Best Baccarat Online Casinos in South Africa – Play Baccarat Online for Real Money

Baccarat is easily one of the most famous casino games out there. It has been enormously popular for decades now in real-world casinos. It’s no surprise, therefore, that online baccarat has also proven to be one of the biggest games on digital casinos too. 

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to play baccarat online in South Africa. We’ll tell you the best online baccarat casinos serving the country, explain how the game works, give you some top tips on turning a profit, and plenty more besides. 

Best Online Baccarat Casinos in South Africa 2023

Online baccarat remains an enormously popular game with bettors. That’s just as true in South Africa as it is elsewhere in the world. When a game is so big, and so famous, getting involved for yourself might seem daunting. It needn’t be. Baccarat is actually a far simpler game than you might think. Read this article through to the end, and – regardless of your prior experience level – you’ll be enjoying an online baccarat game for yourself in no time. 

Online Baccarat South African Casinos Reviewed

As noted, there are a whole lot of sites out there which let you play online casino baccarat. You’ve already seen our 10 top recommendations of all, but it’s now time to find out how the five best brands of all reached their lofty perch. 

1. Lucky Block – The #1 Place to Play Online Baccarat in South Africa

• Website: www.luckyblock.com/ 
• Payout Time: Up to one hour
• Established: 2022
• License: Government of Curacao
• Headquarters: Curacao

Our Verdict (5/5)

There might be plenty of places on which you can play online baccarat, but it still didn’t take long to choose our number one overall pick. Lucky Block might not have been around for very long, having only launched in 2022, but this is a case in point of not overreacting to a brand’s track record. This exciting young casino has already achieved more in a short space of time than many other sites have in years, and is simply a fantastic place to enjoy baccarat.

Baccarat Options at Lucky Block Casino (4/5)

Lucky Block doesn’t technically have the biggest gaming selection around, but all the most important titles are still in place. This certainly includes baccarat, with industry titan Evolution Gaming providing some of its very best live baccarat titles for users. You can enjoy not only the regular game here, but also the likes of Peek Baccarat, Speed Baccarat, and more.

Payment Options (4/5)

Lucky Block is a completely crypto-focused online casino, with no traditional payment options at all. If you’re happy to use cryptocurrencies for your betting, this is a great place to do so, with not just BTC but a wide range of altcoins also supported. You can even buy and use Lucky Block’s very own crypto – also called Lucky Block – directly through the website. Withdrawal times are also extremely quick, and no annoying transaction fees are charged. 

Customer Support (4/5)

If and when you encounter a problem on Lucky Block, you certainly won’t struggle to get help with it. The most convenient contact option is live chat, which can be accessed immediately via an ever-present button in the bottom-right of your screen. Telegram is also an option, which is a nice little bonus, but the FAQ is severely lacking in detail for anything except cryptocurrency-related matters. 

Bonuses & Promos (4.5/5)

When it first launched, Lucky Block’s welcome offer was a little underwhelming. Now, it’s one of the best such offers around. Newly-arriving baccarat fans can claim a massive 200% deposit match when they sign up here, up to a generous 10,000 EUR (over 194,000 rand, at the time of writing). Even after you’re done with that, Lucky Block has been known to provide excellent cashback deals for its users. 

Pros and Cons

2. Rabona – Great Mix of Baccarat and Other Games

• Website: www.rabona.com
• Payout Time: Up to three days
• Established: 2019
• License: Government of Curacao
• Headquarters: Curacao

Our Verdict (5/5)

We’re certainly comfortable picking Lucky Block as our top destination for online baccarat in South Africa. If there was one brand which truly pushed it all the way, however, it was definitely Rabona. This is a brilliantly well-rounded casino, with an outstanding games selection, plenty of payment methods, a sleek and cool user interface, and plenty more going for it. 

Baccarat Options at Rabona Casino (4/5)

Rabona’s calling card is definitely its game selection, which is absolutely enormous. Admittedly, most of the 8,000+ options here are for online slots, rather than table games. The live dealer ‘Baccarat & Dice’ section still features 40 different choices at the time of writing, however, most of which are specifically for baccarat. Several variants are also available to play with the computer, including punto banco and mini baccarat. 

Payment Options (4.5/5)

This is another area in which Rabona definitely excels. Admittedly it doesn’t have as many cryptocurrencies supported as Lucky Block, although the likes of BTC, USDT, and ETH are all present and correct. What Rabona does have, however, is a nice mixture of more traditional payment methods too, including debit card and eWallets. We’re also pleased to say you can pay directly in ZAR, if you so desire. 

Customer Support (4/5)

As with Lucky Block, the best way to get in touch here is definitely via live chat. You can open up this tool using a handy tool towards the bottom-right of your screen, and – best of all – help is available 24/7. An email address is also provided, if your enquiry isn’t so urgent. The FAQ section, however, is extremely brief and offers little help on any subject. 

Bonuses & Promos (4.5/5)

Rabona’s welcome offer simply can’t match the scale of Lucky Block’s. It’s not exactly small-time, however, with the maximum amount for your 100% deposit match still capped at a healthy 500 euros, and you get 200 free spins thrown in too. Rabona’s ongoing promotions are better too, and include multiple cashback deals and free spin offers. 

Pros and Cons

3. 1xBet – Excellent South Africa-Facing Baccarat Site

• Website: www.1xbet.com/ 
• Payout Time: Up to one hour
• Established: 2022
• License: Government of Curacao
• Headquarters: Curacao

Our Verdict (4.5/5)

Over the past decade or so, 1xBet has rapidly established itself as an international heavyweight. Rather than focusing on one jurisdiction, it offers its services to countries all around the world. South Africa is one such country, and 1xBet provides a full ZA-focused version of its website, including the acceptance of ZAR payments. It also happens to simply be a fantastic baccarat site, as you can see below. 

Baccarat Options at Lucky Block Casino (4.5/5)

Like Rabona, 1xBet has an enormous and well-rounded selection of casino games. Baccarat is a particular strength, with well over one hundred individual live baccarat tables in place. These not only cover a nice mixture of variants, but also buy-in amounts, with plenty of choice for both casual players and higher rollers. If you prefer computer-run games instead, 1xBet has a further 25 of those to choose from. 

Payment Options (4/5)

It’s not just the baccarat options in which we see an outstanding amount of variety here, but the payment methods too. Once again, you’ll find dozens of individual choices here. Most of these are cryptocurrencies, with this – despite 1xBet not being a crypto-focused site – actually being the widest range of altcoins of all our recommended brands. eWallets are also supported, however, as are prepaid cards, although debit card is strangely absent. 

Customer Support (4.5/5)

Here we find yet another area in which 1xBet basically ticks every box imaginable. Live chat is indeed provided, as you’d expect. Your options go far beyond this though, to include email, phone, WhatsApp, and a ticket-based system. The indirect help isn’t up to the same level, but – when the direct support is so good – it doesn’t particularly matter. 

Bonuses & Promos (4.5/5)

The ‘Promo’ page on 1xBet is packed to bursting point. For starters, newcomers can grab a big-time ‘welcome package’ worth up to 27,000 ZAR in total, plus 150 free spins. Alternatively, you can trigger the more straightforward 1st Deposit Bonus, worth up to 3,000 ZAR. Either way, you’ll then be treated to an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the ongoing promotions, including cashback offers, reload bonuses, lucky drops, and a VIP program.

Pros and Cons

4. Cobrabet – Plenty of Live and Regular Baccarat Options

• Website: www.cobrabet.com
• Payout Time: Instant / 3-5 working days
• Established: 2020
• License: Curacao; Cyprus
• Headquarters: Curacao

Our Verdict (4.5/5)

In Cobrabet, we find another brand which seems to have achieved a remarkable amount in a relatively short space of time. This is not an old casino by any means, having only launched in 2020, but everything about its gaming selection, promotions, and – quite simply – the entire platform screams professionalism. It also offers a particularly broad selection of ways in which to fund your playing of baccarat online. 

Baccarat Options at Cobrabet (4.5/5)

Within the Cobra Casino section of the website, you’ll find plenty of computer-run baccarat options with which you can get started. These include Baccarat Pro, Baccarat VIP, and Baccarat Mini. If you so choose, you can then move on to the live casino section, which also features plenty of options for the baccarat fan. These include No Commission, Speed, Golden, and a whole lot more. 

Payment Options (4.5/5)

The diversity of payment options on Cobrabet is absolutely fantastic, and should ensure that most punters have at least a few choices. Naturally both Visa and Mastercard are options, and you can also choose between several eWallets, prepaid cards, third-party bank transfers, and several different cryptocurrencies. ZAR isn’t supported, unfortunately, but plenty of other fiats are. You also get extremely fast payouts here, with withdrawals processed instantly in most cases. 

Customer Support (4/5)

The quickest and easiest way to get in touch here is through live chat, which can be accessed via the usual button in the bottom-right of the screen. You can also send an email, if you prefer, directly through the website. As with most modern casinos, however, the FAQ section is poor, and has a grand total of eight entries. 

Bonuses & Promos (4.5/5)

You actually have the opportunity to trigger three separate deposit matches when you sign up to Cobrabet. The maximum amounts for these are 500, 150, and 400 EUR respectively. Alternatively, you can go for the crypto deposit bonus instead, which is worth a hefty 1.5 BTC. There are only a couple of ongoing promotions available after that – a High Roller Bonus and Live Casino Cashback – but both are fantastic deals. 

Pros and Cons

5. Sportaza – Get Cashback on Your Baccarat Losses

• Website: https://sportaza.com/ 
• Payout Time: Instant
• Established: 2021
• License: Curacao; Cyprus
• Headquarters: Curacao

Our Verdict (4.5/5)

In Sportaza we find yet another relatively new brand, albeit one which you certainly wouldn’t guess was so young to look at it. Operating company Rabidi N.V. (which also runs Rabona) has put a fantastic all-round platform in place here, providing punters with plenty of gaming options and special offers, a user-friendly interface, and much more. 

Baccarat Options at Sportaza Casino (4.5/5)

The gaming options on Sportaza are effectively endless, with over 6,300 individual games you can try out at the time of writing. Most of these are admittedly slots, but there are still hundreds of table games to sample. These include plenty of both computer-operated and live dealer-run baccarat games, with just a few of the variants being No Commission, Supreme, and Tiger Bonus baccarat. 

Payment Options (4/5)

Sportaza only has 10 payment options in place. That might not sound like many on the surface, but it actually still covers most of the major bases, including debit cards, eWallets, bank transfers, and cryptos. All withdrawals are processed instantly by Sportaza, which is obviously fantastic, and South African rand is one of the many fiat currencies which are supported.

Customer Support (4/5)

Live chat isn’t just in place here, but is available 24/7, meaning you’ll always be able to get immediate help with any issues you have. It’s easy to access too, using a little red button in the bottom-right corner of your screen, or you can simply send an email instead. Once again though, Sportaza’s FAQ section is basically pointless, with only 10 entries in total.

Bonuses & Promos (4.5/5)

Sportaza provides newcomers with a fairly standard welcome offer, albeit one which certainly still has plenty of value. You can get your first deposit matched 100% here, all the way up to a generous 8,000 ZAR, and you also get 200 free spins thrown in. Sportaza follows that up with a nice little selection of ongoing promotions. These include both daily and weekly cashback deals for your baccarat play, and daily free spin offers. 

Pros and Cons

Comparing the Best Online Baccarat ZA Casinos

To a large extent, all of the best online baccarat casinos we’ve listed here are all-rounders. Every single one will provide you with a safe and professional experience while playing this classic table game. That said, some differences do exist between their offerings, as you can see in the comparison table below.

What is Baccarat?

We’ve already told you the best casinos on which you can play online baccarat from within South Africa. Now though, it’s time to zoom out a little bit and explain what this game actually involves. 

For starters, we want to make it clear that you should definitely not be intimidated here. Baccarat might be famous, but it’s an extremely simple and beginner-friendly game. It is purely luck-based, and you have very few actual decisions to make. 

As with most table games, a few variants have sprung up for baccarat which have subtly different rulesets. At a basic level, however, this is a guessing game revolving around a simple ruleset. 

Online Baccarat Rules

Before the cards are dealt, you wager on whether your hand or the banker’s will win. When the two cards are dealt to both banker and player, either side gets a ‘natural’ win if their cards total eight or nine (tens and face cards are worth nothing). If your cards equal six or seven, you stand. If you’ve got less than five points, you take a third card (assuming the banker didn’t already have an eight or nine). 

There are a few slightly more complex rules about when the banker takes a third card, but you can research and understand these easily enough. 

When all the cards have been totalled, whoever has more points wins the round.  

Baccarat Betting

The actual betting when you play baccarat online is very straightforward. If you back yourself, and win, your stake will be doubled. If you bet on the banker, and they win, you get 95% of your stake back instead. You can also bet on a tie, which pays out at 8/1, but this rarely happens. 

Final Notes

There are a couple more things to note before you start on a baccarat casino online. 

Firstly, if you play a computer-run game (and assuming you’ve gone with one of our recommended sites), the results will be calculated by a provably fair algorithm. If you play live dealer baccarat, the game will be run just as it would in a real casino. 

Finally, the house edge for baccarat is 1.06%. This is one of the lowest for any table game (blackjack is the only other major title with a lower edge). 

How to Register at a South Africa Baccarat Casino Sites

Not only is baccarat itself a simple game to play, but baccarat casinos online in South Africa nowadays are also invariably user-friendly. This applies from the very start with the sign up process, with these being the few steps you must take. 

Step 1 – Pick a Casino

There are a whole lot of baccarat online casinos to choose from in South Africa. We’ve already narrowed these many choices down to a clear top 10 for you, so – if you want to save yourself some time – we’d recommend simply perusing our list of the best online baccarat casinos, and selecting the one which best captures your interest. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll assume you’ve gone with our number one pick, Lucky Block. 

Step 2 – Create Your Account

Bring up the home page of your chosen online baccarat casino, then hit the Register or Sign Up button towards the top-right of the screen. This will kick off the registration process, in which you will need to provide a series of personal details (your name, date of birth, address, and so on), and set your username and password. Once all that’s done, just agree to the site-wide terms and conditions and finish creating your account.

Step 3 – Claim Your Welcome Bonus

Technically, this is an optional part of the registration process. It’s one we’d highly recommend taking, however. Welcome offers deliver the biggest bonuses by an absolute mile, and you only get one opportunity to claim them – when you first sign up to a new casino. In most cases, this will involve making your first deposit using an eligible payment method, receiving a deposit match bonus, then completing a wagering requirement.

Online Baccarat Bonuses

Casino special offers come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Whatever the specifics, however, they tend to share one common characteristic – making your money go further. 

The ways in which they achieve this are certainly diverse, but we’re pleased to say that baccarat tends to be one of the most compatible games of all with these deals. Here are the best types of online baccarat bonus you can target. 

💸Welcome Offers

As noted, welcome offers deliver the biggest and best bonuses of all. The only real downside is that they can only be claimed one time, when first signing up with a brand, but this is easily outweighed by the size of the online baccarat free bonus you’re given. 

The vast majority of baccarat casinos online will provide their welcome offers in the same format, as a deposit match. With this, your first deposit will be ‘matched’ by the brand, as a bonus, up to a certain maximum amount. A wagering requirement will usually be in place before you can withdraw any winnings, but baccarat is usually compatible with both this and your regular bonus usage. 

💸Ongoing Promotions

Even the best welcome offers will only last a short amount of time. Once they’re used up, you’ll be reliant on the ongoing promotions instead. These can be triggered repeatedly as you continue to play with a brand.

There tends to be much more diversity here than with welcome offers. Arguably the two best deals you can claim, however, are reload bonuses and cashback offers. The latter match your deposits, although to a smaller degree than with sign up bonuses. The latter, meanwhile, can insure a certain percentage of your baccarat losses across a given time frame. 

💸VIP Programmes

VIP programmes, or loyalty schemes, are the most flexible special offers of all. The specifics will vary from brand to brand, but – at a basic level – these programs give you better rewards the more baccarat you play. 

Usually, this is done on a points-based system, with the points accumulated by committing stakes to baccarat and other games. Once you’ve saved enough points, you can claim cash rewards, bonuses, free spins, and so on. Other benefits can include priority customer service, and higher transaction limits. 

Top 3 Baccarat Bonuses

All of our recommended baccarat casinos in South Africa provide bonuses in one form or another. Not all these deals are created equal, however, with the trio below – for our money – being the three very best bonuses you can claim right now. 

How We Rate the Best ZA Casinos for Baccarat

There are a whole lot of baccarat online casinos in South Africa, and combing through them all can be a time-consuming process. That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you, with these being five of the main criteria on which we based our top 10 rankings.

Baccarat Game Selection

Naturally, this was the first thing we checked out on every eligible site we reviewed. The main thing we looked for here was simply the widest range of baccarat options, since – the more choices a casino provides – the more likely it is to appeal to a broader cross-section of players. Naturally, however, we also looked at the quality of those options, in addition to their quantity, and ensured a nice variety of developers had been enlisted to help out. 

Special Offers

All the best baccarat casinos provide special offers in one form or another. The actual quality of those deals varies significantly, however, and that’s what we sought to analyze in our investigation. While the headline figure was obviously important, this involved looking beyond that at the terms and conditions, and gauging the actual value that the deals represented. Obviously, we also prioritized brands whose deals were compatible with baccarat. 

Banking Options

For the most part, this was a case of ‘the more, the better’. As with gaming options, the more choices that were put in place here, the greater the number of potential punters who might be interested. Overall, we preferred brands who offered not only traditional payment methods like debit card and bank transfer, but also eWallets, prepaid cards, and – ideally – cryptocurrencies. 

Customer Service

Even on the best online baccarat casinos, you’re bound to have a problem sooner or later. That’s standard practice, but you obviously still want to get help with it as quickly and effectively as possible. That’s why we made sure to look at the customer service each brand provided, and particularly its direct contact options. We also checked out the coverage hours, and the quality of any FAQ or Help Centre sections that were in place. 

Mobile Features

South Africa is an extremely mobile-friendly country, so it’s imperative that baccarat online casinos serving the country pay attention to their mobile features. In the best cases, this will involve providing downloadable casino apps, but a mobile version of the brand’s main website can be an able substitute. Either way, we tested the mobile features which were in place, paying particular attention to the quality of the casino’s baccarat games on mobile devices. 

Immersive Live Dealer Baccarat

You have two main options when it comes to playing on an online baccarat casino. The first is to play computer-run games, the results of which are determined by a provably fair algorithm. The second is to play live dealer baccarat. 

The main benefit of the latter option is that it more closely resembles the real-world casino experience. Obviously you’re watching a live stream, rather than being there in person. The games are still being run by a real human dealer, though, and you can often interact with both the dealer and other players. The production values nowadays also tend to be extremely high. 

Having started off as something of a novelty, the live dealer version of online baccarat has actually grown to become the dominant form. Most modern baccarat online casinos actually provide far more options here than they do for computer-run games, with brands like 1xBet and Cobrabet being particularly outstanding in this area.

Can I Play Baccarat for Free?

With any online game that you haven’t experienced before, we’re big proponents of playing for free the first time you try it. This makes the learning process completely risk-free, and allows you to grow comfortable with the ruleset and mechanics before committing any real money stakes. 

Despite its simplicity, this also holds true for baccarat. At the very least, we’d advise you to try at least a few hands with fake money, before you decide to play online baccarat using your actual cash. 

Due to its nature, doing so with live dealer baccarat isn’t really possible. You can absolutely play computer-run baccarat for free though, which can still be extremely useful. Evoplay and Mascot Gaming – both of whose games are covered by some of our recommended brands – are just two of the developers who allow you to do so. 

Odds and Payouts

The simplicity of the betting is one of the main ways in which baccarat online is beginner-friendly. Your relatively high odds of success, meanwhile, hold obvious appeal to all bettors. 

Here are the basic probabilities in baccarat:

Since it’s a game of pure chance, you might reasonably suppose that the odds between banker and player would be 50/50. The fact that the banker gets their card left, however, does give them a slight edge, just as it does in blackjack. 

This also makes your payouts for baccarat slightly uneven. Betting on a player win will indeed give you a 1/1 return. A small commission will be charged on banker bets, however, usually set at around 5%. 

Baccarat Tips and Strategies

Since it is indisputably a luck-based game, there’s no obvious tactic or strategy you can deploy in baccarat to guarantee yourself a victory. That said, there are certainly steps you can take to improve your chances of turning a long-term profit, with these being some of the best examples:

1 – Start Slow

We’d advise this not only for baccarat, but for any new casino game you encounter. It’s a simple fact that you’re most likely to lose when you’re unfamiliar with a game. Negate this by getting familiar with baccarat with the pressure off, by playing free versions first. When you are ready to graduate to the real thing, start by using the smallest permissible stakes, and build up gradually from there. 

2 – Learn the Rules

Baccarat isn’t complicated, by any stretch of the imagination, but there are still a fair few rules. You need to make sure you completely and utterly understand these before committing any real money stakes, to minimize your chances of making a costly mistake. In particular, pay attention to the specific variant you’re playing, and ensure you know how its specific rules affect the gameplay. 

3 – Manage Your Money

There are several components to managing your bankroll with online baccarat. Firstly, put an overall staking plan in place which determines how much you’re going to deposit and play with each week or month. Next, impose a ‘stop limit’ on yourself whenever you play the game – basically, if you hit a certain level of losses or even winnings, you quit immediately. Finally, there are various strategies which help you determine your stake size per hand, with the Martingale and Fibonacci being two of the most popular. 

4 – Bet the Banker / Don’t Bet the Tie

The odds in baccarat make it pretty simple to spot the better and worse wagers. Arguably the number one rule for experienced players is not to bet the tie, simply because the chances of it actually coming in are so low. The smart play, instead, is to always back the banker, since they have a better shot of winning. It’s still only just over a 50/50 chance, but this can make a difference over the long-term. 

South African Payment Methods for Real Money Baccarat Online

We’re pleased to say that a typical online baccarat casino in South Africa will provide you with plenty of options when it comes to payment methods. Almost all punters will find at least one eligible choice, and many bettors will have multiple options. 

South African casinos tend to have a nice mixture of traditional and more modern payment options. Examples of the former are obviously debit card and bank transfer, while the latter might include eWallets, prepaid cards, and cryptos. 

You’ll be able to use all of these to fund your account, and play baccarat thereafter. Do be aware, however, that not all methods will be compatible with the welcome offer on any particular online baccarat casino. 

Final Thoughts

Baccarat has proven such an enduringly popular game over the decades for a reason. It is an extremely straightforward and approachable game, but one that manages to constantly deliver excitement and surprises. Online baccarat shares these characteristics, with the added benefit that it can be enjoyed wherever and whenever you please. 

After reading this article, you now have all the information you need to begin playing online baccarat in South Africa yourself. All you need to do now is pick one of our recommended brands, sign up, grab your welcome bonus, and start having fun. 

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