Baccarat History - The History of Baccarat
As one of the most popular games at online and traditional casinos today, players may wonder where baccarat originated. The truth is that baccarat enjoys a long and interesting history, based on a legend nearly 2000 years old!
Around the 14th century, when card games were becoming a popular form of entertainment, it is believed that one of the earliest forms of baccarat was being played in Italy, based on a 2000 year old legend relating to nine gods. The game quickly became appealing to the population and came to be known as baccarat. The popularity of baccarat spread across Europe, especially to France where it became known as ‘chemin de fer’. In fact, baccarat was so popular in France that the population actually claimed the game as their own and it became a jealously guarded pastime among the French nobility who refused to disclose its rules to the ‘common’ casinos of the time!
Over the centuries, the game of baccarat reached the shores of South America, especially among the parlors of the continent’s nobility. The wealthy population of Argentina became obsessed with chemin de fer and, yet again, the game’s popularity spread across South America to Cuba where it experienced a slight change in the rules. It was at this point in time that American baccarat was created.
In the 1950s, a casino owner from Havana took his expertise to Nevada and introduced the game to local gambling establishments. Baccarat was an instant success among American gamblers looking for a new and exciting game with a low house edge, easy rules and an exotic touch. American baccarat is the game most played in American casinos today, while a slightly different version, chemin de fer, is played in Europe.
When the online casino hit the scene in the 1990s, baccarat made an almost seamless transition to the wonderful world of the internet. Today, the baccarat game can be found in literally thousands of online casinos on the web and is played on a daily basis by millions of players who can access a game within seconds and play from the comfort of their own homes. Exciting baccarat tournaments, progressive baccarat games and other twists keep players coming back for more. The future of baccarat looks excellent as software companies create games that are more and more realistic with each passing year.
