Punto Banco is the fixed rule form of baccarat dealt in Maltese casinos and in most online lobbies. Neither the player nor the dealer makes any drawing decision: a printed tableau settles every third card. With eight decks, the Banker bet carries a house edge of 1.06% after a 5% commission, the Player bet 1.24%, and the Tie bet at 8 to 1 carries 14.36%.
Card Values and Hand Totals
Point values
Aces count 1. Cards 2 to 9 count face value. Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings count 0.
Totals above 9
Only the last digit of a hand total counts. A 7 and an 8 make 15, which scores 5. A hand cannot bust, and the highest possible total is 9.
The deal
Two hands are dealt, labelled Player and Banker. Each receives two cards, Player first. The labels are names for the two hands only; the wager on either is placed by the customer, and the house banks both.
The Drawing Rules
The sequence below is applied in order. It is mandatory and identical on every table dealing standard Punto Banco.
Naturals
If either hand totals 8 or 9 on its first two cards, that is a natural. Both hands stand and the round is settled immediately. A natural 9 beats a natural 8.
Player hand
| Player total on two cards | Action |
|---|---|
| 0 to 5 | Draws a third card |
| 6 or 7 | Stands |
| 8 or 9 | Natural, both hands stand |
Banker hand when the Player stood
If the Player hand stood on 6 or 7, the Banker hand follows the same rule: it draws on 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7.
Banker hand when the Player drew
When the Player hand took a third card, the Banker decision depends on the Banker total and on the value of that third card. This is the part of the game that most rule summaries compress incorrectly.
| Banker total | Banker draws when the Player third card is | Banker stands when the Player third card is |
|---|---|---|
| 0, 1, 2 | Any value | Never |
| 3 | 0 to 7, or 9 | 8 |
| 4 | 2 to 7 | 0, 1, 8, 9 |
| 5 | 4 to 7 | 0 to 3, 8, 9 |
| 6 | 6 or 7 | 0 to 5, 8, 9 |
| 7 | Never | Any value |
Last verified: 8 October 2026.
Why the Banker hand wins more often
The Banker hand acts second and its drawing rule uses information about the Player third card. That positional advantage is the whole reason the Banker hand wins 45.86% of rounds against 44.62% for the Player hand, with the remaining 9.52% tied (eight decks). The commission on Banker wins exists to recover that structural edge for the house.
Payout Table
| Bet | Pays | Result on a tie | House edge, 8 decks | House edge, 6 decks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banker | 1 to 1, less 5% commission | Push | 1.06% | 1.06% |
| Player | 1 to 1 | Push | 1.24% | 1.24% |
| Tie | 8 to 1 | Wins | 14.36% | 14.44% |
| Tie | 9 to 1 | Wins | 4.84% | 4.93% |
Last verified: 8 October 2026. Rule assumptions: standard Punto Banco tableau, commission charged at 5% on every Banker win, Banker and Player bets push on a tie.
Ties and the edge figures
The 1.06% and 1.24% figures count tied rounds as part of the sample. If tied rounds are removed, because the stake was returned and nothing was decided, the edges become 1.17% on Banker and 1.36% on Player. Both conventions appear in published tables. Neither is wrong, but a comparison is only valid when both figures use the same convention.
Deck count
Deck count barely moves the two main bets. It moves the Tie bet slightly, as the table shows. A shoe of fewer than six decks is uncommon in Punto Banco and is not covered here.
Variant Rules and What They Change
Commission free Banker, Banker six pays half
On many tables the 5% commission is removed and replaced with a single exception: a Banker win on a total of 6 pays 1 to 2 instead of 1 to 1. Advertised as "no commission", this raises the Banker edge to 1.46% on eight decks. The Player bet is unchanged at 1.24%. The commission free version is therefore the more expensive Banker wager, not the cheaper one.
EZ Baccarat
EZ Baccarat also drops the commission. Here a Banker win with a three card total of 7 is a push rather than a payout. The Banker edge in this form is 1.02%, slightly below standard Punto Banco. EZ tables usually add side bets with far higher edges, covered below.
Commission rates other than 5%
Some tables charge 4% on Banker wins. At 4%, the Banker bet becomes cheaper than the standard figure. The exact edge depends on whether the house rounds commission in its own favour, so no single figure is stated here. Any table charging more than 5% makes the Banker bet more expensive than the 1.06% baseline.
Chemin de Fer and Baccarat Banque
These older forms are not Punto Banco. In Chemin de Fer the bank passes between seated players, and the hand holding the Player position has a choice to draw or stand on a total of 5. The bank has discretion in certain positions as well. Because the house takes a commission from the bank rather than banking the game directly, the edge depends on how the participants play their discretionary hands. No fixed house edge applies to these variants, and both are rare outside a few European venues.
Side Bets
Side bets carry much higher edges than the three main wagers. Paytables vary by venue, so the figures below apply only to the paytables stated.
| Side bet | Pays | House edge, 8 decks |
|---|---|---|
| Player Pair | 11 to 1 | 10.36% |
| Banker Pair | 11 to 1 | 10.36% |
Last verified: 8 October 2026. A Pair bet wins when the first two cards of the named hand are of the same rank. Other side bets such as Dragon 7 and Panda 8 on EZ tables use paytables that differ between suppliers; check the house edge printed on the table card before treating any single figure as standard.
What the Rules Do Not Allow
Punto Banco contains no decision point after the wager. There is no hit, stand, double or split. The only choice is which of the three main bets, or which side bet, to place. Score cards, trend displays and road maps shown on many tables record past results. Each round is dealt from the shoe without reference to those records, and no pattern in them changes the probabilities above.
Responsible Gambling
Online gambling in Malta is restricted to adults aged 18 and over and is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. A Banker edge of 1.06% is the lowest of the three main bets, but it is still a negative expectation: over any long sequence of rounds, the expected result of every Punto Banco wager is a loss. Baccarat rounds settle in seconds with no decisions to slow them, so a session can cover many more rounds than the same time at a slower table, and the cost per hour rises with that pace. Deposit and time limits set before play are available on every MGA licensed site. Support is available from the Responsible Gaming Foundation and from Supportline 179.