Earlier this year, Evolution Gaming expanded their Lightning series with the new live game Lightning Baccarat. Following the innovative concept of Lightning Roulette and Lightning Dice, this electrifying card game has become an instant favourite among live casino players. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at how Lightning Baccarat works and share the optimal way to play.
Live Baccarat with Lightning Multipliers
At first glance, Lightning Baccarat might look like a normal Baccarat game. Just as in the standard game, players put their chips on “Player”, “Banker” or “Tie”, and the goal is still to predict which hand will score closest to nine points. But unlike classic Baccarat, which is known for being a low variance table game, Lightning Baccarat amps up the volatility with multiplier Lightning Cards that can massively increase your winnings.
Before each round, between one and five random Lightning Cards are drawn from a virtual 52-card deck. When you win a hand with a matching Lightning Card, a multiplier of between 2x and 8x is applied to the prize. However, you can win much more than that by matching multiple Lightning Cards. Since the multipliers stack, your winnings could be multiplied by up to 8x8x8 – for a massive 512x multiplier!
The optimal way to play Lightning Baccarat
Lightning Baccarat is as fun and volatile as the other games in Evolution’s Lightning series, and it’s perfect for players who think that the volatility of classic table games is too low. Since the Lightning version can pay out so much more than standard Baccarat, Evolution Gaming has balanced the game by adding a 20% Lightning Fee on all bets. Keep in mind that this fee is added on top of your total bet.
The optimal way to play Lightning Baccarat is to put your money on Player or Banker. The Tie, Player Pair and Banker Pair bets have higher payouts, but lower RTP:
- Player: 98.76% RTP
- Banker: 98.59% RTP
- Tie: 94.51% RTP
- Player Pair: 88.35% RTP
- Banker Pair: 88.35% RTP
As you can see, the RTP of betting on Player or Banker is much higher than betting on Tie or the side bets. However, Lightning Baccarat’s max win can only be achieved by betting on Tie: six matching Lightning Cards could give you a staggering multiplier of up to 262,144x in a single round.
Are you ready to play the electrifying version of the most popular card game in Macau? You can find Lightning Baccarat in our live casino lobby!