Baccarat Banker Commission — Why It Exists, How It Is Calculated, and What Rounding Costs You
The baccarat banker commission is the 5% fee the table keeps from every winning Banker bet. Bet 100 on Banker and win, and you are paid 95, not 100. Player bets and Tie bets carry no commission. Beginners often see it as a penalty for picking the "better" side; it is closer to the truth to say the commission is the only reason the Banker bet is not a winning bet for the player. This page explains where the 5% comes from, how to calculate it on any stake, how tables collect it, how rounding can quietly raise your cost, and what the 4% and commission-free tables really charge. All probabilities come from an exact enumeration of an 8-deck shoe.
Baccarat: what is commission, in one sentence?
It is a 5% cut of your winnings on Banker — not of your stake, and not charged on losses or ties. A winning Banker bet therefore pays 0.95 to 1 (often written 19 to 20). If the round is a tie, your Banker bet is simply returned and no commission is taken.
Why the Banker bet has a commission
Because of the third-card rule, the Banker hand wins slightly more often: 45.86% of rounds against 44.62% for Player, with 9.52% ties. If both sides paid even money, a Banker bet would win 45.86 and lose 44.62 out of every 100 rounds — an edge of +1.235% for the bettor. No casino offers that, so the table takes a fee on Banker wins.
The 5% fee costs you, on average, 2.293% of every Banker stake (5% of the 45.86% of bets that win). That turns the bettor's +1.235% into a house edge of 1.06% (1.0579%). Player stays at 1.24%, so even after commission Banker remains the slightly cheaper main bet. Exactly where the Banker's extra wins come from is broken down on baccarat third card rules.
How to calculate the commission on any stake
Multiply the stake by 0.05 for the commission, or by 0.95 for what you are paid. You always get your original stake back as well.
| Banker stake | Commission (5%) | Paid on a win | Back in hand (stake + win) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 0.50 | 9.50 | 19.50 |
| 15 | 0.75 | 14.25 | 29.25 |
| 20 | 1.00 | 19.00 | 39.00 |
| 25 | 1.25 | 23.75 | 48.75 |
| 50 | 2.50 | 47.50 | 97.50 |
| 100 | 5.00 | 95.00 | 195.00 |
A quick mental shortcut: for every 20 you bet, the commission is 1. Stakes in multiples of 20 always produce a whole-number commission, which matters for the rounding problem below.
How tables collect it: paid at once, or kept in a box
There are two common methods. At most modern and electronic tables, including live dealer and online games, the commission is deducted immediately and the win is paid at 0.95 to 1. At some traditional tables the dealer pays Banker wins at even money and records what you owe in a commission box marked with your seat number; the total is collected at the end of the shoe or when you leave. The cost is identical either way — but with the box method, remember that part of the chips in front of you are already owed back to the table.
Rounding: when 5% is not really 5%
The 5% only stays at 5% if the table pays exact change. When a stake produces an awkward commission and the table's smallest chip is larger, the rounding usually goes against the bettor. Here is what different effective commission rates do to the Banker edge (8 decks):
| Effective commission | Example | Banker house edge | Average loss per 1,000 staked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% | Theoretical low rate | 0.14% | 1.41 |
| 4% | "4% commission" tables | 0.60% | 5.99 |
| 5% | Standard, exact change | 1.06% | 10.58 |
| 6.67% | 15 staked, commission taken as 1 instead of 0.75 | 1.82% | 18.24 |
| 10% | 10 staked, commission taken as 1 instead of 0.50 | 3.35% | 33.51 |
The last two rows are not standard practice everywhere, but they show why the stake size matters. If your table cannot make small change, betting in multiples of 20 keeps the commission at exactly 5%. Rounding a 15 stake up to a 1 commission on every win would raise your cost on Banker above the Player bet (1.24%).
The break-even commission: 2.693%
Solving for the rate where the Banker bet is exactly fair gives 2.693% (1 − 44.62/45.86). Any commission below that would hand the bettor an edge. That is why you will not find a regular table charging 2.5%, and why a 4% table (0.60% edge) is already one of the lowest-edge bets in a casino.
Commission tables against commission-free tables
| Table type | How the house is paid on Banker | Banker edge | Player edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 5% commission on every Banker win | 1.0579% | 1.2351% |
| 4% commission | 4% on every Banker win | 0.5994% | 1.2351% |
| EZ Baccarat | No commission; Banker three-card 7 win pushes | 1.0183% | 1.2351% |
| No-commission (6 pays half) | No commission; Banker win on 6 pays 1 to 2 | 1.4581% | 1.2351% |
"No commission" never means free. The fee is moved into a rule. With EZ the trade is slightly in your favour; with the "6 pays half" version it is worse, and there Player becomes the cheaper bet. The push rule is explained on EZ Baccarat and the half-pay rule on baccarat variants.
What commission adds up to over a session
Take 100 Banker bets of 10. You win about 45.9 of them and pay roughly 22.93 in commission in total — yet the average net result is a loss of only 10.58, because without the fee you would have been ahead by about 12.35. Over an hour at a table dealing 80 rounds, with 10 on Banker every hand, you hand over about 18.34 in commission and lose 8.46 on average. The commission looks large because you see it on every win; the edge is the smaller number that matters. Side-by-side Banker and Player figures, including losing streaks and session ranges, are on banker vs player.
If you want to check your own results — how many Banker wins you had and what the commission came to — the free Baccarat Scoreboard app logs each hand offline. You can also watch commission and no-commission tables side by side on the live baccarat terminal. Neither changes the edge; they just make it visible.
Banker commission FAQ
Is commission charged on Player bets? No. Only winning Banker bets pay commission. Player wins are paid 1 to 1.
Is commission charged when the round is a tie? No. Banker and Player bets push on a tie and are returned in full.
Is commission taken from my stake if I lose? No. A losing bet loses the stake only; commission applies to winnings.
Does the commission make Banker worse than Player? No. After commission Banker's edge is 1.06% and Player's 1.24%. The 4% table widens the gap further in Banker's favour.
Why do some games show "0.95:1"? That is the same thing written as a payout: 0.95 for every 1 staked, after the 5% commission.
Is a no-commission table better? Only the EZ format is slightly better on Banker. At a "6 pays half" table, Banker costs 1.46% and Player is the better choice.
Method: exact enumeration of all card orders in an 8-deck shoe under standard punto banco rules; house edge at commission rate c = P − (1 − c)·B (Baccarat Terminal, October 2026). Session figures are averages, not predictions. 18+. Information only — not a gambling service and not betting advice.