Baccarat hold and house edge measure different things. The house edge is the share of each bet the casino keeps on average: 1.06% on Banker, 1.24% on Player. Hold is the share of the money players bring to the table, the chips they buy, that the casino ends up keeping. Because the same chips get bet again and again, hold is much higher. Nevada's statewide baccarat hold was 16.07% in 2025, according to the UNLV Center for Gaming Research.
So a 16% hold doesn't mean the game is rigged or that the edge is 16%. It means players bet their chips many times over.
How a 1% edge becomes a 16% hold
Picture one player who buys $1,000 in chips and bets $100 on Banker every hand. Every bet has the same 1.06% edge. What changes is how many times the chips go around.
| Total wagered ($) | Expected loss ($) | Hold on the $1,000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 hands | 2,000 | 21 | 2.1% |
| 50 hands | 5,000 | 53 | 5.3% |
| 100 hands | 10,000 | 106 | 10.6% |
| 150 hands | 15,000 | 159 | 15.9% |
| 200 hands | 20,000 | 212 | 21.2% |
After 150 hands the player has wagered $15,000 with the same $1,000 of chips. The expected loss is about $159, which is 15.9% of what they bought in. Nothing about the odds changed. The chips just kept circulating.
The house edge is charged on every bet. Hold is measured against the chips bought once.
Hold grows with every hand you play, even though the edge on each bet never changes.
Side bets push hold up further, because they carry far higher edges. A Tie at 8 to 1 costs 14.36% per bet, more than thirteen times Banker. Our baccarat house edge post compares every main bet.
Nevada baccarat hold by year
Regulators report hold, not house edge, because hold is what they can measure: the money exchanged for chips at the table against what the casino won. Here is the statewide figure for baccarat in recent years.
| Baccarat hold | |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 12.53% |
| 2019 | 13.07% |
| 2021 | 13.92% |
| 2023 | 16.71% |
| 2025 | 16.07% |
Year to year, the hold moves around between about 11% and 17%. The house edge doesn't move at all. The swings come from short-term luck, which is large in a game played for very high stakes by a small number of players, and from how much people play.
A high hold doesn't mean a bad game. It means the chips were bet many times.
The same report shows the same gap for other games. Roulette, with a much larger house edge, held about 19%. Twenty-one held about 13% to 15%.
What hold means for your own session
The useful takeaway is personal: your expected loss depends on how much you bet in total, not on how much you bought in. A $1,000 buy-in played for 50 hands at $100 costs about $53 on average. Played for 200 hands, about $212. Any single session can land far above or below that.
Your expected loss is the house edge times your total action, not times your buy-in.
At the start of a fresh shoe every bet has a negative expected value. Only the cards left in the shoe can change that, and only briefly. Betting systems can't. Our baccarat bankroll and risk of ruin post shows how session length changes the odds of going broke.
See the cost of each bet as you play
Each bet's expected value shows what it costs on average, hand by hand.
After each hand you enter the cards and tap Calculate, and Baccarator recalculates the odds and expected value for Banker, Player, Tie, pairs and side bets from the cards still in the shoe. If a bet briefly turns positive, it shows a Kelly sizing suggestion. That only appears when expected value is positive, it is a long-run average, and the next hand can still lose. Positive moments are rare and short. You can choose 6 or 8 decks and practice with virtual chips, with no real money involved.
Baccarat hold vs house edge FAQ
What is hold in baccarat?
The share of the money exchanged for chips at the table that the casino keeps. Nevada's statewide baccarat hold was 16.07% in 2025.
Why is baccarat hold higher than the house edge?
Because chips are bet many times. A 1.06% edge on $15,000 of bets made with $1,000 of chips is about 15.9% of the buy-in.
Does a high hold mean baccarat is rigged?
No. Hold changes with how much people play and with short-term luck. The house edge on each bet stays the same.
Baccarator is a math tool for education. No real-money gambling. 18+ only.
