolved around a baccarat encounter between James Bond and the villain Le Chiffre. Every nuance of the game was exposed sending the popularity of baccarat sky high.
