Baccarat side bets are optional wagers, like the Dragon Bonus, Perfect Pair, Dragon 7 and Panda 8, that pay bigger than the main game but carry far higher house edges. Most sit between roughly 7 and 14 percent, against just 1.06 percent on the Banker bet, so they are fun for a flutter but a poor long-term bet.
Side bets are the flashiest part of a baccarat table and the fastest way to give money back. They dangle payouts of 25 to 1 or more, which is exactly why they carry house edges many times higher than the Player or Banker bet. This guide explains each popular side bet, what it pays and what it really costs, then ranks them by house edge with a tool that shows the damage in real dollars. If you are new to the game, start with our how to play baccarat guide, then come back for the extras.
- Bonus bets, bonus cost. Every popular side bet carries a house edge far above the main game, the price of those bigger payouts.
- The Player Dragon Bonus is least bad at about 2.65 percent; most others run from 7 percent to over 14 percent.
- Pairs and Panda 8 cost around 10 percent, roughly ten times the 1.06 percent edge on the Banker bet.
- Fine as a novelty, poor as a plan. Over many hands they drain a bankroll fast, as the ranker below makes plain.
What are baccarat side bets?
Baccarat side bets are optional wagers you place before the deal, in addition to the main bet on the Player or Banker. Instead of paying on which hand wins, they pay on specific extra outcomes: a hand forming a pair, a win by a big margin, or a particular three-card total. In return for those longer odds, each one hands the casino a much larger edge than the base game.
You will usually have to place a main bet to unlock the side bets, and the exact menu depends on the version you are playing. Whatever the table offers, the pattern holds: the flashier the payout, the steeper the cost. For the numbers on the main bets that side bets are measured against, see our baccarat odds and house edge guide.
Dragon Bonus
The Dragon Bonus is the most popular baccarat side bet. It wins when your chosen hand either wins with a natural eight or nine, or wins by a margin of at least four points, and it must be bet on the same side as your main wager. Payouts climb with the winning margin, topping out at 30 to 1 for a nine-point win, and a natural win pays even money.
The catch is the gap between the two versions. The Player Dragon Bonus carries a house edge of about 2.65 percent, the gentlest of any popular side bet. The Banker version, however, jumps to roughly 9.37 percent, because a Banker hand less often wins by a wide margin. If you play this bet at all, the Player side is the only one worth considering.
Perfect Pair and pair bets
Pair side bets pay when the first two cards of a hand match. There are three common forms. A Perfect Pair needs the two cards to be identical in rank and suit and typically pays 25 to 1. A plain Pair bet needs a matching rank only and pays 11 to 1. An Either Pair bet, which wins if either hand pairs, pays 5 to 1.
Here is a worked example. If the Player’s first two cards are both the King of Hearts, that is a Perfect Pair and a 25 to 1 win. If they were the King of Hearts and the King of Spades, it would miss the Perfect Pair but still land a plain Pair at 11 to 1. Despite the tempting numbers, the plain Pair bet runs a house edge of about 10.36 percent on an eight-deck shoe, and it gets worse with fewer decks, climbing past 11 percent at six decks, so more decks slightly favour the player here.
Dragon 7 and Panda 8 (EZ Baccarat)
Dragon 7 and Panda 8 are the two side bets built into EZ Baccarat, the commission-free version of the game. The Dragon 7 wins when the Banker wins with a three-card total of seven and pays 40 to 1, for a house edge of about 7.61 percent. The Panda 8 wins when the Player wins with a three-card total of eight and pays 25 to 1, for a house edge of roughly 10.19 percent.
Because they only exist in EZ Baccarat, whether you can bet them depends on the table. You can read how that variant removes the Banker commission in our guide to baccarat variants. As bets, they follow the same rule as the rest: a big headline payout bought with a big house edge.
How much do baccarat side bets really cost?
House edge percentages are easy to shrug off, so this tool turns them into dollars. The bars rank the popular side bets from worst to best by house edge, with the Banker main bet at the bottom for comparison. Set your stake and each bet shows what it is expected to cost you per hand and across 100 hands.
Are baccarat side bets worth it?
Straight answer: not if your goal is to win. Every popular side bet costs you more per dollar than the main game, some of them ten times as much, and no betting pattern changes those fixed edges. The smartest baccarat play, as we cover in our baccarat strategy guide, is to stick to the Banker bet and skip the extras.
That said, side bets are not a scam; they are simply expensive entertainment. If chasing a 25 to 1 pair now and then is worth it to you, set a small, separate budget for it and treat any win as a bonus. What you should not do is lean on them expecting to get ahead. Keep your stakes modest, know the edge you are accepting, and stop when the fun does.
Where to try baccarat side bets
Side bets show up most often at live dealer baccarat tables, where the Dragon Bonus and pair bets are part of the standard layout and EZ Baccarat tables add Dragon 7 and Panda 8. If you want to see them in action, a live table streamed with a real croupier is the place to look, ideally at low stakes while you get a feel for how rarely they land.
